Ballina - New South Wales, Best Kept Secret

Am just back from my little camping and touring holiday in Northern New South Wales, only problem was that it wasn't long enough. Well ain't that always the way!

We collected the "Explorer-Off Road Camper Trailer from "Its all Good off Road" Hire at Jimboomba, about 50 mins out of Brisbane. I have to give these guys a plug or two, they looked after us very well and I can highly recommend them. Terry and Sue own a few "Jimboomba Camper Trailers" you can find both these companies on the web.

We headed home, packed the trailer and the Nissan Patrol with the usual half the house...lol, even having time to have a quick run though of setting the trailer up in the front yard, so at least we knew how it all fitted together. Must admit we did very well with only some quick verbal instructions from Sue at "It's all Good off Road".

Heading off the next morning around 9.00am, we arrived at our destination in Ballina around 2.00pm, having stopped off along the way for a long lunch and a bit of leg stretching.

We caught the car ferry across the Richmond River to get to our camping spot. Here's an interesting pic I shot whilst waiting to reach the other side of the river. I like the clouds sitting atop the folded life rafts and the colour contrasts here.


Took us a couple of hours to set up camp, with me watching some huge black clouds rolling in behind us. Just as we finished putting up the seabreeze enclosure, (that's an annex for those of you that don't understand the lingo) it started to pelt down. Only lasted about 30 mins and then the weather cleared, although not entirely, with a few short showers over of the following days and then beautiful sunny weather till we went home. We didn't have any issues other the the fact the I forgot to remind Mike to lay a tarp on the ground under the Annex. We only had shade cloth down, which is not much use when its raining.

Here we are at our campsite at South Ballina Beach. We snared a pretty good spot, nice and private, but admittedly there were only about 3 other campers round. March is a good time to go holiday, well usually, providing the heavens don't decide to open up and drop a bucket load of that wet stuff, we haven't seen here in a very long time.

Our friends, Russell, Cathy and Peppa the Border Collie arrived a few days later in their Pajero towing their Jayco Camper trailer. Unfortunely due to work committments they could only stay 4 days. During this time there were lots of BBQ's and plenty of catching up to be done, we all had a fab time and not to mention those two rascally rabbit four legged fur balls of ours had a tonne of fun together.

Here's the stunning beach not far from our camp, unfortunately, it wasn't dog friendly as it's inhabited by seabirds and is fiercely protected by Parks and Wildlife Rangers. We were advised by the park owner that fines can be around $1500 if you're caught disobeying their signage.


We are always very careful with our dog around birds and other wildlife, fortunately, Rem, has absolutely no interest whatsoever in birds, preferring to swim and chase his ball - rarely takes his eyes off the soccer ball for that matter.
We found heaps of other beaches that he could have a swim and play in the area. e.g Patches beach, South Ballina which is dog friendly is about 10 minute drive along a very scenic route beside the Richmond River. Well worth the drive just for the scenery, interesting gardens and statues along the way.

Here's a massive jelly fish we found washed up at Patches Beach, I estimated it would have been at least 42 cms wide. There were tonnes of them, I expect they were launched out of the ocean during that wild storm we had.


Ballina really is one of New South Wales best kept secrets, but then northern New South Wales seems to have tonnes of little interesting beachside hideouts with vertually no inhabitants. Frankly I don't understand why so many people move to South East Queensland and then proceed to live on top of one another. Retire to northern New South Wales, its peaceful, has all the necessary ammenities, the traffic won't drive you nuts, and ferry commuters won't be parking out your street.

Ballina isn't far from Byron Bay and Lennox Head both of which have stunning beaches. The town centre has tonnes of interesting little shops, and there are lots of nice walks to be had. It has a shopping centre just outside of town with the usual KMart, Coles, Big W and Woolworths Supermarkets and speciality stores, there's also an Aldi for those of us looking for a Chocolate fix. Yep they have the best Chocolate range as far as we're concerned!
There's also Bunnings Hardware for the handyman, a Library for us bookworms, Vet for our furry friends, RSL Club for cheap meals and I expect entertainment, great fishing spots and tonnes of water for boating activities.
There are two Camping Stores as well, one in the centre of town and another which is possibly more suited to Caravan owners etc is located in the shopping centre.

