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Published: December 6th 2012
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Chinese Junk
Our fabulous transport up the Hastings River at Port Macquarie Hello Again
Firstly, thanks to those who have commented on my blog, emailed me or kept up with me on Facebook. It's so lovely to be able to keep in touch with home when so far away.
Our stay in the hostel came to an end and I must admit I wasn't too sorry. I suppose it's going to be a necessary budget option at times but its not really me! The next part of our trip was much better - we travelled north by train for 7 hours to Port Macquarie where we were met by Viv & Kev Howell, friends of Mum's from way back. We'd stayed with them 20 years ago in Ballaratt (outside Melbourne) and they'd stayed with Mum & Dad a couple of times since then when visiting the UK.
It was great to stay with friends and Australians with local knowledge and eager to show us their corner of the world. Port is a good size town spread out over a large area. It is on the coast but doesn't really have any high-rise buildings so all the beaches (and there are many!) are fairly secluded. We have found that most Australian beaches are beautifully kept, clean and tidy, have picnic areas and often public gas BBQ's for anyone to use - brilliant!
Viv & Kev had been traveling since 6am that morning from their daughter Joanne's and only arrived about half an hour before we turned up so we were all fairly tired by the evening. However, Viv still managed to cook a chicken casserole to which Kev added a bottle of champagne (not actually in the casserole!) and the evening was full of catching up and lots of laughs.
The next day we were shown around the town, visited a fruit farm and took care of some chores. Happy hour started about 6pm (as it did most days!) and Kev cooked a lovely BBQ at home.
We'd booked a boat trip around the Port MQ harbour and Hastings River for the next morning so we were up early. It was on a Chinese Junk boat and it was lovely to see the various coastal areas from the sea whilst being treated to a fun narrative about the area from the boat captain. I'm not sure about the truth in some of his stories but it was a fun trip. The only downside was that we didn't see any dolphins which we'd been told happened about 85%!o(MISSING)f the time :-(
The afternoon took Viv, Mum and I to the local Koala Hospital which takes in any ill or harmed koala's and helps them before releasing them back into the wild. They do fabulous work and it is all done by volunteers (apart from 2 essential staff members) and run on donations. At 3pm each day a volunteer gives a tour of the facility which is mostly outside pens for the various koala's and tells the stories of how the animals came to be there and what is likely to happen to them. Some have been treated several times and the main reason seems to be run-in's with cars or dogs.
Happy hour was followed by a treat for me - the season finale to Home & Away!!! I won't spoil it for those of you who watch it and I assume won't see that episode until some time in January in the UK, but it was fab ;-) The only frustrating part was that having travelled here I'd missed about 5 weeks of plot lines as the UK watches it on a delay.
The next morning we had a brunch BBQ on Shelley Beach near the house. Kev cooked up a storm on the public gas BBQ while us girls went for a refreshing walk along the beach. The food was great and the setting was wonderful - another lovely beach. This was followed by a car trip south down the coast road to see various local beaches, then up a 500m mount - North Brother to look at the stunning views all around. Happy Hour and a Chinese meal finished off another busy day.
Sadly, we had to move on the next day - Friday. Packed again and Viv & Kev took us to collect our hire car and bid us a fond farewell. I will be going back there for Christmas when they'll have more family there. Will be interesting to see what an Australian Christmas feels like.
Our next destination was Pacific Palms - a timeshare resort a couple of hours down the coast. Mum's brother, John, very kindly gifted us a week's stay. It's self-catering so we ventured into our first Australian supermarket - Woolworths (not the same one!) - and found it to be much the same as any other except the alcohol section is kept completely separate and you have to be 18 to even go in. We just about qualified so a couple of bottles of wine made their way into our fridge for the week :-)
The timeshare is very nice - 2 bathroom villa with veranda, and there's a swimming pool and tennis court on site. The local eateries were extremes. There were a couple of expensive restaurants with food too posh for my tastes and not too much choice, and then there were the local recreation and bowling clubs which served good straightforward meals at very reasonable prices but in not so lovely surroundings. Needless to say, we chose the latter.
We had one wet day this week following a thunderstorm overnight so we set off in the car to just tour around the area and see various towns inland. its very different driving here just because of the lack of traffic, and the towns are so quiet you wonder how any of the shops make a living.
Another day (a very hot one) we stuck to our plan of doing a 7.5km walk in Booti Booti National Park. It was extremely hard going at the start because there was a steep climb from a beach up the side of a very tall hill, followed by lots of ups and downs through a forest area. The views across beaches and the ocean we're worth it though. The second part of the walk was along the edge of a lake which was a little more pleasant and again provided some beautiful scenery. I nearly lost Mum on our way back to find the car as she tried a 'short cut' which wasn't that so much as a long way around by which time I'd waited so long by the car that I drove off to find her just as she was reaching the car park! We found each other in the end, but it was a trying end to a long hot day. Back at the villa, Mum rushed to the pool and I rushed to the shower and we both felt a lot better.
Another local attraction was the Green Cathedral which is an outdoor church with logs for pews and a stone altar. It's a stunning setting by one of the large lakes in this area and it has a weekly service as well as hosting weddings and other events. When we were there it was quite windy and Mum was very lucky to just miss being hit on the head by a falling branch - was God looking down on her there?!
We also drove out to Seal Rocks and Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse which provided more amazing views of stunning beaches and coastline. On our way back from there we saw a lot of dark and reddish cloud in the distance which we later discovered were probably from fires that were burning in the area. It has been so dry here that fires are starting up in various places around the country but they are managing to get them under control so far.
Today we move on again so now I must stop and pack up once more. Sorry about the limited photos - I'm still struggling with the technology but I will be looking for a solution so that I can upload a few more to give you a taste of what we're seeing here.
Off to the Hunter Valley today...bring on the wine-tasting!
Take care
Jo
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if I must
What a stunning piece of stunning descriptive prose. Very nice detail of your experiences. You're having a stunningly good time in a stunning continent. Chinese junks and koalas are strange bed-fellows but probably reflect the breadth of your experiences. What did Kev cook to whip up a storm? Mental note when back in UK: make a longer list of stunning adjectives. Sorry, only joking.