Beaches and No-Vacancy Signs

Before I share our tale of no-vacancy-induced trauma, check out some more nice beach pictures of the fun we had before the 2nd night of  hotel drama began....

Second beach of the day... really wishing I had thought to write down where we stopped... but at the time I was soooo sure I would remember it all! I think this stop was Nambucca Heads... but I cannot promise it actually was. I can tell you it was somewhere between Coffs Harbour and Port Maquarie! 

You have to get creative to take couple pictures where there are only 2 of you on the beach and you didn't remember to bring the tripod. 

What was funny about this trip- is that despite the fact that, as I will soon describe, there were NO hotel rooms in the whole of the coast of New South Wales, there were also NO humans on the beach! Every beach we stopped at was 99% deserted. There were usually a few surfers, but the wetsuited gang bobbing in the water beyond the shore, we usually were alone! So all of these people apparently stay on the shore during their long weekend, but don't actually go to the beach- weird right? 

Next stop- driving around to find a lighthouse. We had missed the famous lighthouse at Byron Bay, so this was our big chance to check one out!

Little Kangaroo hanging out by the light house. 

How amazing is this view? This is what I always imagined the South Pacific would look like. So pretty. 

Almost to the lighthouse. It turned out to be a pretty serious hike, especially in flip flops!

We made it! 

(Of course the camera battery died before I got MY picture taken with the lighthouse, and it was a really steep hill, so I didn't feel like running back down to get a battery and having to walk ALL the way back up the hill again!)

Fun facts about the lighthouse and Australian lighthouses in general. Its called the Smoky Cape Lighthouse. It (the Cape, not the lighthouse, clearly) was sighted and named by Captain James Cook on 13 May 1770. 

Australian convicts built the first light house in Australia in 1791. This lighthouse was built in 1896. 

It still works, from the original lens and lantern, and you can see it for 25 nautical miles. 

Pretty neat.

View of the lighthouse from the distance. 

Lighthouses make me think of two things. 

1) My mom, because she really has a thing about lighthouses. (Which is sort of funny, because she grew up in landlocked states); and

2) Pete's Dragon (aka: Puff the Magic Dragon the Disney Movie) and the song "Candle on the Water"- which, is a very pretty song, sung in a lighthouse. Here is a little sample of the lyrics:

I'll be your candle on the water,
My love for you will always burn.
I know you're lost and drifting,
But the clouds are lifting,
Don't give up, you have somewhere to turn.

And a lil video for your viewing pleasure....

All of this was good fun and games. Beaches, eating, driving, lighthouses. Good times for sure. But inevitably, night began to fall, and we were once again in search of shelter for the night. In a very very uncharacteristic move, I had agreed to not make hotel reservations for the first two nights of our trip, and just "wing it" by driving along until we wanted to stop, and finding a nice little hotel room for the night. We envisioned cute little beach towns abounding with vacant hotel rooms. We didn't bother to think that on a rare 5-day holiday weekend in Australia, everyone else also would want to stay at the beach and there might not be a single hotel room in the whole country! Night one of the trip, we struggled to find a room. But I was in good spirits after my koala hugging, and trying very hard to embrace this bohemian approach to vacation, so I kept it together- and we eventually found an OK room in a random town, not on the beach. 

Night 2 rolls around... our big plans to stay in the very adorable town of Port Maquarie were quickly dashed. And after driving around forever inquiring about vacancies, I got a little cranky. And after driving, and driving, and seeing nothing but no vacancy signs, even at the sketchiest of sketchy motels, I was starting to fear we were going to sleep in the car. A little temper tantrum and a few more miles in the car, we eventually did find a room. It may have been a ground floor room with two twin beds, in a very seedy motel, but it was a room. But seriously, there was NO room at the inn. 

Lesson learned- no more bohemian hippie approaches to vacation for this girl. My type-A obsessive planning may not always be the best approach, but it does have the benefit of a guaranteed place to stay every night! I cannot tell you how thankful I was that we had decided to stay at the Shangri-la in Sydney and had actual, confirmed, reservations for three nights straight! Hallelujah!