First the storm, then the sunshine

by Kelly

I've been about 2 hours south of Brisbane since Monday at Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads, two beach towns. It's been gray and rainy all week, increasingly so with each day. By Thursday night, we had quite the blow going on. The wind and rain were strong enough that I found myself asking myself:

"We're only maybe 50 yards from the river....is that far enough?"
"How fast does the wind have to blow for it to be a cyclone?"
"They'd have said something to us if this was a cyclone, right?"
"How fast can I throw things in the van if I have to? What would I leave behind?"

I did not get a lot of sleep Thursday night.

Blessedly, the storm had died down by the morning, Still gray but I decided to wander down to the ocean.

Brunswick Heads sits at the place that the Brunswick River enters the Pacific Ocean. There are two stone jetties, each side of the river, as it enters the ocean. It makes the flow quite swift and Friday morning it was a churning mess.

It was scary but it was also invigorating. I decided it would be a great time -- since it had FINALLY quit raining -- to go for a long walk / ramble / exploration. I walked back along the jetty and decided to follow the river bank. While I was out, the sun finally chased away the clouds.



Looking back towards town from the end of the jetty.

There's a lot of area along the river and ocean preserved as park land.

Looking back along the river.

One of the trails beside the river (after the sun came out!)

Brunswick Head is a nice classic small beach town. Most of the people we saw lived and worked there or had retired there. Lots of fishing, surfing, and coffee drinking.  :)  The campground here, like the campground down near Byron Bay, had camper sites, tent sites, and cabins. Once we realized how much it was going to rain, we opted for cabins for the week.  :)

Our cabin wasn't quite this large (or directly on the river) but it was a sweet little place nonetheless.