So – the distance from Brisbane to Sydney is about 920 kilometers, which when shared between two half-days of driving seemed like a good choice, especially when the motorway appears on the map to be in close proximity to the ocean, but…

The motorway is not really within eyesight of the water, and unlike an iconic cliffhanger drive like the Pacific Coast Highway (between San Francisco and Santa Barbara) our trip turns out to be memorable but still a lot of divided lane highway driving (on the left side).

We did stop in Byron Bay, and walked around a bit and shopped before arriving in Nambucca Heads to spend the night at the Beach Rooms. There was great pizza to be enjoyed tucked onto a table on the porch at Matilda’s as the sun set (and the bats came out). We also had enough for lunch the day after.

We arrive in Sydney before the sun sets and settle in to our rowhouse for the next six days in the Darlinghurst section, south of the Royal Botanical Gardens.

This area is one of the oldest in Sydney (circa 1850) and has had a checkered past that has long been forgiven but not yet forgotten.