Byron Bay

I left Mark and Caroline's the next day at around 9ish and first drove to the local shopping mall which had not only a food store but also a camping store so I was able to get a tent and coolbox etc for the trip down south. A night on a campsite here costs about the same as a bed in a dorm in a cheap backpacker's hostel and most of them have a camp kitchen where you can cook up a meal or use the freezers overnight.
I headed South out of Brisbane and the roads were good although the advanced signing is not as good as the UK and you have to really know the road numbers and names of all the roads you need to get through a major area. Once on the Pacific Highway there was no problems and I soon came to the turn off for Surfers Paradise which is essentially Benidorm without the Spanish! (It's funny how these places replicate themselves around the world!) I walked down onto the beech area and took a couple of pictures then rejoined the highway South down to Byron Bay. I arrived in the small town just in time to catch the Tourist Information before it closed and got details of a Campsite down the road for $17 (8.50GBP) I set up my tent and went to make some tea on the BBQ at the camp kitchen and then settled in. It was really warm and a storm was brewing for about an hour the sky was lit up by a massive lightening storm then eventually the rains came and it came down stair-rods. My worries about the tent were confirmed as it started to leak – but only in one spot so an ingenious use of my brolly and the billy can I had bought earlier saved me from getting wet.