Our stay at Coffs was poetically finished by a massive downpour in the morning.

After literally twenty days of fantastic weather, day twenty-two put an end to that in no uncertain terms. But it was all good. We were on the road, not even at the halfway point and we were all appreciating how fortunate we are to be doing this. So who cares if it rains or not.

We’d had a great time so far, and the rain belting down on the van, and draining off the awning a’la Manchester stylee was just the tiniest of blips on our trip. In some ways it was good, because we had been wondering when our luck was going to change, and rather it was in the temperate Coffs Harbor than somewhere freezing.

So that ended our brief stay at Coffs, now it was time to move on again.

We were now heading towards Cabirita Beach to catchup with Craig and Dawn, but the journey looked a touch long so we had pencilled in a stop at Skennards Head, which is close to Ballina.

Long trips in the van were not fantastic, as it was super-noisy, rattly and the van has pulled to the left from day one, so we have been trying to break up trips of over 400K’s or four hours of driving. That meant our trip to Cabarita would be interrupted by a stopover at somewhere close to Ballina, and we had managed to book in at a Big 4 Ballina Headlands caravan park, which as it turned out was actually Skennards Head. It seems to be a common theme that caravan parks label themselves as the nearest recognised town, even if they are a few k’s out. But that wasn’t a problem, and the park was acomodating in that they agreed to let us stay one night and not a two-night minimum. I think the fact that we are travelling off-peak is definitely helping us. In fact, we are avoiding crowds for that reason which is also adding value to the trip.

On the way to Skennards Head, we chanced upon Mclean, which as it turns out was a fantastic little stop.

Mclean sits on the Clarence river, and as it happens was settled by the jocks many years ago, and it has held on to some of its scottish traditions ever since. It has some pretty spectacular views of the Clarence and felt like a thriving little town. We had a quick feed and a wander round, as well as driving across the bridge over the Clarence “because we can”.

Mclean was a nice little break, and I would recommend it if you are in this neck of the woods.

Next up was our final destination of Skennards Head, and we made reasonable time, which allowed us the have a dip in the pool (unheated, bloody freezing), the spa, and the kids had a race around the park on peddle-carts, burning off much needed energy. All in all a nice little stop, and immaculate park. We could of stayed longer etc etc.

Next stop …. Cabarita Beach, see you then.