29th March 2019 - Crowdy Bay to Mullumbimby

Our last day on the road.  Before heading home we were up early to do the Diamond Head loop walk.  Initially, we were walking through heathland with lots of low shrubs (mostly Banksia - and quite spectacular) and then through forests of paperbark and swamp mahogany.  Lots of spectacular sea views, particularly from Kylie's Lookout.

Particular impressive was the rock arch at Diamond Head.  As the sign says it was made from sedimentary rocks some 200 million years old covered with larva from more recent volcanic activity.  "these larval flows over the intervening time wore and weathered to form unusual and interesting rock formations ..."

Kylie's Lookout has a story behind the name ....... The Man on the Headland 

While Kylie Tennant was living in the little fishing town of Laurieton on the north coast of New South Wales, she made two memorable discoveries - Ernie Metcalfe and Diamond Head. The two belonged together. Called by some 'the mad hermit of Diamond Head', Ernie was splendidly sane, if unlike anybody else. 

Kylie Tennant has painted his portrait vividly and with love, and with it the portrait of Diamond Head - a place to which Ernie was so closely bound in spirit that in the end they seemed to be one. She evokes its fascination and its subtle menace, its rocks and beaches, its wildflowers and wild creatures, the light on sea and land, so that the reader, too, falls under its spell and shares her grief and anger at its later devastation by mining. 

The Man on the Headland is also the story of Kylie, her schoolmaster husband, Roddy, and her two children, both born during her time in Laurieton.

Back to camp to find a goanna checking everything out before packing up and "hitting the road". 

Bob joined us for a cup of coffee and lunch in Coffs Harbour before the last stretch back home to Mullumbimby.