Friday, 2 March 2012

O'Reillys Rainforest and Byron Bay







After leaving Karen and Jeff in Brisbane we went to pick up the car in Brisbane and start our onward journey.  They have upgraded us so we have a really nice Toyota which all the mod cons.

We left Karens at midday and drove into a lovely rainforest on our way to O'Reillys Rainforest Retreat.  We seemed to be travelling for quite a while, getting more and more into greener parts of Queensland.  Although we had borrowed Karen's sat nav we found it didn't pick up all the roads.  Eventually we found O'Reillys vineyard and called in to get further directions.  We were told it was 20kms but would take double that time because the road was steep and narrow and full of bends (where have I heard that before!)  Well I didn't look outside very much on the way up.  It was a really difficult road, and by the time we eventually found the retreat (the road went no further) I was a little bit stressed!.

It was nothing like we had imagined and very different to any place we have ever stayed.  It is an ideal location for walkers and bird watchers.  We seemed as though we were on the canopy of the rainforest.  We did go for a walk and found a very pretty path leading to an observation tower, which David climbed, but I declined!  The room was very quaint and old fashioned and was not really my cup of tea, but we were only there one night.  The restaurant was very good and we had a good meal.  We stayed until later the next morning and had another walk before we went.

I must say the journey down was much better, driving through a gap in the forest trees, with the sun glinting through. Not much room for meeting other cars (which of course sod's law we did!)  We passed a lookout point and found a couple setting up for a wedding, great place on top of the world.

Our next stop was Byron Bay, again our sat nav lady took us on different routes but when we arrived we had a fantastic shock, yes this place is fabulous.  It is a resort and it has individual suites.  We are in a really up market suite with our own kitchen with all the things you would need. The bathroom is amazing and the suite opens on two sides so that we get a breeze blowing through.  The weather is very hot.

We tried out the swimming pool and then had dinner in the resort, not to be repeated  its a bit expensive..but lovely.

Today the weather has been very hot and so we decided to laze about after walking on their broadwalks through the rainforest and also finding Byrons Bay beach.  When walking through the forest area we came upon Sue's favourite reptile, yes our first snake.  Fortunately a guy had already seen this and told us to stop and wait for the snake to slither back into the undergrowth.  He told us it wasn't the deadly brown snake, but just a common blue (that really reassured me!).  After seeing it go it makes you more aware of your surroundings and realise that Australia is full of snakes and to be careful.

The Bay itself was beautiful, golden sands and lovely surf and about a dozen people around...as there was no lifeguard it is a bit stupid to go in, so we went back to the safety of the swimming pool.



We have now topped up our suntans and are in readiness to go south to meet the rainfall and floods!  We are hoping that by the time we travel down the weather will have got a bit drier.  Coffs Harbour tomorrow.


 David at Surfers Paradise on the way to Byron Bay, notice the crowds on the beach!
 The bathroom
 The bedroom
 The dining area
 Byron Bay beach
 The swimming pool
 A very timid kingfisher

 Gotcha! David had to wait to get him into view.

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