Ti-tree lakes, beach swims, rainforest walks and big goannas

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.

We received hundreds of waves and car horn beeps and peace signs from passers by. We made  the local news last night and many people had heard about us. The enthusiasm was contagious and we returned their well wishes with frantic flag waving, cheering and peace signs. We walked along the beach from Suffolk and were taken to an aboriginal birthing lake where we swam in a beautiful, peaceful fresh water lake stained dark but clear brown by tannins from the surrounding ti-tree. A further walk along the beach to Broken head and lunch on the grassy picnic area where we were greeted by the resident Lace Monitor called Bruce. Bruce made himself at home as he walked under our table to pick up crumbs. Our feet were all raised up on the table as Bruce was about  2 metres long and as scary as any prehistoric dinousaur out of Jurrassic Park. Bruce found a shopping bag on the ground and stuck his head into the bag, looping his neck through the handle. As he meandered away from the table the bag was now securely wrapped around him, trailing along between his legs. By this stage he had our full attention. Many unsuccessful attempts were made to remove the bag but he was somewhat defensive of any approach and he moved fast in self protection. A young french tourist came to investigate but Bruce was becoming agitated at all the attention. He whipped our French friend with his tail to let him know he was too close. His tongue flicking out at us continually and his claws looking long and scary but Dawn was unpeturbed by his threatening stance and turned into THE GOANNA GETTA!! Despite the frantic calls from concerned team members Dawn fearlessly approached our prehistoric friend and gave the French man a lesson in Aussie ettiquette towards goannas. As Dawn caught Bruce's attention from one direction, the Frenchman heroically reached out to Bruce's neck and cut the bag handle before Bruce whipped his head back around. We captured the whole episode on video and retrieved the bag to be used again.(good recycling effort) Well done Dawn!! From lunch we walked through bushland across a headland and dropped onto Seven Mile Beach. It is really that long and we stopped for two surf swims and relaxed in another ti-tree lake before collapsing at our accomodation in Lennox Heads. Big day but AWESOME!!

Sue - footprints for peace