Calwalla Reserve, Australia Travel Journals & Blogs

Andy n Bunny Briggs Australia via KL
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- Jan 16, 2020, 10:07am
- ⛅ 26 °C
- Altitude: 135 ft
- Australia New South Wales Port Macquarie Calwalla Reserve -31.456005, 152.93093831°27’22” S 152°55’51” E
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Day 97
Rain and wind
January 16, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
We looked around Port Macquarie, stopped at a couple of lookouts and consulted with the staff at the information centre to find if our planned journey was achievable? No, it wasn’t. There have been many fires in the area. While the park we were hoping to drive into hasn’t had a fire, there is only one road in/out and the park authorities are worried about evacuating the park if there is a fire. It’s raining and the fire risk is the lowest possible that can be shown on their fire risk dials. Never mind.

We had lunch at the Beach Bum cafe and chose to sit under cover to keep away from the rain, but it was still very windy. As we drove further south the heavens opened and we pulled off the road, found a river-side car park and ... made a cuppa. We waited for the storm to subside before driving on to find a campsite which we found in the town of Bulahdelah at their Bowling Club “RV Stop”.

There are many names given to “senior” people who travel around as we are doing, grey nomads, silver nomads, grey geris (geriatrics? ). During one news coverage of the fires where they were evacuating the tourists, one newscaster referred to RVs (recreational vehicles) as “retirement vehicles” and then had to quickly correct himself. I wonder if that is another perception?Read more
Traveler 👍😉
1/16/20Reply
Traveler 😂😂
1/16/20Reply
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Simon and Blake Around the World
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- Nov 21, 2017
- ⛅ 23 °C
- Altitude: 35 m
- Australia New South Wales Port Macquarie Calwalla Reserve -31.456684, 152.93007731°27’24” S 152°55’48” E
Day 233
Coolangatta - Port Macquarie
November 21, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
It was an early start this morning as our bus was due at 8:35am. We have gotten waking up, showering, breakfast and last of the packing down to just over an hour though for maximum time in bed. It was a long 10 hour stint on the Greyhound, so luckily I downloaded 14 episodes of Blacklist on Netflix and Blake made a picnic lunch to keep us going.

10 hours later we arrived in Port Macquarie. Tired from our travels we went for a cheeky KFC dinner, which was disappointing as their KFC menu over here is rubbish! On our way to the bus stop, we passed Coles where a lady with her two children had just finished their shopping. She kindly asked us if we'd like a lift which was really nice and really handy as the buses are hourly here and we had about 35 minutes to wait for the next one. All squeezed in, Blake with children either side of her in the back we were on our way. One child was super talkative and was having a good old chat with Blake in the back. The young boy however had a look of terror on his face the whole journey as if he thought we may be murderers or something.

We made it to the Airbnb and met our house buddy's for the night, Michael and Ruth from Belgium. Feeling pretty worn out we retired for some more Netflix and an early night. Halfway through an episode I suddenly had a thought that we may be in the wrong bedroom. We got Airbnb up on Blakes phone and looked at the room next door and realised we were. Knowing that more guests were due tomorrow and had booked the room we were now fully at home in, we jumped up, put everything back the way it was and did 20 trips ferrying our stuff to our actual room trying to be really quiet as it was really late. Luckily no one noticed.Read more
Pensioners On Tour So funny 😂
11/24/17Reply
Jackie Blake Lol that’s a classic x
11/25/17Reply
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Simon and Blake Around the World
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- Nov 22, 2017, 11:18pm
- ☁️ 16 °C
- Altitude: 35 m
- Australia New South Wales Port Macquarie Calwalla Reserve -31.45668, 152.93002331°27’24” S 152°55’48” E
Day 234
Port Macquarie
November 22, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Before Ruth and Michael checked out, they kindly gave us a couple of 2 for 1 vouchers for the Hydro Golf which they had played and said was really fun. They also gave us their Victoria and Melbourne Lonely Planet as they didn't need it any more which was really nice and will help us plan a potential road trip along the Great Ocean Road.

Fancying a change from walking and beaches we decided to check out the Hydro Golf. The buses here aren't very frequent however so we had over an hour to wait for the bus. As we had some time to kill we walked across the road to Harry's Lookout which boasts incredible views out over the sea. We then walked down to Shelley Beach and across a small section of the coastal path before heading back to the bus stop.

It was a bit of a mission to get to the Hydro Golf. We had to get a bus and then walk for 25 minutes the other end but it was definitely worth it. It was run by a very friendly man from Brighton who has now been living in Australia for 25 years. The Hydro Golf is essentially a driving range however you have to try and hit the ball into tiny nets. Depending on which net you got the ball in determined what prize you got. There was a variety of prizes on offer including a dominos pizza, $65 jackpot and a harbour cruise. 4 buckets of balls later, we both left empty handed. It was pretty much impossible to hit the nets, especially for me who can't even play crazy golf. I did however manage to hit the side of the frame holding the net much to Simon's dismay. Fortunately for him, he managed to do the same with one of his last few balls, otherwise I would have been better than him!

After the Golf, we popped into Aldi to grab some bits for dinner, before heading back to our Airbnb. After dinner we raided Natalia's DVD collection and watched Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams. Neither of us had watched it before but it was really good.Read more
Jackie Blake I can’t hit the ball so I know where you are coming from lol x
11/25/17Reply
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Simon and Blake Around the World
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- Nov 23, 2017
- ☀️ 24 °C
- Altitude: 35 m
- Australia New South Wales Port Macquarie Calwalla Reserve -31.456701, 152.92997731°27’24” S 152°55’48” E
Day 235
Day 2 - Port Macquarie
November 23, 2017 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
The sun was beaming so for a change we went for a walk. With our packed lunch in the bag along with our beach attire, we took the coastal path towards the main town from underneath Harry's Lookout. It was a fairly easy walk with lots of different beaches and coves on the way. Some looked good for sunbathing whilst others had some good waves for surfing. We stopped at a park bench near Oxley beach for a spot of lunch with a view and then crossed a bridge on to a kind of island. On top there was a historic flagstaff used to signal boats so that they knew when they could and couldn't sail up to the port.

From the top we could see that the main beach was quite busy (by busy we mean there were more than 8-10 people) so we stayed on Oxley for a mixture on sunbathing, napping and dips in the sea. Having sufficiently topped up the tans we headed back to the house for some dinner and an early night.Read more
Jackie Blake Looks amazing x
12/1/17Reply
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Traveler Weltreise 2018
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- Jun 10, 2018
- ⛅ 17 °C
- Altitude: 35 m
- Australia New South Wales Port Macquarie Calwalla Reserve -31.453345, 152.92943731°27’12” S 152°55’46” E
Day 39
Port Macquarie
June 10, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Mit Port Macquarie als Basisstation konnte ich das Smokey Cape Lighthouse, das Tacking Point Lighthouse sowie Flynn's Beach besuchen.
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