Friends, Family and Freaks!!!

Driving out of Port Macquarie we completely understood why we had been stuck there for days.  Even after the flood levels had fallen, there was still so much water everywhere. Fields, paddocks, gardens and roads were still submerged under water. Houses looked like they were floating along rivers and at some parts, the debris from the floodwaters were higher than our car!

The floods that had us trapped for a week

Our van on the left and the Wood's on the right

We finally arrived at Coffs Harbour a week later than planned.  We arrived at Harbour City Caravan Park and we were very excited to meet up with our friends. We met Mark and Amanda Woods, and their kids, Charlotte (6) and Jakob (5) when they camped next to us at EPIC in Canberra. We are both travelling Australia and our kids are all enrolled in Distance Education. We have a lot in common and all became friends immediately.

 

It was hugs and kisses all round and Will and Jacob couldn’t wait to do what boys do best – wrestle!!! After pulling the boys apart, we sat down and spent a few hours exchanging stories of our travels since we last saw each other.

Fish n Chips on Muttonbird Island

Sam's fish was too small to keep

In Coffs Harbour we spent most of our time catching up with the Woods family. The kids were all very excited to see each other and spent as much time as possible running off and playing together.  We went for a lovely bike ride to the wharf and had fish n chips at the base of Muttonbird Island, followed by a spot of fishing off the pier. Mark was most annoyed that Sam caught more than he did, and we got to see a competitive side of Amanda that we never knew existed! Most nights we had a lovely little campfire where the kids toasted marshmallows. Then once they were in bed we had the fire to ourselves, so we put on some music and opened a bottle – or two.

But it was bigger than Marks!!

Tony and Bernie had also moved to Coffs Harbour but they stayed in a park down by the water. We enjoyed visiting them and the kids fell in love with the amazing pool at their caravan park. Zaccy was lucky enough to hand feed a flock of beautiful Rainbow Lorikeets perched on Tony’s Awning.

 We moved from Coffs Harbour to Lismore for the weekend of their famous annual Lantern Festival. In 1994 the first Lismore Lantern Parade was seen by local artists and performers as a way for the community to honour the cycles of the seasons. The theme for the 18th Lantern Festival was ‘The Great Garden’ giving rise to imaginative and inspired lanterns that pay homage to the natural world and our Gaelic roots.

A metal horse sculpture at the Showgrounds

The CBD was transformed into a beautiful street festival and in the evening the Riverside Park displayed a spectacular array of glowing, handmade lanterns.  Scattered among the many glowing mushrooms, animals, flowers and dinosaurs, were beautiful pyramid lanterns made by the local children who carried them proudly.

The evening was concluded by a magnificent fireworks show and the ceremonial torching of the main stage monument.

We had a wonderful time at the festival and our night was made even more magical by the kids with their lit up bubble blowers.

Next stop, a gorgeous little hippie township called Mullumbimby. It is a quiet country township which is an ideal base from which to explore the beautiful hinterland. The town is also within easy reach of all the magnificent beaches in this part of the world, including Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads.

We stayed at the Mullumbimby Showgrounds and for $15 a night, we got a huge oval to camp on, fresh water and power. We were woken on Sunday morning by the sounds of one of the best Farmers’ markets I have been to.

While at Mullumbimby we took lots of short drives (and some not so short!) to the surrounding townships and beaches.

One day we left Dan to work in peace and quiet and headed to Brunswick Heads for the day. We spent all afternoon playing on the sand, fishing off the rocks and swimming with the dolphins! Yes, we actually got to fulfil a lifelong dream of mine and swim with dolphins in their natural environment.

Dad, Will and Zac were playing in the water when a dolphin and her calf came into the little bay. Will started splashing and the dolphins became curious. They swam underwater to almost within touching distance, then came up for air a few meters away. Later in the afternoon I was in the water with Will and Zac when the two dolphins returned. We didn’t get as close this time, but it was an amazing experience.

