What a GREAT place! Copacabana Beach and Surroundings

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We've only been settled a few days, but we've had a few adventures already!

We went for a bushwalk (hike) in Bouddi National Park (about a 15 minute drive from home). It was a very good workout - some very steep descents (and therefore, ascents) through rock and bushland with the reward of some tremendous look-outs along the way. We reached the end of the Mt. Bouddi trail and decided to continue down to a very secluded beach - Maitland Bay. The decline got extremely steep with stairs cut into the side of a cliff to get you down to the bottom, but the work was well worth it. There were two retired gentlemen snorkeling off their sailboat, and two other individuals enjoying the seclusion (so secluded, that one was skinny-dipping in the middle of the day and needed to wait for us to get further down the beach before he could make a run for it!) We just walked and enjoyed the sound of the water! A really quiet, perfect spot. We'll have to remember it for another day. After hiking all the way down, we now had to make our way back UP. Although we dreaded the climb, we both managed it with fewer breaks than we thought we'd need. It must be the thoroughly clean air here... we were both very surprised with ourselves.

Today, we explored Avoca - a town 5 minutes from Copa. The town is bigger than Copa, and the beach was very busy (being Sunday). We decided to avoid the busy beach and explored the huge rock shelf instead. There are two very different types of rocks - sandstone, and then an iron-based rock as well. In places, it looks like iron bars have been laid into the sandstone - the iron is so straight and less worn than everything around it. There are pools in the rock so deep that people were climbing into them to cool off (not big enough for "swimming") Lots of fishermen were fishing from the rock shelf, and we saw three almost get swept away with an unexpected big wave. They ended up soaked, but laughed about it and just kept on fishing. Some of the fishermen were even wearing crampons to keep their footing on the sometimes slippery rock. We found a quiet spot and were able to just sit and marvel at the power of the water. The waves were crashing all around and it was a great spot to relax. I'm sure we'll be back.

Once home for dinner, we sliced up some leftover steak and headed out onto the back deck to eat. Before Sarah had a chance to have one bite of steak, we were joined by a HUGE kookaburra! Sarah pointed at him with her fork and he promptly jumped onto the table and moved toward her plate! She was too hungry to share her dinner, so very quickly grabbed her plate and headed inside to watch (which is really a movement of only 2 metres). Tom was a little more adventurous and shooed the kookaburra away by trying to get a real close-up with the camera. He landed in a nearby tree and as soon as we sat down to eat again - he returned! This time, he sat on one of the posts at the corner of the deck and tried to stare us down as we finished our dinner.

We had the chance to introduce our neighbours to our new friend and they mentioned that they are extremely tame and very bold. They'll take a sausage right off your BBQ if you're not watching! So... we found some trimmed fat from the steak and left it out for the kookaburra. It didn't take long for him to return, and eventually (as you would expect) Tom had him eating out of his oven-mitt-clad hand 😊

What a great place to be - you don't have to go searching for the fun, it comes to you!

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Photos

A Bold New Friend
Note the 10 cm bill. Also note the oven mit. With the innumerable dangerous animals in Oz I wasn't going to lose a finger to a cocky bird.

Maitland Bay
Next time we'll bring a picnic and a good book!

Kookaburra
If you haven't been woken by the howl of a Kookaburra (most mornings for us) then you may want to do a web search to hear its call - sounds very similar to the howl of a monkey.

I blinked first
The last thing a lizard sees before being taken out for lunch.

No - you can not have my dinner!
Although very bold, he did wait his turn and was somewhat polite.

Comments

[Kathy]

Looks Amazing
Looks great. Sounds like so far you're having a great time. All is well with the Blackwood 4. Seen any Matilda Sailboats yet? Love K

[Cousin Susan]

Great pics! We are all very jealous of your weather. Keep writing, cause we keep reading.

[Natasha]

So very jealous!
I can't believe how much you guys have packed into such a short amount of time. And I'm even more impressed with how up to date your blog is. Glad to hear that the beautiful weather and scenery is agreeing with you both. Must stop looking at your pictures now for fear that I will leave Kerry and Dave in the lurch and join you on the beaches.

[Christine Parsons (cousin)]

Very Exciting!
Hi Tom and Sarah! I am enjoying your blogs, and especially the amazing pictures. It's great that you are recording your experiences to share with everyone. Maybe I can win a ticket to visit you there!!

[Patti]

Hi from the Prep Shop
Hi Tom and Sarah. Sounds like you are having a blast. There is so much to do over there, make sure you go to Nimbim and Byron Bay when you get a chance. You will be happy that you kept such detailed notes later when you do your albums. Keep in touch.