Monday 25th June – Exploring the Gold Coast

We had to check out at 10am, leaving us almost the entire day to drive the 45 minutes back to Gold Coast airport!  A perfect opportunity on a sunny day to explore this section of coast line that we hadn’t had time to see during our visit in January.

The view back to Byron from the Cape... and below the view on the other side of the Cape

 

Our weekend wheels parked in front of the lighthouse

Starting with a fleeting return visit to Byron Bay lighthouse, (mostly because we had no ‘real’ Aussie dollars to pay for parking!), we drove on to Brunswick Heads.  Huge expanses of golden sands with hardly another person around greeted us.  As a massive bonus, we gazed out to the horizon to see a few humpback whales migrating past. 

MORE golden sands at Brunswick Heads

Spot the whale?

On to Hastings Point and some more scenic coastal views before it was time to find a suitable lunch spot.   

Hastings Point views

I could handle living here.....

We found Cabarita beach (below) which seemed to be a surfer’s haven and got us dreaming about whether we might be able to afford to move here sometime, as we gawped through Estate Agency windows! (right) 

Cabarita Beach

I haven't seen an osprey for months!

We enjoyed hearing the parrots squawking as they flew past us and we spotted some more of the Aussie bird life that we love.

Wild turkey

And pelicans....

 

Our last stop of the day was to Fingal lighthouse (left), built in 1879, as the good weather we had been lucky enough to experience all weekend started to get blown away.

 

Auckland in the dark

Despite all of these stops, we were in plenty of time to return our hire car and get to the airport.  And, of course, that was before our flight was delayed AGAIN! Not ideal when Simon is back to work first thing in the morning.  Getting back to a very rainy Auckland we just about managed to find the car in the dark before pulling up at home about 1am.  A cracking weekend away from our first New Zealand winter.