Day 23 - Minnie Waters
It's not Melbourne or Tasmania - but we truly had four seasons in one day here today!
We had planned a cooked breakfast for 9am if it wasn't raining, and it wasn't so we started the fry up. But sure enough, the rain started so we got creative and the eggs and bacon were cooked to perfection.
While I still had the outdoor kitchen out, I prepped dinner and got it into the slow cooker (aka DreamPot). The rain cleared and it started to get quite warm. As I finished the dishes and descaled the coffee machine, the campground manager came past again. He had checked in with us yesterday and was worried that I was on the site in the wrong direction - I had driven in and Neill & Jude reversed in so our doors/awnings faced each other - and so wanted me to move. Today he asked again, and really wanted me to move. So I reveresed out of the site, shuffled, and reversed in - which was all pretty easy with Neill guiding me. But now I can't see the ocean from my bed 😞
After that, we were pretty hot so we went for a swim. The tide was out this time so we had to walk out further and there was a lot more seaweed (probably from the storm last night). Such a lovely swim though!
Back to the vans for lunch and then shortly after, the rain started again!
And it really didn't stop! There was thunder and lightning and lots and lots of rain! But were lucky to miss the hail that happened around us. So dinner tonight was in Cafe Phoenix and the rain did ease - tomorrow promises to be another hot sunny day.
Day 22 - Karangi to Illaroo Campground (Minnie Waters) via Grafton (127km)
Purple is my second favourite colour. It's on high rotation amongst my hair colours (currently there), I have lots of purple plants in my garden, lots of purple clothes etc. And given I have missed most of my lilacs and all of my wisteria at home, it has been so nice to see all the jacaranda trees up this way in recent days. Today was the highlight, as Grafton has a plethora of them - so many, that they have been able to hold the Jacaranda Festival this weekend.
We left Karangi before 9:30am (we are getting very efficient at morning departure times!) and decided to take the back road to Grafton rather than the Pacific Motorway. And what a picturesque drive it was! Rolling hills (but not too windy), road in pretty good condition (not too many potholes) and best of all, no trucks! We arrived into Grafton just after 10:30am and set about filling our water tanks at a park (ironically, called Jacaranda Park! You get a bit of that in Grafton!). Jude made us all elevenses while Neill and I did the water and we enjoyed our morning tea in the park. We then got fuel before heading out to the Yurangi National Park (a whole 52km) where Neill had booked our beachfront sites many months ago (the plan had been to come out here after the country music festival).
And what a civilised and lovely campground. We have two large sites, where I'll be able to see the water from my bed in the morning. It was quite hot when we arrived so setting up was sweaty work. We enjoyed our lunch in the shade followed by a bit of reading before we headed to the beach. After some exercise in the form of a 2.2km walk along the beach, we threw ourselves into the sea and how exhilarating was that! The water was a great temperature so we played in the waves and just enjoyed the water. And how good is it to get out of the sea, walk maybe 50m to our vans, have a cleansing shower and be sitting outside having coffee within minutes.
The clouds did roll in after that, and in fact, the rain started so we retreated to under Neill and Jude's awning. The rain came and went for most of the evening so no fire. But we saw online that there had been large hailstones in a storm in Grafton a mere 50k away so we figured we were super lucky to have not got caught up in that.
There is a far bit of rain forecast for tomorrow but we shall see. We have optimistically planned a fry up for breakfast so let's see if we can make that happen.
Day 21 - Coffs Harbour
The rain started this morning, just as forecast. I enjoyed my coffee whilst listening to the rain on the roof and followed it with a light breakfast in the van as I was saving myself for a big elevenses!
We headed to the Big Banana as we figured this was a good indoor activity while it was raining. Banana Belgian waffles were pretty yummy!
After wandering through the complex to kill some time, we decided to go for a drive. We had wanted to visit some markets harbourside but the rain was still very steady. So we did the tourist drive, out to the breakwater, past the Gallows surf beach (where there were many people surfing), and then out to Boambee Headland where the rain cleared enough for us to take a walk and look south at the stunning beach. Jude and I took the long path back so Neill went to get the car and met us at the lower carpark.
Even though that didn't really wear off the waffles, it was lunchtime so we headed to the fisherman's co-op and enjoyed some fish and chips for lunch. The sun was out by now, although the wind was pretty intense.
