We are spending most of our time with Katharine’s brother and sister-in-law, Chris and Jane, near Bellingen in rural New South Wales, but over the weekend we had a jaunt northwards to Brisbane, where Chris and Katharine have a second cousin, Sarah Davies (nee Barron). On the way north we stopped off for lunch at a pub on the Clarence River. We spent the night in a nice little 1980s motel in Byron Bay, Mecca for hippies and surfers, where we met a friend of Jane’s for dinner in an excellent fish restaurant.
The next day we visited the Tweed Gallery which features many paintings by Australian artist Margaret Ollie, together with a reconstruction of her studio, as well as other work by Australian artists. Our drive to Brisbane was slow, with very heavy rain and then heavy traffic on the Goldcoast highway, but we were warmly greeted by Sarah and her husband Mark. He is both an excellent cook and a champion beer brewer. On Sunday we visited central Brisbane. In spite of the storm it was still very hot and humid, but an attractive city.
On the way back south we stopped off in Evans Head to visit friends of Chris and Jane’s. The highlights were an evening beach picnic where we drank bubbly and waited for the supermoon; then the next day we had breakfast in ‘Evans to Betsy’s’ breakfast cafe.
Richard & Katharine's travels around the World 