Stepping back in time in Port Macquarie

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Hi blog readers!,

We left Byron Bay on the smelliest (of wee) greyhoud bus and headed to Port Macquarie. We arrived at Port Macquarie in the early evening and booked in to our double room. What we weren't expecting was a double room that belonged to our own one-bedroom flat!! It was a street away from the hostel and had it's own kitchen, bathroom and tv! How lucky were we!!! We couldn't believe that we were paying $74 a night for the flat and yet we were paying $100 a night in Byron Bay for a tiny room with shared amenities!

The next morning we enjoyed our free breakfast at the hostel and enquired about things to do in Port Mac. We wanted to horse-ride, but they didn't do it along the beach, so we opted for a trip into the town centre in the morning and a trip to the koala hospital in the afternoon. We were quickly realising that the weather we were experiencing was not usual for this time of year and Australia was actually experiencing its worst summer in over 50 years!! We walked into town and found the information centre which was also a theatre and gallery. We enquired about getting a bus to a place called 'Timbertown' (an attraction set in 1880) and then walked around the gallery. We noticed that the theatre was doing a free music show at 12pm, so decided to walk around the shops before going back to the theatre to watch the show. It's not very fun window shopping but, as the weather was rubbish, it was something to do. The music show ended up being different local groups playing and singing. We had a 10 year old girl playing the flute alongside her mum playing the french horn, next was a couple of older men playing a guitar and banjo and then a group of two men and a woman playing guitars and singing. It really wasn't our thing but we felt too embarrased to get up and leave, so we stuck it out. Anton actually quite liked the guitar and banjo players! After the thrilling show, we walked back to the flat for lunch and then headed to the koala hospital. We arrived just in time for the guided talk and found it really interesting to learn about each koala's injuries and how the hospital cares for them and manages to get most of them back to the wild. After the koala hospital we decided to walk back along the coast, as the weather had brightened up. We stopped at a beach called Oxley Bay and enjoyed the late afternoon sun.

The following day we headed on the local bus to a place called 'Timbertown', which was an attraction that portrayed an 1880's settlement. It cost us nearly $40 in bus fare for a 40min journey! We were really hoping that we were going to enjoy the place!!! When we arrived we were transported back in time and learnt about life in a timbertown in 1880. They had replica houses of the different workers, shops, a blacksmith making horse-shoes, steam-train ride, horse and carriage ride, bull whip lessons, bullock team and lots more!! (have I sold it well???) We acutally really enjoyed the day, especially learning to crack a whip! Anton got told off for trying to use too much muscle on the whip and I managed to make my whip crack before him!!!! In the afternoon we saw that the cafe was doing a 'Devonshire Cream Tea', how could we refuse? Big mistake...they don't have clotted cream in Australia, so we had a scone with squirty cream...yuk! That evenig we managed to feel a little festive as we found Michael Buble's Christmas on TV! Early to bed as we had to be at the greyhound stop at 5.50am and it was about a 30min walk!

Lots of love Kate and Anton xxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxx Thomas, Lauren, Erin, George, Niah, Evie, Matilda, Isaac and Jonnie

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