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Published: June 24th 2023
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When we arrived in Sawtell we noticed the signs advertising a market this Saturday. Expecting a street market I was a little disappointed that it turned out to be the local CWA fundraiser. There were a lot of plants on offer, some turned wood items, vintage doilies and various stalls offering second hand treasures. I splurged on an $10 kookaburra brooch, but resisted the $120 amethyst brooch even though he was prepared to discount it to $80.
While we were out we continued down Elizabeth Street to then walk back along First Avenue (the main street). I spotted a novelty watering can in the front window of the local discount shop. I went in to check it out in a bit more detail and ended up buying said watering can AND then got into quite a conversation with the sales assistant about whale watching tours. After she showed me the awesome photos she took last Sunday on her outing I was convinced that we should consider a whale watching tour before we leave Sawtell. Bernie was quite keen to do a whale watching tour out of Byron Bay, but I didn’t think we had enough time to fit it in.
With six nights here in Sawtell it will feel more relaxed fitting whale watching into our itinerary.
We bought some fresh rolls and salami at the bakery downstairs from our apartment and spent the rest of the morning booking our whale watching tour for Monday morning and relaxing on our balcony. The weather continues to spoil us with sunshine and balmy temperatures. We made ourselves an early lunch, filling our rolls with salami, brie and tomato and then we headed off down the coast to the Bongil Bongil National Park.
We parked at the end of the Tuckers Rock Road and walked out to the beach to see, well, Tuckers Rock, of course! We then made our way back to the zone just behind the dunes to walk the Bundageree Rainforest walk from Tuckers Rock to Jupke Stones. The littoral (coastal) rainforest is now rare on the New South Wales coast and the Bongil Bongil NP preserves two of the four most important areas of rainforest that remain.
Once again the time estimate provided by the National Parks Service on its sign was woefully inaccurate. The sign told us we were undertaking a six kilometre walk that
would take us three hours to complete. What? As anticipated we reached the end of the trail at Jupke Stones in just 40 minutes and we were back at the car after only one hour and twenty minutes of walking. We were very lucky to see a pod of dolphins frolicking just offshore while we were at the Jupke Stones.
We drove a little further down the coast to Urunga where we walked the boardwalk in the late afternoon sunshine. The boardwalk is nearly two kilometres long and follows the Kalang River to its junction with the Bellinger River and then continues out to the ocean. There are views in every direction; inland to the Great Dividing Range, north across the rivers to the Mylestrom Spit and south over the mangroves (or along the beach) to Picket Hill.
There was a conveniently located BP Service Station in Urunga so Bernie topped up the truck with diesel before we motored back up the coast to Sawtell arriving just before it was fully dark.
We sourced dinner tonight from the Kimono Vault, a hole in the wall Japanese take-away. Their menu is accessed on-line via a QR code which
then enables you to order via mobi2go.com. Bernie ordered us a gyoza side to share and a katsu bento box each which was ready to pick-up at 78.00pm. We really enjoyed our fried chicken with mustard katsu sauce, egg mayonnaise with shallot, accompanied by edamame, vegetable okonomiyaki, rice and ginger. Yum!
Steps: 16,628 (11.58kms)
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