DAY 2: Tweed Heads to Pottsville

Where is my bag?

Despite our concerns of having to restock Debbie’s gear for the trip from the opp shop and Target – they came to nothing.  Qantas found her bag, and delivered it to us by 9:30am.  This did delay our intended departure by about 2 hours – at the time we thought it would matter too much – but it is to be our biggest walking day – and as we would eventually discover, sunset is 5pm and we would be walking in the dark!

I love the smell of coffee in the morning!

I am happy to rough it, but I need the smell of coffee in the morning.  OK, so I could rely on the nearest early-rising barista – but tricky to admit that I much prefer the flavour of plunger coffee extracted at less than boiling water to that of steam-driven caffine.

I bought this lovely small coffee flask, about 300mls, in Japan many years ago.  Yes I know it looks very beaten up – but it still works.  It seals very tight and keeps the coffee hot. 5 or 6 hours later it is still too hot to drink.

I rely on Robert Timms Mocha Kenya coffee bags, but they aren’t always available in the local IGA so we brought enough to survive, two bags per day.  And I always leave with the flask full for sipping along the road. 

• A full flask and a camino-sized stash of one dozen coffee bags add 640 grams to my pack weight.

But Why?

We reached our goal of getting to Kingscliff Beach to stop for lunch. Just that it was now 2pm and we had already eaten many of our lunch snacks.  Oh well.  Debbie was after a coffee so we decided upon the Kingscliff Beach Hotel which had a welcoming outdoor lunch garden.  While testing out their very tasty Duck Spring Rolls we got talking to the friendly waitress, Kohbe.  When she discovered that we on a walking holiday and our destination that night was Pottsville, she posed a valid question. “Why? You do know we have cars here don’t you?” 

WE DO – but something happens when you get older and walking until your hips ache and you get blisters seems to be a challenge that we relish.  Kohbe, who herself had adventures when in nappies to The Gloucester Tree invited other staff over to see the curiosities and we were treated to a glass of wine on the house.  (More wine!)

Cudgen Nature Reserve and Cabrita Beach

Hitting the road again at nearly 3pm we know that we still had 16km to go, about 3.5 hours walking.  We had anticipated that we would be able to walk along the beach, but by now we both had blisters from the crocs and had switched to shoes, and there was a dense mangrove swamp between the beach and the Tweed Head Coast Road. 

A steady pace was maintained until Cabrita Beach as it was getting dark and the views limited. Still pleasantly warm we were amused to hear diners say “We can’t sit outside, I didn’t bring my cold weather gear!”

New blister band aids in place we hefted our packs again and did the final 7kms with the head torch.

Pottsville Beach Motel

Our second night was spent at the Pottsville Beach Motel in a Queen Room. It was small at 20m² but had a tiny dining table and a microwave. We arrived after dark, so I deposited Debs in the room and then headed off into town to find victuals. I was directed to the Chinese Takeaway, but after a few missed turns decided to settle on the IGA and microwave dinners. These Superfood bowls were really tasty and after two serves we felt full. Only in the morning did I consider how many calories they have – two bowls each added up to about 500 calories. Given our exertions of today I’m not sure that is enough.

The Daily Statistics

Heading to Brunswick Heads tomorrow = only 20km. A Walk in the park!