BEAUTIFUL BALLINA

Friday, October 25, 2013 3:53 AM Posted by Unknown
Our maiden voyage brought us to a lovely corner of the world... beautiful Ballina. We really wanted to see Byron Bay and the coast around Ballina, so we stayed at the Lakeside caravan park that sits right on the Shaws Bay Lake (with Ballina Beach on the other side). The caravan park had its own water park and mini-golf. These were big hits with the girls!
View from our campsite.
The water park the girls loved.
The coolest mini golf course I've ever seen!
There was so much to see and do in this area, so we filled up each day to overflowing! This was a good chance to see how schoolwork in the morning and sightseeing in the afternoon would go. As we get into a rhythm, I think we should be able to get school done by 10.30, leaving the rest of the day to explore. The first afternoon we found an enchanting place called Thursday Plantation. This is a working tea-tree farm with tea-tree maze, huge sculpture gardens and rainforest walk.
The girls re-enacting this hedge crocodile's last victims!
These freaky statues were life sized and spread over a huge area.
The door to..... Wonderland? Willy Wonka's? Nope, just more forest hiking track... doh!

The next day was a big one. We went to the Macadamia Castle at Knockrow where we got to hang out with some little cuties (not just El and Lil). There were kangaroos to feed, bunnies to hold, sleeping wombats to antagonise and baby chickens to squeeze. I haven’t seen any Macadamias growing anywhere, but plenty of types in the gift shop on the way out!
The visiting dignitaries.
Yep, I now know what's up a knight's skirt (in this case, lots of metal, scaffolding & MDF, woohoo).
Daddy & Lily get up close and personal with Skip.

We also went for a scoot down to see Byron Bay. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. So we spent an afternoon cruising around the big B (after we sat in a big long traffic queue just to make it into town!). Apart from some skinny-dipping hippies, some cool Kombie vans and weird looking shops, I’m still not entirely sure what the big deal is. Oh well, we had some icecream, stood on the lighthouse bluff, did the lookout forest hike and checked out the view from the hang-gliding platform... wow! Maybe this is the attraction!

Graffiti says "Fly or die!.... Pray 4 Me"
Icecream Byron style.
On the coast road home we checked out some nice holiday spots. Lennox Head was a beautiful spot. It has a river/lagoon on one side and a long, sandy beach on the other. Also, who can forget the big prawn on the outskirts of Ballina. 
True story!

I reckon he looks a wee bit grumpy from the front.
3 comments
3 Responses
  1. Jasmine Ruigrok Says:
    October 25, 2013 at 4:06 AM

    Yay!!! You're blogging!! Was only thinking of you guys today, sounds like y'all are having a blast. :D Love all the photos!!! Missing you guys heaps, give your cutie girls a hug from me! xox

  2. Unknown Says:
    October 26, 2013 at 8:37 PM

    Hi there Jacksons!! Your creativity lives on Jo!! Some awesome pics and great reviews of your travels. I don't know the first thing about blogging so I hope you get this. Love to all. M & D (as in Mum and Dad)

  3. Unknown Says:
    November 1, 2013 at 8:28 PM

    Yep we are finally blogging!! It's a pretty slow process - some of the places I just blogged today, we actually visited nearly 2 weeks ago... woops! Hi M& D... creativity for the blog must also go to the amazing Jas (legend) who set the whole thing up for me. We are having a blast - miss you! xxo

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