Best cooked Fish and Chips we found were at Lennox Head. No Basa on offer here, thankfully - not like Nambucca Heads last camping holiday! We also bought raw seafood at the Seafood Market on the way out of town to the Ferry and found it to be good quality and very fresh. The green prawns sans heads were rather delicious done on the BBQ with a little Chilli, Ginger, Garlic and Lime Juice....Yum!

Our favourite Beach was Angel Beach, where we spent a considerable amount of time swimming in what was a "Lake" in front of a Beach Break. The sand at the far side of this Lake had been gouged to above waist height, so that on reaching the deepest side, you could then climb up on the beach to breaking waves. Fantastic!
The water was like crystal and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. Rem had a absolutely fabulous time swimming. When we arrived at the Beach he raced off down to the water, pausing half way and looking back at us as if to say " Well come on, its time to Swim" Boy, is that a new word in his vocabulary. Not!
Here he is having a surf on the doggy beach at Byron Bay too. Can't say there weren't too many doggy beaches that he didn't visit.


We took a day trip inland to Lismore, and then drove onto Evans Head, also a very pretty seaside town. Take a look at the next pic, which was taken at the Lookout at Evans Head.

and this pic is the other side of the view
.

We also had lunch at a great little cafe right on the Beach. Its called "Shelly's on the Beach". You can find this cafe at Shelly Beach which is not dog friendly, but the cafe is Dog friendly. Furry friends can have a snooze at your feet whilst you indulge in a very nice lunch with a view.

Highlites on the Camper Trailer

1) Steps to the bed - no ladders to climb
2) The battery operated water pump on the sink
3) The spaciousness of the living space

Lows on the Camper Trailer

My Pet hate and I do have one, the Bed. If I owned a camper trailer it would have to have an inner spring mattress. As it was the mattress would have been low density foam and certainly no more than 13cms high. That to me is like sleeping on concrete. Mind you the other half didn't seem to have an issue, but then he can fall sleep anywhere!!

To try and make life more comfortable I went off an bought a foam underlay from Big W at Ballina. The $60.00 it cost me was well worth the money spent for what was almost a comfortable nights sleep. Once I was out of bed in the morning, usually 6.00am, there was no way I was crawling back in. Although I did managed to sleep till 8.00am one morning, most likely from sheer exhaustion.

Ok now, would I own a Camper Trailer? No, not unless I planned on using it constantly in the next few years and I don't mean just for the annual holiday. I've come to the conclusion that a caravan (perhaps a small compact one) would be less combersome. I figure too that when you're older finding the strength to open out a heavy trailer manually is not the way to go, particularly with continuous overnight stops and particularly if one of you is taken ill. I read recently about a woman whose husband was taken ill and had to go to hospital approx 200kms away, their camper was so heavy, the poor woman was unable to manage it on her own, needless to say they've since replaced it. I also think that I'd like to be up off wet ground.

Russell and Cathy reckon a pop top caravan is on their shopping list down the track. Consequently, we're looking forward to the Caravan and Camping Show in June.
It's always interesting to see the new developments in camping, either way am sure it will end up being a hard decision in the end as there are just so many options.

Last and not the very least here's Mike with Peppa (left)and Remy - on Tour. One of my fav pics.

The Incredible Hulk

On Saturday we decided to drive down the South Coast across the border to Kingscliff in Northern New South Wales for the day. The new Tugan Bypass takes what seems like an hour of waiting in traffic off the trip. The plan was to head to the beach so that Remy could have a game of soccer, a nice cool swim and then we'd all enjoy a long relaxing walk along the beach.

So following all that activity, we settled down under a large shady tree at Fingal Head, to a picnic lunch of sliced chilled Tandoori chicken, Coleslaw, tiny seeded Dinner Rolls and my version of a Greek cous cous salad (actually its one of Ainsley Harriott's recipes that I've adapted) along with some fresh cherries, slices of cold watermelon and crunchy seedless green grapes, followed by a bottle of iced Tea...Yum!

