Iluka

[Kyle]In the morning, we managed to avoid smashing into either breakwater as we exited Ballina and entered the sea for an easy run to The harbor at Iluka/Yamba. We had elected to anchor on the Iluka side due to its being better protected from the forecast winds. We were now getting much closer to the many bushfires in NSW. The visibility was dropping and we could smell the smoke. It did make for amazing red sunrises and sunsets, though. {This small positive, of course, in no way counters the huge devastation and disaster for local communities and wildlife}.

Approaching Yamba/Iluka

Ashore, we took a medium length hike to Iluka Bluff on a path that led through the rainforest. The beach and rocks there were beautiful, but eerily quiet due to the parks all being closed to road traffic. We even spotted a family of kangaroos on the cliffs above the point. We were watching a couple of them from the path when I heard another bouncing through the forest towards me. He came around the corner behind a tree and landed right in front of me. He stopped for a second, did a double-take, realized he couldn’t get by me and bounced away the way he had come.

Exploring around Iluka
we are close to one of the many fires billowing smoke

That pretty much took care of all of the attractions in and around Iluka. We walked the long way home and stopped at the town’s only pub. There, we ordered and payed for two cold beers from a bartender who managed to complete our whole exchange without uttering a word to us or even to make eye contact. To be fair, he looked like he had already had too many himself and was really concentrating on not falling over.