After lunch, we decided to tackle Muttonbird Island, just past the marina. A nature reserve with a large population of muttonbirds (a lot more human traffic around them than the muttonbird burrows in the Furneaux Islands!), we could walk the whole was across the island which was well worth it. They don't seem to eat the muttonbirds here unlike Tassie, and I smiled when a passing kid asked if he could put his hand down a muttonbird nest, remembering the Tasmanian Aboriginal saying that you aren't a "qualified" muttonbirder until you've pulled a tiger snake out of a muttonbird nest!!
On the way back, we decided to walk through the marina, rather than along the breakwater and got to admire some very sleek watercraft.
We were well and truly warm by this stage (and windswept) so it was time to do our grocery shopping before heading back to camp. As we drove in, I noticed another Sunland caravan the other side of the Bushtracker and sure enough, it was Brian and Jenny who had also been at the Sunland gathering in Mansfield! We had a bit of a chat before I had to finish putting away my groceries and starting dinner.
Another lovely evening around the fire, although we ate a lot less tonight after our big eating day. Thank goodness we did a fair bit of walking after each food session!
Day 20 - Manning Point to Karangi (Coffs Harbour) (254km)
I didn't sleep well again (it was very warm overnight as well) so was up super early and hence, ready to leave well before Neill and Jude! Didn't want to rush them though, but we still left before 10am. Pretty good for a caravan park pack up which is much more involved than free camp pack up.
Up the road to a place called Kew (I once had an office in the Melbourne suburb of Kew!) where we stopped for fuel. Neill missed the turnoff to the servo and Kew is a small town with not many side streets so he had to go a long way before he could turn around and come back! We then decided to have elevenses at the back of the pub in Kew because there was space!
Up the Pacific Motorway for boring driving. It was quite windy which didn't help fuel consumption but the drive was made bearable by a good audio book. We tried two places for a lunch stop but neither had room for us (as in, caravan parking) so we kept going until we eventually snuck into a reserve at Eungai Creek which was quite pleasant, and even had this very artistic mosaic bench seat which I really just photographed for my niece!
Another hour up the road and we arrived in Coffs Harbour, but we had found a campground up in the hills from Coffs, about 10 minutes out. We pulled in here at about 3pm and got set up. The weather was pretty hot, and it's really starting to get quite humid now that we are north. Jude whipped up a batch of scones (I don't know how she did that so quickly!) which we enjoyed for afternoon tea. Given we had sat in the car all day, we took the opportunity for a short walk up the hill which stretched the muscles. Pre dinner drinks, nibbles, then we lit the fire and enjoyed our dinner in front of it - although it is very much for ambience (and maybe to keep the mozzies away) as it is still 21C at this time of night. It's supposed to rain a fair bit tomorrow so we're planning a day in Coffs Harbour itself.
Meanwhile, this tree with all it's staghorns is right out the front of the campground (if you look carefully, you can see the Sunland and Bushtracker in the background.
Day 19 - Manning Point
Awoke early, the waves were crashing and my bed was a bit lonely so after my coffee in bed, I dressed and headed to the beach - all before 8am! It was beautiful down by the water at that hour, so I paddled and wandered and tried to take artistic photos like this one.
Back to the van for a shower and then I was sitting having breakfast in the sun just after 9am. There were a lot more clouds about than the last two days - possibly a sign of things to come over the next few days (predicting a bit of rain in these parts this weekend). We had planned on walking through "town" along the river this morning before elevenses and then doing a longer beach walk later but as we approached the cafe/restaurant where we had thought we'd have dinner and Neill went in for "have a chat", he then decided we could have coffee and caker there for elevenses. We sat on the deck over the river and enjoyed that very much, and heard stories from the owner of the massive floods last year that destroyed the oysters beds and ruined his jetty. As we left we spied a small park at the end of the street and decided to explore, as there seemed to be a path through the trees. So feeling very much like intrepid explorers, we wound our way through thick bush, up hill and down dale, coming out over a sand dune (difficult for short people like me!) at this.
From there, we walked back along the beach which made us quite hot by the time we got back to the vans so it was off to the pool for a cooling swim. The water temperature was pretty good and we were the only ones there so we enjoyed it very much - the two older "kids" enjoyed playing on the waterslide!
