Port Macquarie

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We woke up to beautiful blue sky and sunshine, yippee! You’ve rarely seen two people as excited as we were :-)



We drove straight into Port Macquarie and checked into a holiday park which we had eyed up the previous evening for its central location. Everything was within walking/cycling distance, woo hoo.



Our camping spot wasn’t far from the beach and there was a body boarding competition on (apparently Port Macquarie is the ‘body boarding capital’) so we set up to the sounds of music and live commentary. The commentator was so funny, addressing all the boarders with ‘buddy’ or ‘mate’. I know it’s an Australian custom to call everyone ‘mate’ but sometimes it seems a little overused: the other day when we were at the swimming pool, a mum even kept calling her little toddler ‘mate’! The boarders were quite cool to watch but the poor guys had quite some time to catch up on because of the last week’s bad weather. Our body board, which is wedged somewhere behind the water canister and my set of drawers, has decidedly seen better days and Dean reckons it’s time to buy a surf board instead.



Being back in a caravan park (during dry weather this time) was the perfect opportunity to do some work on the van. We’re getting a lot of condensation overnight so Dean fitted a couple of vents and a (computer!) fan. It hasn’t quite solved the problem though, so we’ll need to find another solution. Also, because of all the recent rain, the wood on our roof platform is soaked through and starting to go mouldy, so we’ll need to replace that or get some good varnish.



Port Macquarie (or ‘Port’, as the locals refer to it) is really nice! It’s sizeable enough to have everything you want/need but it’s got a distinct town feel and a sense of community. The layout reminds me a lot of Cairns with its coastal walk, palm tree lined city centre and roman grid road system. Dean agrees with me but adds that it’s a very classy version of Cairns. There are certainly a lot of resorts – way more than we thought a place of this size would warrant – and heaps of eateries and shops with not a tacky $2 shop in sight.



The Glasshouse opened in July 2009 and houses Port’s art gallery, museum, two theatres and information centre. Apparently its gallery is the only one to house the same exhibitions as Sydney’s art gallery. It’s a really funky glass/wood/steel building that was modeled on environmental sustainability. Sadly, because of its $50m price tag, its construction seriously divided the community. However, almost everyone that works there is a volunteer so it costs less to run that a conventional arts centre. I really loved it and I think it’s a good thing for Port as it makes a stunning central landmark that attracts visitors.



The Conservatorium Mid North Coast hosts free concerts at the Glasshouse every Friday lunchtime. They have a different theme each week (next week is outdoor jazz – shame we won’t still be there then!) and this week, two local singer-songwriters/guitarists performed. I loved Eleanor Pinkerton’s beautiful voice and Kevin Gallagher’s guitar playing skills.



Saturday was quite an action packed day and I started the day by cycling to a yoga class. It was only a 6km ride but I hadn’t realised it was going to be the hilliest terrain ever. Thankfully I made it to the class in time but now I understand why we haven’t seen any cyclists or bicycle racks anywhere in the vicinity!



That afternoon we checked out the art gallery and enjoyed ‘Frock Stars’, an exhibition all about the annual event that is Australian Fashion Week and ‘Graduates’, an exhibition to mark the 50^th anniversary of Port Macquarie’s High School, with pieces of art by former students and teachers who have gone on to be professional artists. And Port has certainly produced a lot of very talented artists! I especially took the work of Wendy Stokes who has been described as an ‘abstract expressionist artist’ and is actually represented by a gallery in Melbourne.



Afterwards we cycled to the awesome Koala Hospital where the little furry critters are cared for if they’re sick or have been hurt. There was a koala who had had to have both eyes removed, another one that had had a rear leg amputated (but was merrily climbing a tall tree!) and one called Barry who had severe spinal deformities that were restricting his breathing. We learnt that, despite his disabilities, Barry was a frisky little fella who frequently escaped his enclosure in pursuit of lady koalas! My favourite was a gorgeous joey (= koala aged 6 months to 2 years) called Chloe. The hospital is staffed by 130 or so volunteers and it was such fun to visit. Be sure to go if you’re ever in Port Macquarie!



Back at our caravan park, I made good use of the lovely swimming pool. It was unheated but delicious once in the water, and just large enough for laps.



The coastal walk near our camping spot – with a busy skate park at one end and the town centre at the other – was lined with large rocks that people had painted. There were some fantastic pieces of art, some funny and some very creative.



We chose to stay in Port for a while longer but, feeling a bit poor, decided to go back to free-camping. After leaving our caravan park, we drove along the eastern beaches: Lighthouse Beach with its tiny little lighthouse where Dean did some body boarding and we spotted dolphins and camels; Shelly Beach where Dean came across a nudist area… as there were only a couple of guys hanging around there, we certainly weren’t going to be spending any time there…



We then headed to the ‘Centre of Gravity’ for some indoor rock climbing which was really cool! (On filling in the rego form, Dean put our van registration number in the address field, haha.) The climbing wall named ‘Trilogy’ became my nemesis and I had so many goes at it but in the end I just had to throw the towel in.



A lot of fun, sweat and chalk later, we drove over to Settlement Point which is part of a group of islands in a curve of the Hastings River. We hadn’t intended to stay out there for the night but it was so peaceful and beautiful that I had to ask Dean to pull over to the side of the road so that I could enjoy a particularly nice view of the river… and once we had stopped, we decided to stay! We cracked open one of our bottles of vino from the Hunter Valley – which Dean reckons smells groovy! – and settled down for the night. In the morning we cycled around the very swish waterside estates with flash million dollar homes!



On our last day in Port, we drove back into town to hit the Town Beach and do some shopping before Dean had another go at aqua golf and we headed out of town. We had wanted to take the coastal route to South West Rocks but, as we were waiting on the ferry to take us across the river, we spotted a sign stating that this route was only suitable for 4WD vehicles. What a shame… but probably for the best as the rain was back with a vengeance. So we went back through the ‘car wash’ and are now chilling out in the back of the van to the sound of the rain outside. South West Rocks is amongst the top 10 diving sites in Australia and our friend Sarah recently went diving with grey nurse sharks here. Because of the bad weather, there won’t be any diving tomorrow but we’re hopeful for the day after!



PS. Sadly my camera has died on me so if anyone has any suggestions about what replacement camera I should buy, please let me know :-)

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