Port Macquarie

Love it when we’ve arrived somewhere the day before for a two night stay, allowing the following morning to have a relaxed start. Having said that sometimes our vibe is too relaxed, and we realise we really need to get on with the day…..

I love everything about koalas, so we had to visit the Koala Hospital: http://koalahospital.org.au/

Today we met long term residents, who can’t be released back in to the wild due to Heath conditions/injuries.

The hospital itself wasn’t too busy - good news? Sadly not, as it’s indicative of the losses to the population suffered in the fires a couple of years ago.

We stopped for a cuppa after and ended up talking to a couple from Kent whose route quite closely matched ours. It was interesting to compare experiences, and hear their road trip thoughts (very similar to ours, and generally all good).

Parking in downtown Port Macquarie is interesting. There appears to be lots of parking available, but there are time limits on many, and more importantly, parking space restrictions. Matty is 7m long, 2m wide, so we can’t sidle into any old space. This often results in a lengthy and impromptu tour of a town, looking for a space that is ‘just right’.

After lunch, we walked along the waterfront, where there are rocks painted with memorials, slogans, life metaphors and pictures. Some moving, others funny and a few ‘we woz ‘ere’. An oddly absorbing way to spend an hour or so.

Then the local lighthouse beckoned (they always do) and with it another stunning coastal view.

A quick shop for essential supplies and we spontaneously decide to ‘eat out for dinner’ which we’ve rarely done on this trip.

We’ve eaten at the Hog’s Breath long ago, on past trips, so decided to give it a go. V nice meal, and felt good not to have to make it ourselves!

We got back to the campsite at about 8pm ish, but it’s hard to make a quiet entrance with Matty, as she has the LOUDEST reverse ‘beep beep’ on the planet. This then set off some wildly barking dogs nearby, so the whole camp knew we were back 😬Read more