AUSTRALIA, Queensland - New South Wales (see entry below for Fraser Island)

Back in Brizzy I was met off the bus bronzed and triumphant by Jonathan who took me out for a lunch of Vietnamese noodle soup, very welcome after 3 days of beef. I spent my last night in Bris-Vagas in a most bohemim way: Back in Jonathan's friend Don's Queenslander huddled in a corner by a heater sipping tea and watching the 'boys' play a very serious and totally incomprehensible game of cards.

And then farewell Queensland. Despite all my little quibbles with it I was sad to leave. I have had a great few weeks. It was lovely to spend time with my Grandfather and Kathy, who has had to put up with a constant stream of people traipsing through on a daily basis and has produced some wonderful meals, oh how I shall miss home cooking when I am back on the road again... Jeanie organised us all so well, I loved spending time with Jordie and Briony and it was great to see all three brothers: Jamie, Jonathan and Tim together for a change. Geography dictates that it was a rare family reunion.
My Grandfather and Kathy refused to let me take a bus into town with my heavy bag and Kathy kindly escorted me to the bus station in a taxi. We grabbed a quick coffee, snatching a brief moment to have a good chat before I charged off down the coast. I shall miss Mount Ommaney, not to mention the Centenary Shopping Centre...

Next stop: Byron Bay. I followed two fellow travellers to a beautiful guesthouse near the centre of town with small immaculate rooms and set off to see Australia's most easterly point, Cape Byron. In the golden evening light we climbed the headland and reached the summit and lighthouse just as the sun was setting. Byron Bay is a lovely stretch of beach and from our view point we surveyed the darkening swells of the ocean, the keen surfers little black dots amongst the waves and felt glad to be up on the hillside awash with orange sunlight absorbing the final warmth before the sun, and heat, vanished. Feeling extremely pleased with ourselves we descended back into town to sample a touch of the famous Byron nightlife. The town itself isn't pretty, just another beach town really but without the gaudy coloured high-rises of Surfer's Paradise and the Gold Coast and it has a pleasant laid-back feel. As for the evening's entertainments, well that was watching the scantily-clad girls strut and boys pose with decreasing finesse as the alcohol took control of their limbs and laughed at them from a safe distance.

I had been trying to meet up with Jazz so after a day pottering about in Byron and eating yummy sushi I was on a night bus headed for Foster, a coastal town a few hours north of Sydney where Jazz was lodged with a troublesome if charming 19 year old from Fulham...