After almost two months in and around Sydney, we rented a car and drove up to Byron Bay (still in New South Wales) for the first long leg of our visit to points north along the Australian east coast. Not yet in Queensland, but here are some pix of the lighthouse, the beaches, etc…

After Bryon Bay, our first stop was to see my old long, lost friend Neil Charkow. I tracked him down on the internet a couple years ago, living here on the “Sunshine Coast” just above Brisbane. We also met his lovely wife Melinda and their younger son Ollie (older son Nick is a pilot in the Australian Air Force!). Neil was my best buddy in high school and we had a lot to talk about after almost 40 years. It was great. Hard to get here, but much harder to leave.

While visiting Neil, we stayed at the Novotel Resort on the Sunshine Coast. It was a great place for kids with all kinds of fun activities. We played “putt putt golf,” went kayaking, sailing on Hobie Cats, and I took a long walk to the ocean through some beach bush…

After leaving the Sunshine Coast, we drove up to Hervey Bay via Noosa. A nice spot adjacent to the huge Fraser Island, we walked out on the almost kilometer long (800 km) pier to view the ocean, many fisherpersons, and some seahawks (eagles?) amongst the gulls…

Some vids…

Study Questions:

1. Research Byron Bay, New South Wales, Queensland, Hervey Bay, or thereabouts? What did you find out?
2. Research old best friends. Anything?