At this time of year (break between semesters) Joan and I trek down to Kingscliff for a few days break. Its a nice place with plenty of good food, beaches, scenery and so forth. Plus we miss the kiddy crowd and get the place to ourselves. This was the first such trip with the i30 which proved an able companion. It accommodated all our stuff and was easy to live with. Not as awesome to drive in the hills as an Alfa which is hardly to be expected of course but perfectly suitable motoring in its own way and certainly a lot more relaxing. Where it sorely lacks is in the steering department - its just dead although I expect decent tires would help improve the situation.
Where it excels is the ease with which it dispatches miles, quietly, comfortably and exceptionally economically.The car recorded an overall average of 5.3 with a best figure seen of 4.8 at one point. That's pretty impressive given the way I was punting the car down the road and over the hills. Of course there was a fair bit of highway driving as well but even so, its an excellent result.
So where did we go? Based at Peppers at Salt, Kingscliff we made numerous forays about the place including a round trip to Nimbin as well as heading into Brunswick Heads and frequenting the point at Cabarita to watch the whales. A further trip to Alstonville as well as general driving about including a trip to Labrador and back.
Nimbin of course is a pretty special place:
Known as a prime habitat for alternate lifestylers its a pretty colourful town well worth a visit if you are into weirdness on a grand scale.
My wife the art director picked a few good spots for shooting different things including Mt Warning and various rural scenes:
Up on the point watching whales. And surfers.