Back to the van for lunch, and a quiet afternoon reading. The wind picked up which made it a bit cool but we chased the sun and sat between the vans which sheltered us a bit. We had our pre dinner drinks and nibbles in the same spot but decided jeans and long sleeves might be in order for dinner, given we were to be sitting on the river.
We arrived at the cafe/restaurant, were greeted by Chilli the dog and took our seats on the balcony. Tonight was pizza night so we pre-ordered our seafood pizzas and they soon emerged hot and smelling delicious.
It was a very enjoyable evening and we discussed how small towns like this would often be overlooked by many visitors, aiming for the 'big name' coastal locations. But we really like this place - great weather, laid back, no commercialism, a stunning beach, friendly locals - we'd come back.
As we left the cafe and were saying our goodnights to the chatty owner - and who knows how we got onto this - but his girlfriend lives in the same place as my brother and of course, Andrew knows her! What a small world.
Day 18 - Manning Point
The halfway point of my trip - and we should have been checking in to the Clarence Valley Music Muster. But, mother nature had other plans. We recently saw photos of the paddocks we were meant to be camping in and there is no way hundreds of caravans would have been able to navigate the mud.
Mind you, you look at the weather where we are and you wouldn't say it was wet and muddy.
A very quiet, lazy morning. Two cups of coffee in bed, breakfast, shower, dishes and even put a load of washing on in my van. We went for a short walk before elevenses to check out the bowls club and decided to have dinner there tonight. Hung the washing out, then headed out on our most energetic part of the day - a walk to the point (Manning Point) where the river flows into the ocean. Turns out it was a 5km round trip from our vans but oh, so worth it. Not a cloud in the sky, brilliant blue water, white waves, glistening sand - and not a soul to be seen.
This screen shot of Google Maps shows the peninsula we walked on out to the point.
We had earned our lunch after that, and a rest with a bit of reading. I contemplated going for a swim but the pool had too many people in it and I wasn't convinced the ocean was warm enough (although I got wet up to my knees on our walk). Instead, Neill and I played with some of my new car/caravan toys until it was time for dinner. The Bowls Club is next door to the caravan park and surprisingly, there was quite a crowd in there for dinner on a Thursday night. It was a predominantly Chinese menu and was pretty good - all freshly cooked and well served. Our entertainment was the raffle draw for the 20 meat trays - some people won up to 4 of them!
A cup of tea around the campfire rounded out a beautiful day - made even better by the fact we didn't have to drive anywhere!
Day 17 - Lake Liddell to Manning Point (278km)
The last six days have all been driving days, which can get a bit wearing after a while. Given our music festival was cancelled, we had been exploring what we could fill our time in with. We had decided to head towards the coast at Newcastle and explore along this section of the NSW coast, none of us having done it recently or with vans. However, not being fans of caravan parks at the best of times, we didn't want to land at a commercialised, overpriced park just because of where it was. So last night's research led us to this rustic charmer. And with a beach like this alongside the park, who can complain?!
Neill's favourite geese were on hand to greet us this morning at Lake Liddell. I did see a peclian while I was having my coffee so that made me happy. In extraordinary timeliness on our part, we were ready to leave by 9:14am! On the road, and we knew most of our driving today would be on freeways. As we skirted Newcastle and headed north on the M1 Pacific Motorway, it did occur to me that this was my first time on a freeway since I left Berwick!
Elevenses was in the suburb of Beresfield - not quite where Jude had wanted us to go but we ended up at Cafe on Lawson in this lower socio economic suburb. The coffee was reasonably good, the banana bread also OK and we felt good for supporting a small business run by two young ladies who were giving it a go.
Up the freeway to Bulahdelah for lunch at the Showgrounds - and far fancier showgrounds they were compared to our campsite in Koorawatha the other night.
Back on the freeway for our last 95km and we turned off the freeway just near Taree and took some rather ordinary roads out to this peninsula. It's a fairly remote little town, with not many facilities, and a rustic caravan park (that still manages to carry the Big 4 brand!). After setting up, we went for a 3km walk along the beach and what a stunning beach it is. I'm looking forward to lying in bed listening to the waves crash all night long. So happy with our chosen site that we've decided to stay 3 nights. So, here's to sleep ins and walks along the beach.
