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Published: February 21st 2013
Sorry it's been a while guys and girls, been busy with mundane tasks like sunbathing and flying half way across the country following the sun of course!
After Port Stephens we headed further up the coast to a town called Port Macquarie, unfortunately the weather wasn't too great so our first day consisted of watching The Hobbit, what else can you do on a rainy day! Actually it rained on and off for the whole 3 days we were there so compared to Port Stephens we didn't do as much as we would have liked, but we still made the most of it and when the sun did come out for only an hour or so we hit the beach with our newly purchased body boards! Obviously learning to surf is on the list but as far as body boarding goes me and Jonny have become professionals and many 3 foot waves or maybe even bigger have taken us back to shore as the whole beach watch in awe at our amazing talent :-)! Now I'm not saying Laura isn't a professional but after being wiped out on one of the first waves she attempted she hasn't ventured back out since on her pink flamingo board, hopefully that day will come though!
What with the weather keeping us under cover we also got to watch a bit of the tennis and play some table tennis ourselves so it was a nice break from all the sun we had been getting! It wasn't all fun and games though, whilst hiding under the tarpaulin from the rain one evening we soon discovered that they have bats in Port Macquarie and these bats were about the same size as a dog and they liked to fly within a yard of where we were sitting therefore scaring the life out of me and Jonny, give me a flying squirrel any day!
After Port Macquarie we headed to a smaller town called Nambucca Heads. We were staying at a caravan park which was on the highway and I would say more like a retirement home, noisy with all the traffic and also entertaining with the resident drunk guy and some old fishermen who I'm sure are still laughing at my attempt at hand lining! Just about laughing anyways as I was pretty close to hooking the both of them at the same time, I think I will leave fishing to the pros!
Jonny did actually catch a few fish with the cheap rod we purchased but they were too small to keep for dinner, luckily one of the fishermen caught a fairly big one and said we could have it for dinner as he didn't eat fish, just enjoyed fishing! So Jonny filleted the fish whilst being attacked by seagulls lol and we wacked it on the BBQ for dinner, I had a couple bites but we didn't have much seasoning so it was a tad bland and Laura decided not to try any after seeing my expression ha, it wasn't down to Jonny's cooking though honest!
The town itself was the smallest we have been to yet but it had the most beautiful lagoon area and a rockwall which are quite popular in Oz, it's a long walk way along the beach with rocks all along one side and people from all over have left messages, pictures and anecdotes etc all along it using paint. Some in memory of passed relatives and others of just everyday life like PSY doing the gangnam style!
The weather was better so we did hit the beach and so we improved on our body boarding skills (if that's possible!) and also enjoyed a couple of lookout points the town had, nearly all of the towns you stop in have lookout points which give you some of the best views you can imagine! The only downside to Nambucca is the sand flys, as we were staying along the Nambucca river these little flys are everywhere. You don't really see them or know they are biting you but within a minute or two you can damn well feel the bite, Laura had a total of 73 bites when she counted, just showing off if you ask me!
We also headed to a winery whilst in the area but as the DD (designated driver) it was just a nice cold coke for me! Laura and Jonny enjoyed a glass of white wine each and a cheeseboard with a choice of two cheeses and some chutney too, it must be said the blue cheese they chose was pretty strong and the car journey back wasn't the most pleasant ha!
After Nambucca it was off to a place called Coffs Harbour to celebrate my birthday and Australia Day. It was alot bigger than Nambucca and we had a good look around the first day to get our bearings.
It was similar to the towns we had been to apart from the famous big banana! The big things are all over Australia and I am hoping we will find a few more on our travels such as the big pineapple or the big prawn! We did actually drive past the big Ayers Rock which confused both me and Jonny as it is actually smaller than the actual one but there you go! Anyways I can tell you are excited about this, its exactly as you read, a big banana along the highway where people come and get their picture taken with it (Laura especially loved it in the photos as you can tell!) When we visited it though we soon realised they had shops with souvenirs, a play area for kids and a few other activities all based on this big banana, I can't really say much else, that's just the ozzies for ya!
The night before my birthday we made friends with a Canadian couple staying next to us! Kurt and Jess were travelling in a campervan which was painted as a zebra and had a moustache on the front, totally making our camper look rubbish! We sat and drank beer with them for a good few hours and then agreed they would celebrate my birthday with us the next night.
Birthday morning - so I arose from my penthouse to find balloons covering the whole of our powered site and on top of the tarpaulin, it had rained during the night but the sun was coming out and it was a perfect start! Laura and Jonny had a present for me in the way of a wifi voucher for 6 hours! (Wifi is very hard to come by and almost never free so it was like I had won the lottery so please excuse my excitement!) I then phoned home and spoke to the family to inform them I hadn't become any wiser although turning older and that my day would consist of mostly sunbathing and drinking! First stop was of course McDonald's breakfast and then off to the beach for some body boarding which was then followed by a beer even though it had only gone 11! (Laura told me I had to and I was the yes man for the day so I daren't say no, this comes back to haunt me later on you will see!)
We then had a lovely picnic in the park and a nice beer looking over the marina at a nice bar along the front.In the evening we decided to have a BBQ and drinks with the Canadians back at the site. Now they wanted to play some games and they had some ping pong balls, cups and a funnel so I knew that good old sensible scrabble was out the question!No sooner did they introduce me to the game speed pang did I then introduce my dinner to the floor lol, I cannot write much about the night when I can only remember up to eating my dinner, as the photos show funnels were involved and of course good old goon which is my downfall! All I remember is waking up fully clothed in the back of the campervan at 6 the following morning with a glass of water and a bucket next to me! A good night had by all I reckon but cannot confirm, god those Canadians like a drink.
Australia Day - now due to the birthday shenanigans and the little fact that cyclone Oswald had reared its little head we didn't venture out at night. We went to the beach in the morning but for only half an hour or so before a small looking then rather big looking black cyclone cloud was moving towards the beach very quickly, we only just made it back to the camper before the heavens opened and you could hardly see outside even with the wipers on full blast! That night we of course enjoyed some beers with the Canadians but there were flood warnings everywhere so there was no way you could try and venture out on foot to a pub or anywhere. The owners of the campsite explained that there were flood warnings and that if it became really bad over night then there was no way out of Coffs Harbour as the highway would become flooded on either side! We decided to stay as we had booked the night already but get up early to see what the conditions were like.We woke about half 7 after not much sleep (along with the rain there were gale-force winds) and decided it was best to try and get out of town so we packed up our gear and headed further up the coast, we didn't wake the Canadians but had exchanged numbers so would keep in contact and check they got out ok later on.
Coffs Harbour was a lovely place to stay and the weather didn't ruin my birthday so I was content but what we experienced next was a tad more challenging, we were off to Byron Bay but I will let Jonny fill you in on that soon!
Bye for now
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Fishing!!!!
Don't think fishing will ever be your strong point Sean - remember you and James in Spain?!?!? Lol looking forward to the next blog xx