Far Far Away in Oz: Road trip

The east coast of Australia is roughly the same size as the US east coast, from Maine to Florida. There is one main north-south highway and it is, unbelievably, frequently a narrow two lane road that winds through towns and gets backed up due to narrow bridges. Our trek north took quite a while but we did enjoy the drive, the views and the roadside entertainments.

After 4-5 hours, we were in need of a break and who could resist the Big Banana? There are approximately 50 "Big Things" across Australia. There's a Big Mango, a Big Koala, a Big Meat Pie.. you get the picture. You can buy a Big Things map and find each one if you are so inclined. The Big Banana is the most famous of all the big cement/fiberglass objects and I'm sure the best. Where else can you buy bananas at the crazy, cheap price of $4.95 a kilo? We did see the Big Prawn briefly on the way home but, sadly, that may be the end of our Big sightings in Oz.

Gotta have a frozen, chocolate covered banana with hundred and thousands (that's what they call sprinkles here)!

Back in the car, we entertained ourselves with road signs. Tons of places here have names consisting of an aboriginal word repeated twice. We passed Wangi Wangi, Ghinni Ghinni, Woy Woy, Kundle Kundle, Tucki Tucki and my favorite, Booti Booti National Park. Other amusing locations included Kangy Angy and Tunglebung. Love the internet via iPhone! We discovered that repeating words is an Aboriginal linguistic convention to denote more than one. So, a place named Booti Booti is a place where there's lots of booti - whatever that is!

We were constantly reminded about the need for caution due to wildlife. Luckily, we did not harm anything. Can you imagine hitting a koala? (Or a Tasmanian Devil, Katie!!) North of Coffs Harbour, we did start to see lots and lots of kangaroos in fields beside the roads. So fun! At one point as we drove down a shortcut, (AKA really narrow road with no lines and no speed limit signs), we saw a kangaroo coming straight towards us in the middle of the road, bouncing up and down. A bit surreal.

Our destination for the night was Byron Bay. This place had a very lively feel to it! Lots of people, quirky shops, hippie/new-agey vibe, great food, just totally different from any small town we've been to or through here. Think Carrboro or Asheville, throw in beautiful beaches and a surfing fixation and you get the idea. After one night, we headed north a bit reluctantly, knowing it would have been fun to stick around a bit longer.

You never know when you might need some fire twirling equipment.

Sam thought it was "kinda weird that it has such a kid kind of name but only adults can go in there."

Cape Byron Lighthouse. Cape Byron is the most easterly point in Australia.

The tallest one is called Mount Warning, named that to alert ships of nearby offshore reefs.

Our next destination was Surfer's Paradise (yes, that's the cheesy name of the town) in an area of Queensland known as the Gold Coast. Think Myrtle Beach on steroids. This area gets panned for being uninteresting and overly commercial. Agreed. However, we used hotel points and stayed at a beautiful Marriott and enjoyed a couple of days of quiet sleeping, mostly nice weather and a great beach for the kids. Worked for us.