'Our' little beach for the day

Dad's catch!

Dad and Sam fished while the dolphins played in the water below

the Eastern Most Point!!!

We ticked off one of our “to dos” when we went to the Eastern Most Point of Mainland Australia at Byron Bay.  It was a cold and wet day so we bolted down the steps of the lighthouse between showers, took the photo, and then ran back to shelter. The clouds blew away just long enough for us to have a quick play on the beach and a walk around town.

Next to this sign was someone with a joint in one hand
and a bottle in the other!

Another tick off the list was when we went to “the drug capital of Australia”, the little village of Nimbin. In New South Wales the cultivation, selling and possession of cannabis is illegal. In Nimbin all three activities are part of their every day hippie culture.  Writer Austin Pick described his initial impressions of the village this way: "It is as if a smoky avenue of Amsterdam has been placed in the middle of the mountains behind frontier-style building facades. ... Nimbin is a strange place indeed." I couldn’t have said it better myself!

 There are’ No Dealing’ signs painted along the streets, and as you walk past, you hear “want some weed? Want a smoke bloke? Looking for some weed?”

 I have never seen Dan so uncomfortable in the 17 years I have known him! We met up with Mark and Amanda, but if we weren’t meeting them, I am sure Dan wouldn’t have even got out of the car.

We stopped in at a cafe for a cuppa and to just sit and take in the sights of the main street. The shops, people, signs and even the animals were fascinating to watch.


Unfortunately Will and I got caught in the middle of two women having a horrible fight. Will heard words that no 7 year old should ever hear and I think I even learnt a few new insults.

I can’t say we will hurry back to Nimbin but at least we have been there and had a small taste of their way of life. Definitely not for us though!!

Another day trip was to the beautiful Minyon Falls. We packed a BBQ and followed the Woods Family to the little picnic grounds, where the kids hand-fed their left over lunch to the local kookaburras. The falls were flowing fast after the rain from the past few days. There was a walking track to the bottom, but it was both too steep and too slippery for the kids to get down there, so we admired it from above.

 

Talking to each other on the CBs, we left the falls and went looking for some 4wd tracks. It was wet and muddy and we all wanted to try out Mark’s new Landcruiser. Unfortunately all the tracks were closed so we headed home.  On the way we called into a gorgeous little place called the Crystal Castle just before it closed. The gardens are an inspirational, tranquil and breathtakingly beautiful landscape. Mystical statues, amazing crystals, rainforests and a beautiful little shop filled with crystals, gems and jewellery. We warmed up with hot chocolates and watched the sun setting over the mountains.

Mum and Dad left Mullumbimby a few days earlier, to meet up with my brother and his family on the Gold Coast.  Tony and Bernie have left to explore the coast a bit more and Mark and Amanda have headed to Brisbane to catch up with friends.

We have a day or so to ourselves and then we are leaving Mullumbimby to go to Palm Beach and meet up with the rest of my family. Both my brothers and their families are flying up from Melbourne, and I can’t wait to see them all.

The kids wanted to spend every waking hour together

Sam and Jake up a great big tree

Boys being boys!

Wintersun (and rain)

Before I start, I should point out that this is Dan writing this entry as Kaz decided to relinquish the reins on the blog for now. I hope I don’t stuff it up too much...

So we were welcomed to Port Macquarie by palm trees, blue skies and sunshine, a nice change after the woeful weather we have had for the past few weeks.

We have been looking forward to Port Macquarie for the last few months now, as we are here for the Wintersun Festival – a 50’s and 60’s music festival with rock’n’roll and classic cars, but most importantly – lots of Elvis Tribute Artists.

The first thing we did after arriving and setting up the van was to catch up with Tony and Bern – Kaz’s uncle and his partner - over a beer or two.

We stayed at the Big4 Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park, situated at the base of the breakwall and within easy walking distance – even for me - to town.

