The Tweed Valley

Cabarita Beach is a little piece of paradise.  It's only a 20 minute drive from Tweed Heads and has a good supply of facilities within a kilometre of our resort.  We are having a relaxing time - I was going to say soaking up the sunshine, but it has been pouring with rain this morning.  It's still very overcast although the rain has stopped.  We have storms and sunshine forecast for the next few days.  We had a barbecue dinner on Tuesday and watched a thunderstorm pass around us.  It must have been the umbrella we got out of the car "just in case" that acted as our insurance against rain.

On Monday we drove 3 hours to Bushtracker on the Sunshine Coast to finalise the layout and fittings for our caravan which we will take delivery of in August.  We have found some beautiful fabrics which we will be getting from Aboriginal Fabrics in Alice Springs and sister-in-law Margaret has agreed to make us another beautiful quilt.  We also visited Sunshine Toyota in Caloundra to introduce ourselves and get some information on our new Landcruiser which is now expected in April.  Toyota have been able to pick up their production in Japan following the devastating tsunami in 2011 so we will get the car a few weeks earlier than we expected.  It was a long day and we appreciated the car's air-con in the 30+C heat.  It's exciting getting our new "home" organised.

Wednesday 22nd February we drove into the nearby Tweed Valley.  The undulating valley is punctuated by steep mountains and volcanic plugs which are the remnants of the Mount Warning Shield Volcano.  The volcano's caldera stretches from southern Queensland into northern NSW.  Mount Warning is about 20km from Murwillumbah and at 1,157m high it's visible from the ocean.  It was named by Captain Cook in 1770 as he sailed up the east coast of Australia.  It is called Wollumbin by the aboriginal people.  In the aboriginal dreamtime story of Wollumbin, Wollumbin is the Chief of the Mountain.  The spirits of the mountains were warriors and their battle wounds can be seen as scars on the sides of the mountain (landslips).  Thunder and lightning occur during the battles.  The face of the Warrior Chief can be seen in the mountain's outline when viewed from the north. As we crossed the rivers we could see evidence of the recent floods.  The rivers were brown and "silty" and there was plenty of flood debris on the riverbanks.  It was still beautiful to look at.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at Chillingham, next to the Old Butcher Shop Gallery.  We resisted the temptation to buy some pottery at the Gallery.  The Red Rattler Gallery near Dangay has many local craft items and a cafe all housed in two of Sydney's red rattler train carriages.  The carriages brought back memories of another life and time as they were decommissioned in the 1990s.

There's plenty to see and do in this area.  There are many activities and walks as well as lovely countryside to drive through.  Our unit has views over the pool and gardens.  We've decided to extend our stay and will be here until the 9th of March.