All was going to plan until just after lunch when Remy managed to recline on an Ants nest. These were not just your average little black ants, but really big, black, nasty, ferocious stinging ants.

Within seconds the area around his entire right eye blew up, then the right side of his snout, followed by the bottom and corner of his left eye. The poor little guy was in agony and trying to rub his eye with his paw. We managed to settle him somewhat with an towel dipped in icy water, but after about 20 mins decided to head back to Brisbane to the 24 hour vet hospital at Manly. Remy lay across the back seat of the car and tried to sleep, but his little face resembled that of the incredible hulk, minus the green tinge. I could feel his radiating pain, poor little guy.

After driving for an hour and what seemed like eternity in the waiting room we managed to see the vet. By this time it was over two and half hours since he'd been stung and some of the swelling had started to subside. He was given two injections, antihistamine and steroid.

The vet said he'd feel alot better after that. Anyway the swelling had disappeared by morning and he was back to his usual self. The funny thing was as soon as we got home from the vet he was keen to have a game of ball in the front garden. No way I told him, you're going to hop on your bed and have a little rest.

"Grumble, grumble, grumble. Geez mum to I have to?"

This will be my last post till next year. Summer is here in Australia and I have tonnes of holiday reading to keep me amused, might also find some time to laze about the pool in the back garden. The water was clear, sparkling and so very refreshing on the weekend.

Have a enjoyable festive season and most happy new year. To my Aussie friends have a great summer and to my many friends on the other side of the world, stay warm. Catch you all in 2009.

Christmas Dog

Been messing about with the Nikon again, trying to decide on photos for my special Xmas cards this year. I managed to get the young fella to sit still long enough for me to snap off a few pics. As usual he got bored and starting yawning (well I think that's why he was yawning), then lay down with his nose between his paws, had to bribe him with a liver treat. Then he lost his Santa hat and looked at me as if to say "well come on and pick it up, so we can get on with it" He really does have the patience of a saint and is so very obliging whenever he's asked to sit for pics. It was overcast today, so lighting's not so good. I might try again when the sun comes out.

By the way, did you know that Border Collies yawn the most out of all the different breeds of dogs. According to a report in the London Daily Mail dogs yawn when their owners do, although I've never tried this with Remy. Yes indeed yawning is infectious, we all know that, but new research shows that dogs can apparently catch yawns, too. Scientists from the University of London's Birkbeck College found that 72per cent of dogs placed in a room with a yawning person would follow suit. And they don't do so out of tiredness or boredom, the researchers suggest, but as a way of empathising with their master.

Whats Up

Gosh, its been a while. Spent half of winter laid up with some illness or another.
Luckily I had two weeks of Olympic Sport to keep me amused. Mind you, the games were almost over, when my DH decided that he'd better go out and buy a Set Top Box so that I could see all the action in High Defination. Well frankly, don't know what all the fuss was about, sport is sport and it looks the same to me whatever the Defination. Perhaps having a TV the size of a movie theatre screen would help, maybe should have put in my order for one of those too. hehe.

Anyway what have I been up to lately???? Lots of reading for a start, thank goodness for the local Library and of course my mate Remy has been great company. This pic sort of gives you an idea of what he's been up to most of the time. Typical Border Collie pose whilst sleeping.

I've also gone back to painting. Yesterday I finished my first Pet Portrait, of guess who? What fun, ended up searching my computer for all the pics I've taken of Remy for the last 14months or so and found one of my fav's, printed it in A4 size on photo paper, just so I could see more detail.

I've never painted animals before in such a large format and felt really inspired by some of Brisbane Artist Tracey Keller's animal portraits. I love her unique fun style. Anyway I've given the portrait to DH, who had a good giggle and commented on how I view Remy's mezmerizing stare. Remy really does have the most amazing eyes in real life.

Now I've just got to think about my next project whilst I'm in the mood to paint. I'm enjoying the way the hallway downstairs is starting to take on the feel of art gallery.

Gimme a break. I'm still learning.

"Ooooh, its a Sheep! What am I supposed to do with them again"?


"Yum"

Another use for a Bear

Couldn't resist snapping this pic. Here's Remy fast asleep using his bear as a pillow. Funny when he's had a big weekend, he spends the whole of the next day fast asleep.