On Saturday we wandered around town and watched a number of live shows on display all over town. Sunday was spent relaxing at West Port Park watching the kids spending all their pocket money on rides and junk food at the carnival whilst listening to live bands, drinking a few cold beers and admiring the many beautiful classic cars on display. We also managed to catch up with the fellow travellers we met in Tamworth, Gary, Bernie and Tash. They came back to our place and we all enjoyed a great BBQ and some fantastic story swapping.

Throughout the “working” week, while I sat in the van listening to the live bands playing nearby and working, everyone else wandered around town and enjoyed the music and shows I could only hear. Even the kids managed to earn a week off from schoolwork by doing 2 weeks worth the week before. Unfortunately work had got rather busy for me so I wasn’t so lucky.

I did manage to take some time off from work one afternoon and we all enjoyed a rock’n’roll sunset cruise. At $10 per person, we took drinks and nibbles and had a 90min cruise around the port. It was a great evening which I’m sure the kids will remember for a long time, as they were allowed to pilot the boat for most of the trip. I did notice most people started drinking a lot more once they realised who was steering, especially when Will took control. He decided that as it was a ‘Rock’n’Roll Cruise then the boat should rock’n’roll!!  All in all it was a great night and some great photos of a pod of dolphins that followed us for some time.

I also managed a little time off one morning to see an Elvis Tribute Contest, which got me into the mood for the concert Kaz and I went to that night. Tony had recommended we go see Mark Andrew perform his Elvis Tribute Show, “Elvis leaves his Mark”. The show was the highlight of my time in Port Macquarie and even though she will deny it, it was Kaz’s too!! You couldn’t help but get swept up in the realism and at stages throughout the show you could almost believe “he” was still alive. However a few of the older women really believed that it was Elvis and could hardly control themselves. One woman even fell off her chair when she received a kiss from Mark. Even Kaz got swept away in it all after catching an “Elvis” cap and refused to hand it over to me, even though up until this point in her life she couldn’t stand anything Elvis!

One night Kaz, Pat and Tim headed out to the “Cliff and Dusty Show”, a Cliff Richard and Dusty Springfield tribute show. They had a fantastic night and even got up and boogied to a couple of songs.

Over the long weekend all the main Wintersun events were to be held, however the heavens opened and the majority of events were a wash out.

Monday night the girls – Kaz, Pat and Bernie – all went to a Burlesque Show “Pretty Things Peep Show”. After a few chardonnays they all came home buzzing with excitement. They had spent the night watching burlesque, sword swallowing, fire twirling and lots more.

Tuesday morning we had packed up and were getting ready to leave when a huge storm rolled in, bringing heaps of rain and gusty winds. We decided it was unsafe to tow the van so booked in for another night. Tony had the same idea with his 5^th wheeler, but Tim reckoned their little motorhome would have no problems, so left to scout ahead. Little did we know, but the heavy rains caused major flooding up and down the coast and all the roads out of Port Macquarie were closed for about a week.

We were trapped!!!!!!

We spent the next few days trying to entertain the kids while we were all trapped in the van. Finally the sun came back out, but the roads were still closed. So we made the most of it, with games of cricket, kite flying and drinkies – for the adults. The kids and Kaz had fun watching some new born baby birds taking their first steps. When we arrived at Port Macquarie, there were a couple of Plovers guarding a nest right next to Tony and Bernie’s site. Whenever someone walked near to their van, the Plovers would squawk and chase them away. Finally four little chicks were hatched and spent the next few days wandering around the park playing in all the puddles.

After extending our stay for an extra 6 days we are finally leaving Port Macquarie. We have organised to meet up with Mark, Amanda and the kids in Coffs Harbour and are really looking forward to catching up with them.

Unwanted House Guests

After another lovely (but cold) night around the campfire we packed up for another move. We left Cockburn River and headed up the very steep Moonbi Mountain range. We were watching our altitude on the GPS and we reached a height of over 1200 meters above sea level.

