This is the ninth in my series of short reflections on different places in Australia and New Zealand, which I visited in November 2019.
We travelled south from the Gold Coast along the New South Wales coastline. After visiting Byron Bay Lighthouse we headed further south to Sawtell where we were staying for three nights. On the way we passed through the town of Grafton, further inland, where we saw the terrible effects of the tragic bushfires which have afflicted Australia in 2019 and 2020.
The air was filled with an eerie orange smog, a frightening and sinister reminder that the bushfires were raging not that far away, destroying homes and wildflife habitats: and that so much of Australia is suffering from dry conditions and extreme heat, and that many have lost their properties and some have lost their lives. As I write, these areas are still desperately in need of rain.
We passed on further down the coast to Sawtell. Here, the air was clearer, and we found our holiday park cabin close to the beach. We could sit outside on the deck in the warm, humid atmosphere, later relieved by a cool breeze. The roar of the surf on the pale golden beach formed a calming backdrop, as did the cicadas, rising in a powerful chorus among the chirping native birds.
Sawtell itself is a delightful and very pretty village to walk around, and is known as a heritage village. A small settlement was developed at Sawtell from 1863. It has an interesting history which you may read here on this website.
From Sawtell we visited two points on the spectacularly beautiful New South Wales coastline: Urunga and Smoky Cape at South West Rocks. More about them on my next post, which will be number ten in this series.
SC Skillman
psychological, suspense, paranormal fiction & non-fiction
My next book, Paranormal Warwickshire
will be published by Amberley Publishing on 15th June 2020
and is available to pre-order now from Amazon.
scskillman.com 