Yep...It's a Dogs Life - Too tired to Party

His royal highness is way to tired to party this morning. After waking us up at 5.45am with his usual tap at the door wanting to be let in, which I did, he then proceeded to keep reminding us it was time to get up. I think this is all a ploy at getting back at me now....lol...like I was awake when you were asleep! I expect though it was the long walk before breakfast that did him in.

Oh well the party games can wait till later in the day. He seemed pretty happy with his new toy though, a chase stick, even put it down beside his bowl whilst he had a breakfast of Salmon and Dill biscuits and his fav cheese on toast. The biscuits were a hit by the way and so far he's managed to polish off four. The rest I've put in a press seal bag to keep fresh. I hope they last till the weekend.

Anyway here's the recipe I promised, am sure they'll go down a treat with with any fur baby.

Rem's Salmon and Dill Wholewheat Biscuits.

Ingredients:
210g tin Red Salamon undrained
1 teaspoon each of dried Dill and Parsley or if you prefer use fresh or paste.
3 teaspoons each Sesame and Linseed (used a coffee grinder to grind the seeds down)
3 eggs (I removed the shell, but the original recipe said to include the shell)
2 cups wholemeal self raising flour

Method:
Put the undrained salmon, dill, parsley and seeds into a food processor along with the eggs, blend till smooth, then gradually add the flour and continue blending until
a dough forms.

Remove from the processor, the mixture should be firm and not sticky. Press out on a floured board until about 1cm thick, flour your chosen cutter and cut out shapes. You can then press any remain mixture together and continue cutting shapes.

Bake on a greased and floured tray for 20 mins at 180 degrees or 170 if using a fan forced oven, then turn tray and reposition and cook a further 10 minutes.

The Little Guy's Birthday

I've been a bit lazy over Easter, hence the reason for my non posting. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things later this week, after I finish all my chores, thank goodness its a short week.

Am now off to bake Rem some Salmon and Dill biscuits for his 1st Birthday tomorrow. Searched everywhere for a fish shaped biscuit cutter and in the process found one the shape of a bone as well. If the biscuits are a hit I'll post the recipe here too.

Fur babies

We've had a house guest the last four days, or rather Rem has. His litter mate Peppa Hammond has been visiting whilst her folks were interstate. Needless to say Rem is way too busy catching up on sleep to do anything with me today. He's exhausted from playing ball, chase, frizbee, tug, swimming and walking. Presently he's asleep on the mat behind my chair. Well at least he's graced me with his company if nothing else.

Peppa is a gorgeous little Black and White girl from Bojak Border Collies, full of beans and very clever. Her mum Lilly, a shy black and white border was secretly pregnant and gave birth to her and her two sibblings the same day Rem was born to Maggie. Maggie had eight or nine pups, so Lilly helped look after them along with her three. At the time we really didn't know that Peppa would go to a couple who lived close by and it was by chance that we all signed up for Puppy school with the same dog trainer. That's how we all met.

Peppa can Spin and do a Figure 8 through and around legs. She is also very food orientated and would come sit in the kitchen when ever I was preparing meals during her visit. Jet our previous collie has a lot of the same traits as Peppa. Rem is way too laid back and acts like the protective Uncle. He watches everything from a short distance, rarely ever barks, without first being asked to "Speak". I often wonder what's going on in his head, whilst he's soaking up all the action.


Check out the photo of him with his protective paw on her. He uses his paws a lot and has done so since he was a tiny pup. I never ever saw Jet do that. When I throw the Frizbee to Rem, he races after it, waits for it to land, and then folds it over in half with his paw and picks it up with his mouth. Peppa was even doing that by the end of her stay. At first she tried to pick it up whilst it was flat on the ground and was having some difficulty, but watching Rem seemed to clue her in.

I promised Cathy and Russell that I'd try to teach her to "Speak". I found it a little difficult at first, because she kept jumping up every time I gave the command and hand signal. Cathy had warned me that she does this whenever she hears a strange noise from one of them. In the end I kept asking Rem to speak which he did and eventually Peppa copied him. So that indeed goes to prove that dogs do learn from watching one another.

