Ballina to Byron

Awake at 6am again , waiting for the next door workshop to start at 6:30am . Up we get & have breakfast , before cleaning the RV . Garry arrived and told us he hadn't heard from todays lookers , so we headed off to Ballina to renew our drivers licenses . We are heading to Queensland tomorrow , so we thought we'd renew the licenses today as we won't be in NSW for a while . You can renew your license up to 6 months prior to it running out - mine was 6 months to the day !! Must be something about doing that job in the RMS - you leave your personality at the door when you come to work !!!
  Licenses done , we headed north to Lennox Head and stopped at the lookout on the southern end of Lennox Head Beach . There was a solo paraglider flying in the sea breeze above us as we walked to the top off the headland  . There were great views to the south - Skennars Head and Boulder Beach , and out to sea .

 We watched as a paraglider took off , brushing through a tree as he flew out - the wind wasn't quite right when he took off , he was lucky !! Another took off and then landed soon after , but started to set up to take off again . As soon as people see wings in the air , a crowd starts to gather , so that was our sign to head off again .

 Byron Bay for fish & chips for lunch sounded good , so off we went . The road started to get busier and busier the closer we got . There was a take away that we passed - there were no parking spots anywhere close , so we kept going into Byron - did we mention the traffic , it was horrendous , so we went around the block and headed back to the first one . It was doing a roaring trade - after a while ours was ready , so back in the ute and off to the lighthouse . Well there was the second mistake , they we charging $7 a car to park - we kept driving and found the local football ground and sat in the raised seating to consume our lunch - we were accompanied by a magpie , 2 white ibis , an Indian Minor and a council worker mowing the field . I think that was the quietest place in Byron !!! The road to the lighthouse was on par with the road to Manning Point ( if you can remember that one ) - a bit strange considering the amount of tourists that swarm all over Byron like ants on a honey pot . That was enough of Byron for us for one day !!! 

 Lunch done , we headed back out to Bangalow and back to Lismore - we avoided as much of the highway as we could today , barely going on any off it . 

  We arrive back to Lismore , grab some bananas and filled up with diesel , before going back to the RV . Garry was a happy man , the people that were coming in the morning , arrived at 12:30 and had a look through . The lady couldn't fault it , and was very impressed - she even said she didn't want  to be impressed by it ( I think she might want one even more , now that she has seen it ) - so there is a potential sale for him !!!! It was the perfect time to have a beer and celebrate , with important news about two other customers renewing their contracts as well . It has been great 5 days in Lismore - we renewed our friendship with Garry and Kelly , assisted with a different viewpoint , helped with the repairs and enjoyed the company immensely !!!!!

 The ute is going well , and is still impressing us on fuel consumption . We keep a log of how much fuel we use and kilometres travelled so that we know how its going - the last two times we have refuelled , we have averaged 13 and a half litres per hundred kilometres , the worst has been 

15.8lt /100klm !!! That is figured on all our driving / towing and our  4wd expeditions .

  Tomorrow we head to Canungra via Kyogle and Mt Lindsay , then Beaudesert . It will be interesting as we haven't gone on some of these roads before - the start of many !!

Her's todays map :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z3uwp0IUF5HE.kN6C_iCn6VtQ