more pics 31st

Byron bay area, a month earlier a shark killed a surfer here.

Byron bay lighthouse.

Rain forrest  walk.

Looking down on dried up waterfall

Rainforrest pool great for a cool dip

Dubai beach

Lennox head, aus

Looking down on Lennox Head

Beach at Coolangatta

Coolangatta

Byron Bay

31st october

The excellent weather continues as we carry on with our excellent trip. Really enjoyed  the coolangangatta area, trips to Lennox head, byron bay and today we went into the rain forrest for a two hour walk. Anne and Geoff have been perfect hosts treating us to lovely meals and drinks at home. Most days we are up early ready to start our morning walks at the beach or lakeside down near Bond university.

28th October 2014

Dubai did not disappoint. We crammed quite a lot into the three days...shopping in the Mall, dinner at Le Meridian, evening drinks at the Irish Village, a few hours on the beach and a shopping trip for the fake goods at Karama. As previously stated the Hotel Appartment was absolute luxury. So we left Dubai with with all of our Dirams spent. The flight to Oz was 13 hours and it was pointless trying to sleep so we just tried to catch up with all the movies we wanted to watch. We watched 4 movies and a 3 part tv series.
Geoff and Ann picked us up at Brisbane airport and we arrived on the Gold Coast  in good time. This really is an attractive area with beautiful beaches. At the moment its spring time over here and apparently its the hottest and driest October on record. However we're both comfortable with it and enjoying the warm sea and lake water. Finding a good internet café has been hard but we found our way into a casino style complex with free internet computers. At the moment we are talking to a couple who have been wild camping around Oz for the last 6 years so we are getting loads of good information off them. Would love to download some photies but cant find the card reader on the computer but will work that out tomorrow.

22nd october

Arrived Dubai last night , apartment is posh and plush but not like our motorhome
Trying to do too much in the short time here...beach, shopping etc.
Off to the Meridian tonight for a special meal, then will watch the lions let loose on the Christians as Liverpool play Real Madrid. Always looking for the cheaper option Barbara asked where the campsites are! Funnilly enough we did actually find a store selling camping equipment. Who knows maybe next year? Weather very hot but AC everywhere.

Friday 19th September

Friday 19^th September

 

Our final night found us on the Caravan club site in Cheltenham. Again a short walk took us to the town centre.  We had been disappointed by Wednesdays visit to the Clarks Retail village at Street but Cheltenhams designer shops made up for that.  Here we bought quite a few items for our trip to Oz and NZ

Wednesday 17th September – Thursday 18th

Wednesday 17^th September – Thursday 18th

We headed to the Caravan Club site at Cheddar only to find it full so we diverted back to Unity Farm at Burnham where we had 2 enjoyable nights. We didn’t join in but when we had a meal and a pint in the club on the site we were introduced to modern bingo. It was sad not to hear that pens and paper tickets are no longer used but even more worrying was the absence of calls such as ‘legs eleven’ and the accompanying whistles.......the fun seems to have been taken out of bingo and replaced with the mindless pursuit of fortunes. As much as we liked this site we were warned by those in the know that it should be avoided in the high season where drunken brawls seem to be fairly frequent.

16th september

A lovely late September sunny day at Bude and time for a last swim of the season.

The National Trust house Lanhydrock near Lostwithiel.

Just checking to see if the pies are ready.

One of the many majestic rooms at Lanhydrock

Monday 15th September

Monday 15^th September

The excellent mid September weather continued but it was time to head home....slowly.  We therefore headed to Eden Valley Holiday Park just outside Lostwithiel.  Again a good site despite being a little remote.  The day we spent here we headed off along The Saints pathway.  After about 4 miles along viewless narrow lanes we decided to take a detour into Lantyan woods. This took us along a picturesque valley walk aside the River Fowey.  This was a peaceful walk until we came across a disturbed woman who came running out of the trees threatening to slap me and accusing me of enjoying ‘a mans world’.  A sad encounter but one that was like water off a ducks back after my 35 years as a mental health practitioner.

Carbis Bay

St. Ives

St Ives

Thursday 11th September – Sunday

Thursday 11^th September – Sunday 14^th

We were determined on this trip to avoid our old haunts of Perranporth and Newquay so we headed further south to St Ives.  The Sat Nav was hell bent on sending our lovely ‘new’ motorhome into the Atlantic so we ignored it and followed our noses to Polmanter Tourist Park.  The good weather had now tempted more and more ‘Silver Surfers’ to the sands of Cornwall so sites were starting to look a bit fuller. However we still found  a good pitch and were impressed not only with the actual site but the helpfulness of reception staff. Key attractions of the site included  its outdoor pool, spacious pitches and modern bar/ restaurant.  We spent most of our time here walking into St Ives where we tried some of the shops and bars. We also walked about 8 miles to Trencom Hill where we could see both the north and south coasts of Cornwall from the summit.  Another walk we tried took us inland  towards Hayle where we returned along the picturesque coastal path. Carbis Bay proved to be one of the main attractions along this route

Cliffs above Porthtowan

Following the coastal path passing old Tin Mines.

Great view of Cornish coast.

Tin mines as we head towards St Agnes

Tuesday 9^th September – Wednesday 10th

At £10:50 a night our next stop at Porthtowan Tourist Park proved to be another good choice.  We stayed here two nights spending the first day walking about 7 miles along the Coastal path.  The following day we got the Brompton bikes out and rode into St Agnes where we sat in the warm sunshine overlooking the beach, explored the shops and finally stopped for tea and scones at the Miners and Mechanics Institute on the edge of town. As we returned via Porthtowan I was becoming increasingly aware of how inviting the sea was becoming.

Monday 8th September 2014

Monday 8^th September 2014

With the kids now back at school and the temperatures well into the early 20’s we left home heading  south west.  First stop was Unity Farm just outside Burnham On Sea.  A massive site that provided ACSI rates alongside some great deals if you stayed for about 10 days.  Our night here worked out at about £11 and we were surprised to see that the facilities were excellent, with a choice of ‘fields’ to stay on, each with its own warden.  Buses to Burnham and Weston Super Mare stopped right outside the site and on site was an excellent indoor pool, shops, takeaways and bars.  We only stayed one night as we wanted to push on to Cornwall