A funny little story from the weekend.... I was tidying up the palm fonds on Friday afternoon as I knew that these two holy terrors would no doubt by the end of the weekend pull them off the drying heap and out into the garden. We tend to stockpile the fonds till they're dry and then put them through a palm shredder as they make good garden mulch.

Peppa was helping me take a few to the bin, spinning around and racing about the garden with them, Rem was obviously peeved with this, because usually I scold him for dragging palms fonds about the yard, so he doesn't do it much anymore. He's sitting beside me watching Peppa spin about with the the palm in her mouth, and then gives me a couple of nudges on the leg in quick succession as if to say " Well look at Peppa, how come I'm not allowed to do that?" I just burst out laughing, gave him a little cuddle and said "Its ok we're putting them in the bin, you can go help her bring them out." which he did.

Ever watchful Uncle Remy

Photos courtesy of Russell and Cathy Hammond

Kids, Dogs and Movies

Ask me what I've been up to the last couple of days... Beading? Painting? Photography? Renovating? No, No, No, none of the above.

For the last couple of days I been niece sitting. My 11 year old niece, Samantha, came to stay as her mum has just started a new job. This is not the first time I've been more than happy to baby sit. When Samantha was very little, she often came to stay the night if her mum and dad had to go to a function. She has also visited lots of times during the school holidays, she loves our swimming pool for a start and then of course there's Rem who has had an absolute ball with another little person in the house. I think he really missed her when she went home last night, 'cause at 2.30am this morning I heard him crying at the back door, between chewing on his squeaky toy. Poor little Sweety, I got out of bed and let him in for a while till he was sleepy again. Usually he sleeps a fair bit during the day, but not the last couple of days, he'd be lucky if he had several 10 minute kips. He was way too busy playing hide and seek, get the toy etc etc., so I guess that's why he was crying last night. I expect though that he'll sleep well today.

I forgot how exhausting it was looking after kids. Luckily, I'm not mentally exhausted as well as physically. We're past the stage of negotiating for every little thing like, "If I eat three more spoonfuls of my dinner, can I have three chocolates?" (Jelly Beans, Jelly Snakes, Chips, whatever....) and it use to be like that for everything.

Fancy having to negotiate with a child about when she should have her bath, go to bed, brush her teeth, eat her dinner, what she should eat for dinner, Phew!!... I recall one weekend when this happened constantly, its worse then working for some high flying executive type, and they don't listen either, but that's another story!

We also went to the movies. I'm very lucky, because at the end of my street is the local picture theatre. Decided to see "The Waterhorse" (Legend of the Lock Ness Monster) I really enjoyed this flick, and even had a little cry at the end. Yep I'm a real shook when it comes to movies.

The story is set in the early 1940's and is about a young scottish boy who finds a mysterious looking piece of Flotsam amongst the rocks on the seashore. He takes it home and begins to chip away at the exterior only to expose what looked to me, the most vibrant and amazing coloured Paua shell, the size and shape of a football. That's when all the fun begins. There are some very funny scenes in the movie and along with a few sad ones. (You also knew I'd get to mention some type of jewellery making supply in this post didn't you...lol... ie the Paua shell)

I won't give the movie plot away here. My niece loved the movie, one word of caution, don't go during the school holidays for obvious reasons.

Pic by Bernie - featuring a small piece of Paua Shell

Never work with Animals

That's what they say. I had so much fun shooting those pics of Rem. He is just so hilarious and an absolute character. For Xmas my mum and dad gave him two stuffed teddy bears - a brunette and a blond. Not that he needed any more bears, he's got a trunk load of them now. But the first thing he has to do when he picks a new bear up is give it a good shake. I always tell him "No, its already dead, shaking isn't necessary". We name all his toys too, so he is able to distinguish which is which. I can't believe how he manages to remember who's who. We have Baa, (a sheep), Hoggy (a Hedgehog) Teddy Xmas (dressed in a a red and green jumper) Honey Bear, Brown Bear, Bon Bon, Frizzy, Rudy, etc. and he plays with them all. I laugh when he goes to one of his two toy boxes and rifles around in the bottom and pulls something out we've not seen for a while. Today it was a teething chew bone, now that one hasn't surfaced since he was really little.

