South West Rocks

Monday, 5 June 2017

Trial Bay Gaol

Dining Hall

Remains of breakwater

Looking across the bay to South West Rocks

Couple of saucepans

Very cosy with two detainees!

Cell block

Legs are a problem!

Horseshoe Bay

Another beach at South West Rocks

Self-timer selfie!

Small creek

Caravan wildlife

Sunshine, clear blue skies and no wind – a perfect day for the short drive to South West Rocks.  The Pacific Highway was easy travelling, despite large roadworks between Port Macquarie and Kempsey – we weren’t held up at all.  Beautiful forest and dairy farms, with the Big4 Sunshine Holiday Park nestled in rainforest.  Such a beautiful spot, we wished we could have stayed longer, but the hot water is more important!  This lovely park is ideally suited to families, with the most amazing water park and lots of kangaroos about.  Signs also warn of goannas, but we haven’t seen any yet.  Free wi-fi (500 mgb per day) is an added bonus, especially after Windows 10 decided to re-invent itself a few days into a new billing month.

We visited the Trial Bay Gaol, which was built on the headland near Arakoon c1880 as a public works gaol; it was specifically built to house prisoners who would build a breakwater off the point.  The breakwater was not successful, or completed, and the gaol eventually closed down, to be re-opened as a detention centre during World War 1.  We then drove into the township of South West Rocks, with its lovely beaches.  So much nicer than Harrington, we would definitely stay here again in this town.

The weather has been lovely and warm, with the temperature reaching 24 – we even managed to persuade Cat to enjoy some sunshine for a while, but one look at the kangaroos and he was back on the bed!