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Published: August 11th 2008
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playing putt putt at port Macquirie Back on the greyhound, another funny driver and a big relief to leave Newcastle behind, heading north to warmer lands and a koala hospital. Unknown to us we were in for a big treat first, after an hour on the coach we pulled into a roadside café, not just any café but the Ayres rock café, in the shape and colour of the famous mountain. Perfect for my birthday dinner, definitely one to remember.
Back on the bus again and it was time for a change of driver and a new film. We had a small kid to keep us company, him and his mum were travelling from Melbourne to Brisbane non-stop, a trip that had already taken over a day and they still had a good 12 hours to go. We all wondered why they hadn’t flown but she told us that the boy didn’t like flying, although how a two day bus trip was better then a four hour flight, however bad, who knows.
We passed through some towns and as night fell we pulled into Port Macquirie and to the most organised and orientated backpacker hostel. The hostel was owned and managed by a well travelled
backpacker, you could just see it in his eyes, he was here for the stories, to share advice and generally make sure backpackers had a good and worthwhile stay. There are too many ’business’ backpacker hostels, squeezing as many people as they can in a room and providing the bare minimum to get the most out of the smallest investment, this was certainly not that. After a quick orientation and introductions we made some tea and settled in our room.
Although we stayed two nights in each hostel from Sydney to Brisbane, Port Macquirie was our shortest stay as we came in the late evening and then left on the mid-day bus. We only had ourselves one day to explore and discover in this pretty coastal town. The main reason for stopping here for Alice was the World famous Koala hospital, so that was a must and for me I saw a sign for ‘pitch and putt’ or ‘putt putt’ as they call it in Australia. This is where we really fell foul of the phase ’just up the road’ and after a good 40 minute walk we finally found the course and with a break in the rain
had a good game, which I won. We had lunch and then headed off back towards town and the Koala Hospital.
Koalas are great, they are just like living teddy bears that sit in trees getting high on eucalyptus leaves all day long, but they are also endangered. The sprawling spread of town development moving over their habitats and the new dangers of domestic animals and motor vehicles is taking it’s toll on one of Australia’s greatest marsupial. Koala numbers are getting lower and as they can only have a Joey every two years, the breeding programs are having trouble replacing the ones that die each year.
The hospital served the majority of the New South Wales coast line and when we visited it was pretty full of sick and injured Koalas. Some where short term patients and others would have to stay in captivity for there safety and survival, as they could no longer fend for themselves. It was quite sad looking at some of them and hearing their stories, I had to pull Alice away before she adopted them all.
After spending over an hour walking round and listening to the staff talk about the
a sick koala
this one had wet bottom, chlamydia, very common in Koalas, it can send them blind and make them infertile. many die of untreated chlamydia, it's very sad. patients it was time to leave and not a moment too soon as the skies where turning increasingly dark. We had got about 100 yards from the Hospital and the rain started with force, luckily we had our rain macs on, unfortunately they only went down so far and the tropical down pour soaked us the rest of the way. The roads turned to rivers and the visibility was like looking through frosted glass, we didn’t know whether to run or walk we figured there was only so much we could absorb as we ambled back to the hostel.
After a good dinner and a nice cup of tea in dry clothes, we sat and watched a film whilst the rain pounded down on the tin roof above us. When we woke the next morning the rain had stopped, we had a few hours to spare before our bus so we took a walk into the main town to see what we could find and get a few postcards.
Port Macquirie was where the worst prisoners were sent from Sydney, a home for the unsuitable, violent and generally unwanted. Before major road development and town planning the area was very isolated and nearly separated from the main land, it was felt a perfect place to house the prisoners away from the new lands. But now it is quite a thriving little town with only a few buildings littered here and there to show it’s darker past.
As we walked along the harbour shore past the tour boats and fishing boats we noticed we had company, swimming up the estuary was a mother and child dolphin. They caused a little bit of a stir as a small crowd came to see them as they had a look around the harbour. It was so nice to just watch the pair of them.
We headed back to the hostel before being taken to our bus for the next leg to Coffs Harbour. But not before a few more stories and a little more advice from our host, he was just great.
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