LAKE MACQUARIE REGION

Friday, 13 September 2019

Breakwall at Port Macquarie

Rock art

Meeting Sir Edmund Barton

Sea Scout patrol boat in the maritime museum

Small section of the Port Macquarie caravan park - spot our caravan?

Looking south from the Breakwall

View of Lake Tuggerah from our caravan

Three wise birds

Lake Tuggerah at sunset, opposite our caravan

Sunset glow on the paperbarks

Plover

Sunset

Pelican swimming on a purple lake

Norah Head Lighthouse

View south

Farewelled Sally and Paul, then turned south once more.  Beautiful highway until we reached Coffs Harbour, then it was a slow crawl through the city until we were once again on the motorway – it was easy to see why the people of Coffs Harbour are desperate for a bypass!  We arrived at the NRMA Port Macquarie Breakwall Holiday Park before lunch; a very large park on the banks of the river, right beside the breakwall and its very popular walking track.  Using the breakwall track, with its painted stones, it was only about a fifteen minute walk to the centre of town and some interesting shops, including the obligatory gelato bar!  We managed to help the local economy before retracing our steps and walking to the end of the breakwater – the sea was much calmer than the previous days.

We discovered that our preferred caravan park at Lake Macquarie the following two nights was located next to a large power plant, so decided it might be a better option to find someone more suitable.  After making a decision, we rang Belmont South Caravan Park and was allocated a lake view site for a rather exorbitant fee.

We departed Port Macquarie at 8.15 am, along with all the school and local traffic, then met up with all the trucks and caravans heading south on the Pacific Motorway.  After negotiating the roads of Newcastle, we arrived at Lake Macquarie about 11.30 and checked into the caravan park (the one we booked yesterday).  When we arrived at the site, it had brand new concrete, was very long and narrow, the only view of the lake was from our toilet window, it was in the middle of a construction site with a digger beeping non stop while it was working (non stop) and the little tipper truck beeping every time it was put into reverse (frequently). We didn't unhitch, sat in the caravan and found another park with good reviews a bit further south, went back to reception and said the site wasn't worth $50 a night and I couldn't stand the noise, we asked for a refund, which was willingly given with apologies.

The Canton Beach Holiday Park is huge but contains a lot of onsite holiday caravans, many of which are rather decrepit.  We have a site which looks out the front window over the lake and are paying only a third of the Belmont South park for the two nights. Tomorrow night is $5 extra because it is the weekend - and the place is virtually empty!  We can only access 137 television channels, too.  We enjoyed a walk along the lake’s shore during the afternoon, with a short stop at the local bowling club to watch the locals compete.  However, the best part of the day was still to come – sunset over the lake and some magnificent colours!

Today, along with thousands and thousands and thousands of locals, we visited the local shopping centre for supplies.  On exiting the centre, we noticed a cinema complex across the car park, so decided to check out the current movies.  What luck, Downton Abbey had commenced only one minute previously, we quickly purchased tickets, were given a piece of cake each and told to “mind the wheelie walkers.”  Walking into the darkened theatre, we couldn’t see a thing, dug out the phone torch and realised the theatre was full, groped our way among the walkers to a couple of empty seats near the screen and waited to a brighter screen (and our eyes to adjust) to try and find some seats further back.  Thoroughly enjoyed the film – it is nice to leave a theatre with a warm, fuzzy feeling – and when the lights came up at the end, realised we were probably the youngest in the theatre.  Following lunch, we visited Norah Head lighthouse, with some magnificent views of the sand dunes to the north and the rocky headland.  After a cool and cloudy start to the day, the sun appeared, the temperature rose and the southerly wind remained cool.