Speaking of presents, I scored well too. CD's (the new "Tina Arena" one) "Richard Clapton" - an oldie but a goodie, I've always loved his songs "Deep Water" and "Girls on the Avenue", this CD has all the old fav's. Lets see where was I, oh yes, Xmas goodies, a summer dress, a new handsfree phone duo with answer machine (one for the kitchen and one for the dining room) gardening gloves and a subscription to "Burkes Backyard", a great Bromeliad plant with a gorgeous towering red flower, (my garden is a tropical one, so I have heap of these in all sorts of colours and am always on the lookout for different species) a Chile plant in a lovely window sill pot, some cash, a gorgeous Vanilla Candle in a Gold and etched glass holder along with matching drink coasters, a unusual shaped tray, some gel frogs - the type you can stick to windows or shower recesses -they're really cute, a resin kookaburra (looks like the real thing) hubby has attached him to the court yard fence, chocolates, a rock tumbler, I think that's it. Gosh, I did well didn't I?

I had 10 people for lunch, yep ate everyone of them....LOL, well no not really, 10 people came to lunch, all family, some of them are vegetarians, so it makes my life really interesting at times. We had Turkey, Ham, Smoked Salmon, Prawn and Mango salad, Sun dried Tomato and Spinach Frittatas, Cheese and Herb filo triangles, Antipasto, White Cherries, huge Lychee's, Fattouch salad (which I must add was really yummy, so I'll be making that one again, Roast vegetable Cannelloni, Trifle, Rum Balls, Fruit Mince Pies and German Xmas Cake and of course a few bottles of Bubbles. I'm thinking the variety of food was very multinational. I cooked for two days, got up at 5.00 am Xmas day, prep'd the final things, ie salads, set the table, all red, green and gold this year and collapsed at 7.00pm in front of the telly. A great day was had by all!

Merry Xmas and a very Happy New Year

This is likely to be my last post for a few days now. Got to get ready for the hoards about to descend on me for Christmas lunch. We've just had a nice long weekend away on the Sunshine Coast with my brother and his family. Rem had an absolute whale of a time, swimming, playing fetch, chasing his soccer ball and generally having fun with my niece Samantha. I think he's a little tired today, not surprising really. He and my hubby swam a couple of hundred metres and back out to a little sand island in the middle of the Noosa River. We found a little spot that is sign posted as a dog exercise area off one of the main swimming beaches. Still a beautiful spot, but recently ruined by a large flood. Lots of trees uprooted along the banks and now only a very small sand beach. Gorgeous blue water and little sand banks here and there. Have a great Xmas and New Year.
PS.. The Pic is of my nine month old Border Collie, Rem, doing his Rudolph impersonation. Isn't he just the cutest boy?

Cool Bananas - I'm offically a Photographer....lol

Recently after some prompting I forwarded a few of my better pics to an online photography site, kind of like someone hosting your stock photos on their site and you may op to sell them.
Well they got accepted and are now available for viewing only (pics won't reproduce very well at the size they've been uploaded at) and sale at http://www.photoreview.com.au/ click on the words "Photo Gallery" above the pic on the first page then use the drop down list of names.

It would be great if a cereal company picked up the one of Izz, my friendly Eastern Water Dragon indulging in a bowl of muesli. Am sure their associated advertising company would come up with a great slogan, can think of a few very apt ones myself. You can also vote for Izzy's Pic on Picture.com or see the link on my front page.

Speaking of Izz, she's finally come out of hybernation. I found her asleep in the pot plant on the front verandah last Saturday night when we arrived home from our latest camping trip. She usually disappears from about the end of May thru to mid September, then suddenly appears on the back verandah out of nowhere. I thought it odd, that she was asleep on the front verandah, but perhaps she'd been basking in the sun during the day and just curled up in the pot because it was there. Normally during the day she spends her time on the back verandah perched on the back of a chair waiting for a feed of fruit or what ever else is available. Her fav's are green grapes, pitted cherries, strawberries and sometimes I buy live worms from the pet shop for her, and.... believe it or not she comes when she's called.

