We spent the morning walking around the historical points of interest around town, of which there are quite a lot. Port Macquarie was started as a penal settlement for the convicts in Sydney who had re-offended, all the bad guys! The main sites were the old Courthouse and the Museum, with the dress up at the museum our highlight. Other than the history, the town has a nice vibe, and we have thoroughly enjoyed staying in the caravan park along the foreshore.

The Port Macquarie half ironman triathlon was surrounding us today. We were locked in the caravan park from 6am to 2pm, but that was OK as we did not plan on driving anywhere. Clare went out super early with Olive to watch the swim-cycle transition, while throughout the morning the bike and run legs were visible on either edge of the caravan park. It continued to rain, which was probably cooler for the athletes, but not great for us. Fortunately there is a big undercover camp kitchen just next to our van, which we used for shelter all day. We went for a stroll around town late in the afternoon, then indulged on fish and chips by the river. Rob had his picture taken which Edmund Barton (Who?).

As we woke, looking through the rain speckled window of the van, we spotted a few whales frolicking just off shore. Pity it was raining as we could not go down to the beach and get an eyeball to eyeball view, as they were so close within the bay. With such miserable weather, we decided to pack up and drive just around the corner to Smokey Cape. It was still gusty and raining, so we had a quick look at the highest lighthouse in New South Wales with its interesting design. We drove on to Kempsey, home of the Acubra hat, but nothing to excite us here, and then stopped at nearby Crescent Head for lunch. We were planning on camping down this way, but the road is rough and the weather not looking good for tomorrow, so we continued on to the larger town of Port Macquarie, where we might get more shelter. We stopped at the Koala Hospital and nearby Roto historic home, before settling at a caravan park just along from Town Beach. After dinner, the rained had cleared and we joined many others for a stroll along the graffiti covered rock wall on the foreshore.

We had breakfast on our picnic table seated above the beach. Olive had a play in the sand, while we waited for the office to open. As expected, it was too good to be true, and we had to move campsites. The new site is not too bad, and worth staying around for another day. The morning was spent exploring the Trial Bay Goal, built in the 1890’s so that prisoners could build a sea wall, which was never completed. Later it was used for the internment of Germans during the First World War. It is half in ruins, but very interesting. Olive loved running in and out of cells, and at one stage got stuck trying to squeeze through the bars. After Olive’s afternoon nap, we went for a walk to the striking Little Bay and then back for a swim in the ocean out from our campsite. Just spectacular!

It was a fresh morning, and fortunately the rain had stopped. The friendly horse in the paddock behind us came back to visit, expecting more food. We drove to Dangar Falls, with thankfully no walk required to get to the lookout. It was surprisingly impressive. We stopped in Dorrigo town and strolled around, It wasn’t that interesting except for a small gourmet food and wine shop including the distillery. About 6 km out of town was Dorrigo National Park, a World Heritage listed park. There were great facilities for viewing the park, an informative info centre, a skywalk (wooden platform over the tree tops), the Glade picnic area were we had lunch, and many walking tracks. We chose one of the longest, a 6km walk through the forest, which took us two tiring hours. It seemed like most of it was uphill, but well worth the view of two great waterfalls. After a coffee stop at a spectacular lookout, we drove back down to the coast. We had a quick look at Nambucca Heads, pausing just for a view from a lookout. We hurried to our destination, arriving at Trial Bay Gaol campground just after the office closed. So we just picked the best available spot right on the beach overlooking the bay, hoping that they would not make us move tomorrow. The sunset view across the water was fantastic, and kangaroos came along to join us. We soaked it all in because we may not be here for long.

After two days of apparently charging the battery in our van, Rob discovered that a few days ago he had inadvertently unplugged the charger. Oh well!! We packed up and drove from Sawtell back to Coffs Harbour for an enjoyable walk out to Mutton Bird Island and the crashing seas on the far side. From the top of the island we could just make out a whale in the distance. From Coffs we drove along the Waterfall Way to the small laid back town of Bellingen. Just out of town was the Old Butter Factory, with a surprisingly good array of quality art and craft shops. In town we parked by the picturesque Bellinger River for a picnic lunch, then strolled around town. The highlight was a beautiful large restored shop with wooden floorboards and high ceilings. For Olive it even had antique toy wooden blocks to play with. We continued up the Waterfall Way, a steep drive to the small town of Dorrigo, which borders the National Park of the same name. We are certainly in the country, as behind our campsite was a paddock with a horse, some sheep, ducks and cows, which Olive loved. Unfortunately it is raining again, so we expect a cool wintry night in the hills ahead.

Our first job today was to move the van. We had parked on the side of a mildly sloping hill, so that we could get some grass at our door – but after rolling on top of each other all night we have decided that a comfortable night’s sleep is more important than having a grassy doorstep. It was a mostly cloudy day today, but lovely when the sun came out. This caravan park has heaps of grassy fields plus a great playground – so we could just stay here all day. Rob happily tapped away at his computer while Clare played with Olive. We did venture out, to walk up and down the quiet main street, only meters away, and to check out the beach. The main street is lined with wonderful huge Hillii Fig Trees. We avoided watching the Melbourne Cup, purely because we hadn’t heard anything of the build up, therefore had no interest in it whatsoever.