Today was an unofficial rest day since we had managed to take a shortcut via the beach rather than the highway. It was also a Birthday for one of the walkers. This makes it that we now have 2 walkers in their sixties. Since we had the day off, we all arose later than normal and failed to provide the Birthday girl with her cup of tea in bed, as she packed her sleeping bag and folded the bed back into a couch before some of us emerged.

To add to Dawn’s story about 4yrs since a” noisy pitta bird” has been heard in Iluka, today we met another enthusiastic local who informed us that this area once was the home of many coastal emus. North of the Clarence River there is only one known surviving coastal emu at huge risk of extinction in these parts. A few more are known to inhabit an area south of the Clarence but tourist resorts are taking over the natural habitats and locals are concerned for their future. There is so much work to do in helping look after our country.

Today our intrepid FootPrints for Peace walkers reached Iluka, site of a 90 ha subtropical littoral rainforest; the largest remnant of this type of vegetation in the state of NSW. After the noise of the traffic, the quiet of the forest was soothing. Huge sinuous woody vines greeted us as we meandered along a pathway lined with mossy logs.

Hi Everyone, After a comfortable night in a caravan park,at Broadwater(next to a sugar mill!!) THE FOOTPRINTS FOR PEACE CREW headed off to Evans head where we needed to make one of our first  controversal  decissions.  Do we walk along the beach, which is significantly shorter (about 5 klms) which just happens to be part of a military base, and take the minute consequences of being "apprehended" or go tthe long way.

we are currently in Iluka having walked over 200 km in two weeks. We are now calling ourselves the Footsore Feisty Five - all nursing a blister or two and each night rubbing tender parts of feet, ankles and legs. Today and yesterday we walked through Bandjalang National Park. It starts just south of Evans Head and goes all the way to Iluka.

Lost count of the days but  I know we are somewhere in northern NSW

We left Byron this morning after a breakfast provided for the homeless. (We figured we fit into that category for at least these three months.) Our local guide Gabi walked us along the coast road out of Byron.

Apparently the enthusiastic support for the FootPrints for Peace walkers has been so energising that Joyce Morley of Tweed Heads returned to walk yet another day. Well done Joyce! Manjani also walked from Kingscliff to Cabarita making her our 77th walk participant.

At Hastings Point we noticed gorgeous purple decorations and were invited to Wendy’s 50th birthday party. The offers of softdrink and water were much appreciated: thanks Wendy!

Brown kurrajong is presently in full flower along the walking tracks and road verges. Some of us preferred the beach, but in the heat of the day the hind dune path provided some welcome shade. We ended our ninth walking day with a delightful dip in the estuary at Pottsville.

J

Hi everyone,

Well today we passed the milestone of crossing the boarder from Queensland to N.S.W, with photos to prove it but have not yet managed to download photos to the blog. Nine adults and three children began walking with us from Currumbin Surf Life Saving Club It was great being lead by the three children carrying the banner. The numbers dwindled to to 5 (plus us) as we reached the border. The day was not too hot with a little cloud cover so we were able to make good time until we decided to have a quick coffee, that took almost an hour to get. The public showed lots of interest, especially a group of lifesavers (young and good looking of course) who kept saying “wow! No way, you're great” we lapped up the praise with big grins.We arrived in Kingscliff with Anna and Joyce who were very pleased with themselves walking all the way, but I think they were glad to be going home to their own beds,thanks Anna and Joyce for your wonderful company .

June Norman

After saying farewell to our host Sally under her magnificent Fig tree, we set off for our day of walking. I was dreading a section of this route as when I cycled it with Cycle Against the Nuclear Cycle (CANC) a few years ago, I recalled a section of the journey riding up and down these big dippers. Anna from GECKO assured me that there were only 3 such hills, whereas I remember 15. Di kept on asking me “is this the big hills?” and I kept on saying “nah, this is just a rise”. We got to Nerang and those dreaded hills didn’t seem to have appeared. So I’ve concluded that walking the hills is easier than riding those dippers.

Hello everyone and welcome to Di's first blog for the walk. This is actually the second blog I have done for this day, because my computer skills assisted me in the losing the first one. Now I might tell you that the first blog was superb and I am unsure if I will be able to repeat such excellence! But I will give it a go.