Am a little concerned about how she and Rem are going to get on, as he's already chased her once this week. Rem's not at all like my other Border Collie, Jet, who would sit patiently beside Izz waiting for a titbit too; but then he was alot older and not a silly pup. Mind you Jet had his moments when he was a pup, I found him with a little eastern water dragon in his month once and told him to drop it, which he promptly did... smart boy. I always suspected that lizard was Izz, cause she might have lost her toe when Jet grabbed her. Now I always know Izz from any other dragons that appear in the garden, she's minus a toe.

Holiday Antics in New South Wales

Just back from two weeks camping down at a little place by the name of Nambucca Heads in northern New South Wales. Its about 4.5 hours drive from Brisbane. We stayed in a pet friendly park, so that Rem our 6 month old Border Collie could experience the joys of camping and the beach. There are plenty of opportunities to experience bird life at this park.

Lots of black cockatoos, Major Mitchell's, Rosella's etc. Its very rowdy at sunrise as you can well imagine. Plenty of Pelicans too on the Nambucca river, they wait for the fishermen to clean and discard their fish scraps.

Rem was very interested in the birdlife just sat and watched as he's not seen birds that close before. He was fascinated by the cattle and sheep that we passed along the road. He probably knew he had some sort of affinity with them, but not sure what.

He took to camping like a duck to water. His beach soccer skills are amazing too and he's now waiting for a contract with a major soccer club...lol....Extremely funny sight chasing after the ball and knocking it with his nose and paws. Rolls over it, ends up sitting on it, gets cranky with it and growls when it gets away from him..... we ended up having to take the soccer ball off him, as he was exhausted and still wanted to run.... typical Border. Mind you the soccer ball hasn't faired to well though. I'm surprised it didn't explode and send us all out to sea.

Overall it was still a little chilly and we had a couple of blustery days wind wise. Only one mishap, accidently sat on the sunnies and snapped both their little legs off... Good excuse for a new pair! Luckily I found a chemist shop in a little town not far from Armidale that had at least one pair of trendy sun glasses.

We visited some rather nice easterly spots in New South Wales. A couple of my favourites were Sawtell not far from Coffs Harbour, and South West Rocks. We managed day trips to Port

Macquarie in the south and Armidale in the west

which was very cold and windy...... burrr...

Here we visited the tourist info centre to get hold of some maps of the area, as well Rem had managed to break the ring on his collar that holds his ID tag so a trip to the saddlery across the road in the hope of getting a replacement didn't bring much joy. These businesses are really suffering with the horse flu outbreak. They can't take in any work and many horse transport businesses are likely to go under in the next few months if things don 't improve. After a trip to the local pet shop for a new collar and a restock of Rem 's fav doggie biscuits we headed off to explore Armidale.

I really wanted to go to Tamworth, but that will have wait till the next trip, as it was too far for a day trip. One of the highlights was the trip along the "Waterfall Way" from Bellinger, (not very far from Coffs Harbour,) very scenic part of the world. Passed some orchards once again full of birds which am sure are a pest for the farmers.

Lots of interesting Flora for camera buffs around the beaches. It's rather difficult travelling with 4 legged friends as they're not that welcome in most places, including most beaches. We found a few dog friendly beaches, but the thing that disgusted me the most was the number of cigarette butts found in picnic spots we visited at lunch time. Smokers should be banned from these places as well, as least my dog doesn't smoke, is well behaved and I clean up after him. Why on earth butt bins are not supplied by NSW councils in these tourist areas is beyond me. I guess that goes for the rest of the country too.

On the way home on the weekend, we stopped off at a little place named Woolie, sleepy seaside village outside of Grafton. I really liked this spot, lots of little holiday huts for rent as well as a couple of van parks, great little cafe on the river that makes the best coffee too.
Continuing on from there we headed home home via East Ballina the coast road where an amazing storm was brewing out at sea.

Then into Byron Bay for a little look around as its been a few years since I've been to there. Didn't recognise it.

It was a long day having packed up camp and headed off around 10.00am we arrived home close to 7.00pm tried but happy. Overall a great trip, very relaxing and a great time had by all.