We had planned on staying in Woolbrook but when we got there, we couldn’t get phone reception (the brand new Telstra tower in the camp area isn’t being connected until next week), so we continued on to a little town called Walcha. Walcha (who the locals are very quick to tell you is actually pronounced Wolka. It was spelt wrong when it was Gazetted and has never been corrected) is on the south-eastern edge of the Northern Tablelands in NSW.

We stayed in a road side rest stop which had a lovely little gazebo and beautiful views of the valleys below.  It was another great setting for the boys to do their schoolwork outside. However after a couple of days the weather turned against us and we got hit by continuous rain. We braved the rain and went into town a few times, but spent most of our time inside the caravan. Thankfully mum and dad were with us so the boys could go between our caravan and their motor home for a bit of a change of scenery.

Whilst we were at Walcha, I realised that we had more of my furry little friends (said sarcastically, through gritted teeth). The mouse plague in Central NSW was chasing us! After a prompt visit to the local hardware store and buying their remaining stock of mouse traps, we managed to catch a few of the rodents. One evening we heard a noise outside and after investigation, we realised there was a fox who had taken an interest in our rubbish bin. At the same time one of the mouse traps were set off, so Dan fed the mouse to the very grateful fox. We are hopeful we have got rid of all the mice now, but I’m not holding my breath!

Walcha is famous for its many statues placed throughout the town. We went for a walk and tried to find as many as we could.

We left Walcha and headed back across the Great Dividing Range again. After nearly missing the turn-off – Dan is still getting use to the caravan brakes in the wet – we stopped at Apsley Falls. Because of the huge amount of rain we have had over the past week, the falls were absolutely spectacular! The water forcing its way over the falls was roaring so loud that we had to shout to hear each other. The sight took our breaths away, especially little Zaccy, who had never seen anything like it. The surrounding gorge was beautiful and such a powerful piece of nature.

The trip over the Range and into Ellenborough reminded Dan and me a lot of the Dandenong Ranges. We were surprisingly hit by a case of homesickness and found ourselves spending the drive talking about our family and friends we have left at home.

After our GPS tried to drive us straight through a river, we finally made it to Ellenborough. Mum and Dad had arrived before us and had already met our friends who we had been hoping to catch up with. We met Gary and Bernadette, and their teenage daughter Tash at the Tamworth lookout. We had a lot in common and were travelling in the same direction, so we decided to meet up.

The campground at Ellenborough was very wet and soggy after all the rain, so we thought it safer to avoid the grass and park on the bitumen. Mum and Dad braved the soggy grass, but they are much lighter than us.

The campground is beside the Hastings River which was flowing rapidly. We set the boys up on a couple of picnic tables and they completed their schoolwork to the beautiful sounds of the river flowing and the birds singing. I don’t always think the boys really appreciate how lucky they are going on this trip, but that day Sam said to me “how many other kids in Australia do you think are doing their schoolwork in a place as cool as this?” I couldn’t have agreed more.

We have had another visit from the Ellis Mouse Plague this week. We thought we had caught them all at Walcha but we were wrong. The boys were in bed and I was just getting Zaccy ready for bed, when Dan spotted another one of the little critters. Without a word, I scooped Zac up and ran out the door and over to Mum and Dads. I stayed there until Dan rang me on the mobile (it was pouring with rain!) to tell me he had caught it.

The reason they had been so hard to get rid of, was because they were building a nest in the back of our couch! It still makes my skin crawl to think that we have been leaning against them whenever we have sat down at the dining table!

The following day I pulled everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) out of the caravan and cleaned it from top to bottom. I was so angry with the mice for chewing a hole in my beautiful new caravan, that I was prepared to squash and kill anything that moved. Dan and the kids very wisely kept their distance that day!

I do believe that we have finally got rid of all unwanted house guests! Now I can go to the long awaited Wintersun Festival and spend the next 2 weeks relaxing.