The day started with wall to wall sunshine as we left the motel in Turncurry, heading for the beach and the sights we missed due to the fact that it was dark when we arrived last night. Although it’s school holidays for the kids now, the beaches were empty, but then it was only just after 09.00. We hit the beaches in Tuncurry first, then drove just down the road to Forster and walked along the waterfront and under the bridge where a number of people were fishing from the quayside. As we were walking back a young boy landed a small fish and it looked as though it had made his year, judging by the look on his face. We made our way over to the main beach and was just having a quick Kodak moment, when a lady came up to us and said that the best place to take pictures was from a flagpole that was on the top of the headland about 5 mins away.
Taking note of local knowledge, off we went to the flagpole and you know what – she was absolutely right. The views were fantastic in all directions. Unfortunately, we were accosted by another lady, who was married to a Geordie and insisted on telling us their life story. We headed back to the car and headed off to find highway 1 and our next destination of Port Macquarie.
Upon arrival at Port Macquarie we strolled to the end of the river entrance and back into the main town just a little further up the Hastings River. It was now time for lunch, so we got a sandwich at subway and watched to world go by on a grassy area by the shops. After a few more Kodak moments we started out for what was to be our final destination of the day – South West Rocks.
Bev had told us about an old goal at Arakoon, which was used to incarcerate convicts that had been transported from the motherland for their misdemeanours. It was also used to house World War One prisoners of war after their camps were burned down near Sydney. After a tour round the goal we were just leaving the car park and we spotted our first kangaroo munching the grass at the entrance to the car park. Another car stopped and the lady driver was watching it as I was snapping away. As I passed her car to get a closer shot, she commented that she lived in the area, but had never seen one as big as this before, kangaroo that is. I said that it was the first one I had ever seen outside of a cage in a zoo. She told us that just down the road there were loads of them, but none as big as this one.
We had intended to move on, but as more kangaroos were just down the road, we thought we would go and investigate. Sure enough, exactly where she said so, there were lots more roos. There was also a fantastic small cove with a beautiful soft sandy beach beckoning to have its photo taken. Then I turned my attention to the kangaroos and began snapping away when an old chap started up a conversation and asked if we had been to the lighthouse at Smokey Cape. It’s not far away he told us and the views are incredible. We had been trying to leave South West Rocks for over an hour and we were still here. How can we turn down an offer of fantastic views along the coast and of the old lighthouse? So off we went on another detour from our planned route. Upon arrival, we had just reached the end of the car park and two enormous kangaroos started hopping towards the lighthouse. As we went past them, they seemed to take no notice of us, so we kept going whilst keeping one eye on them both.
The walk up to the lighthouse was a killer as the concrete slope was really steep and the afternoon sun was still burning down on us. However, the view was well worth the effort and again, just as the old chap had described it.
By the time we returned to South West Rocks, it was hardly worth heading off to the next stop at Nambucca Heads, so we decided to stay the night here. Unfortunately, there was not a huge amount of accommodation here and as we mentioned earlier, the kids are on Easter holiday here, so what accommodation there is, was fully booked. However, we did manage to get a room in a motel, but at a somewhat inflated price! Back to no internet access, so it will be another day before we can post this blog.
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