Coffs Harbour

We arrived at Coffs Harbour at about 10 am after camping in the Rest Area. First port of call was the Information Centre – following advice from people we had talked with en-route. They supplied us with sets of maps for the town and also for the NSW State and NSW National Parks. We had parked outside the St Vincent de Paul Society Op Shop and couldn't resist checking out the books. Picked up an Australian book that one of the campers had said was worth a read, called 'We of the Never Never' about a Melbourne schoolteacher who went with her new husband to live in a remote site in the Northern Territory. After that, we drove down to the Marina to look around and have a cuppa. It's not a commercial port for ocean going ships but mostly for fishing boats, tour boats and pleasure craft. Coffs Harbour is reputed to have the best climate in Australia with mild Winters and pleasant Summers.

We parked up at the Showgrounds which had good facilities and was not far from town – shopping, shopping! We found Coles Supermarket and a camping shop, and Maureen found a bedding shop where she purchased a duvet and covers in preparation for the colder weather ahead. In the morning we drove down to Sawtell, 9km away, and had lunch at the RSL Club with all the 'Senior Cits'. Then it was on the road towards Port Macquarie but we were running in to a thunder storm so stopped and took refuge in a Rest Area alongside the Pacific Highway. Down it came amidst booming thunder and lightening flashes. It was cosy in the van but then our house lights went out as I was trying to fit up the TV from battery and that was that. Couldn't locate the fault, so it was an early night except that Maureen was able to read thanks to the wee Kathmandu LED light. We got to Port Macquarie next day where we stopped lunch and checked out the shops and decided to cut out to the Crowdy Bay National Park for a couple of days. There, there were Kangaroos hopping about all over the place and grazing on what grass there was. Maureen took off for a walk down the beach – there are supposed to be Dolphins and Whales just out to sea but we saw none. We also went for a 4 km walk up to the headlands on a loop track in our tramping boots, puffing all the way with our backpack containing lunch, camera, binocs, thermos, GPS and other essential lifesaving equipment only to be put to shame by a 70 y/o guy who passed us 3 times while training, I reckon, for his next marathon. The Park charges $10 per person plus a $7 park fee per day while day visitors have to pay the $7 park fee. The road in was gravel and potholed and the facilities while clean were pretty basic with cold showers. Brrr!

The nights were definitely getting cooler but we sat around the traditional campfire one night and chatted to a couple from Newcastle and another from inland NSW near Sydney. In the morning, the Kangaroos were grazing all around our camper. There was a Kookaburra flying around and some parrots in a tree by us. Nice to see, but for us it was on the road again towards Newcastle.

There is a lot of roadworks going on on this stretch of road. It's supposed to be one of the worst stretches for accidents in all Australia. They are duplicating the highway so there will be two lanes each way. Some parts were good but in others, the surface was bumpy. Anyway, Friday 16^th saw us lunching at Tralee, a little bit off the Pacific Highway, in traditional Friday Asian style at the Town Centre Shopping Mall food area. Not very original, but it was self serve and there was a good selection. So Friday night sees us camped up at a one-horse town called Bulahdelah where the pub is the focal point and everyone knows everyone else. Camp fees tonight were $25 in the only caravan park in town and it's almost as close to the Highway as a Rest stop, but we need power and water. Maybe it's Newcastle tomorrow, but it's quite good to have the freedom to park up wherever it suits and not be held to a definite timetable. We said we'd be in Melbourne by the end of May so we are not doing too bad and the 'old girl' is chugging along OK – thats the Mitsi, not Maureen, and we don't push it doing no more than 90k.