Yamba & Ballina

Today was a rest day. We slept in (compared to travelling days) then got our washing done at the on-site laundry, had lunch and took the hour or so drive to Ballina to see Fin’s Uncle Finlay and Aunty Valda. It was an interesting drive with many fields of sugar cane along the way and the sugar processing plant Sunshine Sugar in Broadwater puffing out steam from it's stack. As well there was a lot of water in a fairly flat landscape, with much of the drive being alongside the Richmond River and occasionally crossing a bridge over it including a swing bridge to allow for taller water craft. We were surprised at how big Ballina is; there is quite a big shopping centre with all the well-known shops (Big-W, K-mart, Target etc) and quite a large residential area. I think the sign said Population 33,900 for Ballina Shire. Finlay and Valda told us it has grown substantially since they moved there 22 years ago. For some information about Ballina, I found this site: http://www.tropicalnsw.com.au/aaa_site/places/towns/ballina.html
The Clarence Resort here in Yamba is very nice with, as I mentioned before, a pond or two and ducks, kangaroos and micro bats. They say not to feed the wildlife but obviously people do as the ducks came racing over when I emptied the teapot onto the grass and even wandered up onto our patio right to the door of the cabin. (So that's what the gate on the patio is for! Not just keeping little children safe.) Both nights on our way back from dinner coming down the road to the resort we saw the kangaroos grazing on the side of the road near the sugar cane plantations. The laundry room is fine and it has a big games room with video games, TV & videos and an Internet kiosk. My only annoyance is that it is supposed to provide wireless internet but it didn’t work for me even after I spoke to the lady at the office. Lucky my Vodafone 2G connection is working OK!
We had a very nice, but huge meal again tonight. We went to the same restaurant (Pelican Restaurant, Yamba Shores Tavern) after looking around because we knew we would get a very yummy, quality meal and didn’t want to risk a not so good one. We both made the mistake of having the soup tonight and then struggled through our main course. The soup bowl was humongous and we they gave us herb bread with it so we were really not very hungry when we got our main course.
Tomorrow is a big driving day to get to Hervey Bay where we stay for two nights and go on a whale watching tour. I hope we see some. It is a little early but apparently they are starting to appear.