Step 10 Tuncurry to Port MacQuarie via Kendall

Sunday 5th December
Another morning travelling in the rain, although at least it was fine for packing up,

and chatting to Ernie.

First stop was the wonderful town of Kendall,

heart of Kendall country,

named after the poet Henry Kendall and quite possibly the town with the most signs incorporating the town name. There are signs counting down the the kilometres until you reach Kendall, including the last one - "Kendall 1/4". Obviously there is a sign as you enter town, then a  "where to go ? Kendall Country", Kendall school, Kendall tennis club, Kendall Opp shop, Kendall Pottery and Art Gallery, Crafty Shoes of Kendall, Kendall Craft Co-Op - not to be confused with Kendall Craft at the train station and Kendall Bottle O. This, in a town the size of Olinda (quite a small town in the Dandenongs).

But then again - it's a wonderful name and they are quite rightly proud of it :-)

BTW - Had the cheapest coffees of the trip so far - $3 each and they weren't too bad 7/10. Resisted the temptation of the house speciality - Beetroot Cake.

Tearing ourselves away from my spiritual home we moved on to Port MacQuarie and checked in at the Big 4 Breakwater Caravan Park. Lesson for today

If you are asked "would you like a waterfront site?" Check whether there is a water view.

In this case the answer was no - due to the 20 foot high breakwater between us and the water

To be fair the name of the park is the Breakwater Caravan Park so we probably should have seen that coming.

Settled in and walked into town to pick up some tea. Walking along the river couldn't help but notice the water is extremely brown and murky. Bit of a surprise because everywhere else we have been the water has been crystal clear. But as someone explained, there has been so much rain inland that the rivers are starting to get muddied up (that's an environmental term meaning the rivers are full of @#$%)

Monday 6th December


Steve managed to get out of bed early again and got in a walk before breakfast - regular little Iron Man.

Another beautiful day beckoned so we jumped on the bike and rode back south down the coast. Through Lighthouse Beach, Cathie's Lake, North Haven, Laurieton and ended up at the North Brother Mountain lookout. Surprisingly the brochures had not exaggerated when they said it had the best views on the coast - OMG another "Million Dollar View" (hereinafter abbreviated to MDV or $MV).

 We arrived at the lookout just in time to see a couple of paragliders taking off - one tandem, one solo.

I am told by Peter King and others that this is quite exhilarating, but as the guy threw himself off the edge of the cliff I renewed my vows to the Church of the Latter Day Cowards.

In another start to a budget conscious day we ate our home made Ham & Cheese sandwiches and rode back to MM.

Editors note: It was only after we returned from the trip that Steve found reference in a brochure to Miners Beach, the unofficial "nude beach" for Port MacQuarie. Now I'm not saying that the brochure was hidden but ...

Having expended all my energy watching the guys para gliding - I promptly fell asleep on the bed. In my defence it was quite warm and it is quite tiring riding the bike - even if it does have a motor.

Having perused the brochures (before I fell asleep) we had decided to hit the Leagues Club for their 2 for  1 Monday night meal offer. Betty Budget eat your heart out.  Deciding to save even more money we decided to walk the 3kms to the Club - forgot about the heat! First round of drinks didn't touch the sides and the savings on the meal look like going out with the drinks bill. Anyway the meal (pork schnitzels & veges) turned out alright and we managed to get away with just one more round of drinks and headed off for the walk home.

On the breakwater they have allowed people to paint the rocks in their own designs and with their own messages. Lesson for today - some people are artistic

And some are not!

Got chatting to a couple back at the park and ended up sitting up well past our bed time (11:30pm, that's what time we sat up to, not our bed time). They were on holiday from the UK touring around in a motorhome. Back home they are also experimenting with retirement and have moved to Alicante in Spain for 6 months of the year. Could be another place for us to visit on the European leg of the journey.

Tuesday 7th December

Woke to grey sky and drizzle but by 10:00am it had cleared enough to walk to the shops to pick up bits and pieces - including toilet chemicals. (I knew you'd all be interested to know that - if you work backwards through the blogs you will be able to work out how often I have had to empty the toilet canister. If you're really keen you could then work out how many times we have used the toilet).

By the time we walked back to MM the weather had cleared and it had really warmed up. So after lunch  we decided to take advantage of the pool at the caravan park. Very pleasant it was too and refreshing.

The tip from the brochures for dinner was the buy one fish and chips get the second for $1 special from Jims Fish and Chip shop. Lesson for today (which I should have remembered from my childhood visits to NSW) is that NSW does not do good fish and chips! Even after we passed on the special, which was Hokey Cokey (or something like that). Having opted for the Barramundi, it suddenly occurred to me that Barramundi is not a local fish. After eating half of it it occurred to me that I miss the Mt Waverley and Torquay fish and chip shops. But the setting was very pleasant, sitting on the jetty watching the sun go down and the energetic people paddling their canoes.

On the walk back, in an effort to move on from Ernie, Di stopped for a cuddle with Sir Edmund Barton

Editors note: Shame on you  who know that George Washington was the first president of the United States but didn't know that Sir Edmund Barton was Australia's first Prime Minister

 We were already planning on leaving tomorrow but discovered today that we have to be out of the park   anyway because the Festival of the Sun music festival starts on Thursday. Apparently Di is we are too old to attend. No really, it's written in the terms and conditions on the tickets. It's a shame really because Dallas Frasca as well as the The Gin Club are playing and they are like totally awesome and like my fav bands. Bugga