Did not sleep well. I think our bed was too hard. Our alarm went off at 7, so we got up. Enjoyed a light breakfast and got ready to leave. Packed up our bags and Mark brought the trolley up to take our bags down to the parking garage. That worked out perfectly. We drove out of Surfer's Paradise and stopped briefly so I could take a farewell picture of the beach and ocean. It was a beautiful place. Our first stop was in Byron Bay. This whole time in Australia, Mark has been looking for a Ducati t-shirt with Australia on it. We finally had some success. Arthur actually was kind enough to give Mark the t-shirt. Thank you, Arthur! That made Mark's day!! We have never been to Byron Bay, so we took a short drive to the ocean. The beach was beautiful. We could see a small island at the end of the big bay. Lots of people around the waterfront. I had picked up a flyer for Byron Bay which listed Minion Falls. We checked our gps and it was North of Lismore, which is where we planned to meet up with a friend. We drove thru some beautiful countryside from rolling hills with lots of huge farms of cattle and grain, to a thin one lane road that was not even paved. Some of the road was not in good shape at all. However, the views were spectacular as we climbed the mountain and zig zagged thru all the bends. We finally got near the falls and there were actually a few houses. We followed the signs to a lookout as our time was short. We were a long way across the valley from the falls and there really was just a trickle of water falling from it. We drove the 30 kilometers from there to Lismore and met up with Stephen & Sally. We got to spend a few minutes with them. Thank you so much for your hospitality. And thank you for your amazing orgonite creations. We headed south towards the Pacific Hiway. Stopped for lunch at McDonalds. We have been staying away from the fast food, but it was already late and I know that Mark needed a break from the driving. I had an egg McMuffin and Mark enjoyed a double cheeseburger and coffee. One of their employees helped us enter our order into their automated screen. Then it was back on the road again. We traveled thru some small towns, including one called, Casino. Mark actually thought I had put that in our gps as we kept taking the round about exits to Casino. It was a town with lots of shops and cafes. They had a weekend fair, so lots of people around. We didn't stop. No, we didn't see an actual casino, but I'm sure there was an RSL or hotel with pokies. We made a stop for fuel along the way. Then eventually, we found ourselves in Nambucca Heads. We stopped and checked out the water from a local park. It was a beautiful sight of the river at low tide. Then we headed to our motel. Our bed and breakfast is called, Riverview Boutique Motel. We didn't arrive until almost 5 pm. Our room is very nice and spacious. The bathroom looks brand new. We have a deck outside. We can see the Nambucca River out our window, but the motel is ½ block away. We took a walk thru the park and found a lovely wooden deck along the river. We did some exploring as we needed to get some walking in, and found the Nambucca Heads RSL. Mark enjoyed an sg&t and we both selected a pokey machine to play. Mark cashed out even and I was up a couple of dollars. It's always nice when we don't give them any money. We walked back, but by now it was dark for walking on the walk way. Mark used his phone to light our way. Came back and had some cheese, crackers and hummus to finish off some of our food. Then had a light dinner in our room. We are watching the moving, Dunkirk, since this place has free wifi and Netflix which we appreciate. Thanks so much for the newsy emails and messages. Tomorrow, we will celebrate Mark's birthday on our 5-hour drive, stopping in Port Clare for lunch with friends.