Murwillumbah

On route to the summit

View more photos 

Another little town.This one  at a nice location on the banks of the Tweed river..

The main appeal of this spot is it's proximity to Mt Warning National Park.I arrived at 9.30 am and 30 minutes later was being driven out to the base of the dormant volcano by the hostel manager.It was named Mt Warning by Captain Cook in 1770 to warn of the offshore reefs. The Aboriginal people called it Wollumbin meaning ' cloud catcher' .Apt as the peak was enveloped in mist as i started the ascent.It's also the first part of mainland australia to to be touched by sunlight each day.

As its 1156m high I   expected it to be quite a tough climb . As it was , the weather was cool , which helped,  and it only got really tough towards the peak where chains embedded in the rock made the near vertical climb possible.

the hard bit!

View more photos 

It took about 4 hours to do the round trip and I had a few aches the next day, but it was well worth it.

The information centre in town do their best to make the ( very) low key attractions sound interesting , but when the high point of a town walk is the murals painted on public toilets it's a bit desperate.  That's not to say the town doesn't have charm and  it has nice river and mountain views .The hostel is a nice place to chill too with a TV room ( a.k.a a garage ) and free ice-cream each evening .

Time to move on tho' for a brief stop at Surfers Paradise.