After the Storm

Well that was a wild night to be camping! We just about managed to keep the van watertight, and emerged this morning to be told that we just slept through a category one cyclone! All around camp were scenes of devistation; a destroyed tent was tangled in the trees behind us and a big branch had narrowed avoided falling through the windscreen of the van. Bark had been stripped from all the trees and there was already a van driving around collecting piles of debris from the roads. 

Down at the beach, the high tide and big waves had moved tonnes of sand and started to erode the sand dunes quite dramatically. 

Conditions at sea were obviously still pretty wild, even through the rain had mostly stopped. There was no decisions about whether to surf or not to be made, as life guards had closed the beach!

Yesterday you could just walk down to this beach at Coffs. There is now a metre high step where the forces of nature have been at work overnight!

But at least we could still visit the famous 'big banana' which had survived the storm unscathed.

We spent the day gradually heading north, calling in at any beach or town that look interesting enough to stop out. As surfing is not advised after heavy rain and the increase in sediment made it look less appealing, we decided to stay on dry land again today. 

Woolgoola had a good headland to view from but no shelter on the long beaches.

There was the odd surfer in at the more sheltered spots; Arrawarra was one such place, but we not temped in and were content to watch from the shelter of the van. 

It was the same situation at Yamba main beach...

At least we have a comfortable place to view from.. 

In Yamba town, we took a walk through the Main Street and browsed a few shops, but were too late for the cafe. Uprooted trees and debris were everywhere. They had only just had the power restored when we arrived and more heavy rain showers kept sweeping through town as we strolled. Apparently there had been a lot of boats damaged in their marina.

Before bad light stopped play, we went to look at Angorie Point, which is a famous point break. Today however, it was just a mass of white water, with lots of messy crashing waves. 

We decided to stay put in Yamba, as there is a nice camp spot here, next to the river. The other bonus, is that is it only a two minute walk back onto Main Street. There were only two restaurants open in town, but luckily they both looked good. Spent the evening in the warm and dry, chatting, planning and devouring a delicious burger.