Day 19 - Hawks Nest

Hi,

We were woken this morning at 1am by very heavy rain. This continued till about lunch time. South of here had over 200 mm rain overnight. We were to go on a trip to the Myall Lakes but this was cancelled due to the rain, so we spent a quiet morning in the van. I filled in the time making some cards.
After lunch I checked out the surf beach, just a few streets away.






The weather started to clear by the afternoon so it didn't interrupt our afternoon happy hour and games.



Is the ball on the line? I'll blow it away!!!



Big decision - which disc is closer to the jack?



This afternoon the caravan park started to fill up again for the weekend, with lots of families arriving. During the week there is usually just us oldies, then the families all arrive for the weekend. Most of these have tents and it's interesting watching some of them trying to set them up. Some obviously are very experienced and others are very new at it and trying to follow the instructions. Seems too hard for me.

That's all for today,
Cheerio till next time,
Love from Lesley and Peter.


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Day 18 - Hawks Nest and Nelsons Bay

Hello,

Today we took a 1 hour ferry trip across the bay to Nelson's Bay. The bay is 2 and a half times larger in area than Sydney Harbour, but not as deep. This is the ferry arriving to take us from Hawks Nest.



We arrived at the large Marina area with a great variety of boats of all shapes and sizes. We noticed one of the boats was for sale for $998,000. Thought we might buy a couple. Ha ha!!!



We were told we could take a bus trip for some sightseeing of the area, however, all that was available was the normal bus route, not a tourist bus. However we did hop aboard and took a 1 hour round trip to Soldiers Point. This area has some very upmarket homes, many with beautiful water views of the bay.
We then strolled around the area, had coffee and lunch before heading back to the ferry for our return trip.











Peter thought he would attempt to skipper the boat but of course the skipper had different ideas.







We arrived back around 4.30. Peter then had another photography lesson which went till sunset at 7.30. The usual drinks, nibblies and games finished off the day.

That's all for today,
Love from Lesley and Peter.


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Day 16 and 17 - Hawks Nest

Hello,

Day 16
Housework, washing and shopping were this mornings jobs. The remainder of the caravans arrived today so the circle at Happy Hour is growing each day.

I made some cards after lunch, and spent the rest of the afternoon socialising with the other caravaners, so another relaxing day.

This is the Myall river which separates Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens.



And this is the "Singing Bridge" joining the 2 townships.



Day 17
We were up early this morning to drive south to Wyong, about 2 hours away. We were visiting one of Peter's cousins. Noela took us for a drive around the area and to The Entrance. There are so many beautiful holiday areas here. I think we will have to come back for a longer visit.















We arrived back at Hawks Nest just in time for happy hour followed by a BBQ. Then Peter had a photography lesson for the keen photographers in the group. So it's been a bit busier day than we have had for the last couple of days, but a very enjoyable one.
We are off tomorrow for some more sightseeing of the area.

Bye for now,
Love from Lesley and Peter.







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Day 15 - Hawks Nest

Hi,

We had a relaxing day today. A few more caravans arrived today so there was lots of socialising with the other Adria owners.

I got my card stuff out for the first time since being away. I didn't get much done when told it was time for a game of disc bowls. It's a very similar game to lawn bowls but throwing a disc instead of a bowl. Probably easier to play than bowls as well.




Just look at the action!!!! See the yellow disc flying through the air.



These games rolled into Happy Hour - this is almost a compulsory part of the rally or any caravan trip.
There is quite a lot of bird life around the park. The kookaburras are fairly quiet and obviously used to people as you can get very close to them. This photo of the kookaburra was taken on the iPad so I was very close to it - less than a meter away. It only flew away when some little brats chased it.



There are scrub turkeys, parrots, cockatoos as well as the usual magpies, noisy miners, ibis and crows. A very large lizard was also seen wandering through the park today.
There was a nice sunset today. I probably missed it at its best.



That's all for now,
Till next time,
Cheerio and love from Lesley and Peter.


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Day 14 - Hawks Nest

Hello again,

This morning we drove about an hour south to Mayfield, a suburb of Newcastle to visit our niece Elouise and her husband Tim. Elouise's Mum was also visiting. We had a lovely day catching up with them.



On our way down we went via the Pacific Highway and turned off at Hexham. Coming home we went through Williamtown were the RAAF base is and where Tim works. As we drove past the coal terminal we noticed many huge structures for handling coal, particularly the overhead conveyer belts used to transfer coal to ships. Most of this coal comes from the Hunter Valley.
















We arrived back at the caravan park to find that 4 other Adria van owners had arrived today for this weeks rally, so it was happy hour and time to catch up with some familiar faces.

Now some info about this area-
Hawks Nest was named after a large tree which was a favourite nesting place of hawks, and used as a navigational marker in the early days. (I don't know if it still exists).
The neighbouring township of Tea Gardens on the other side of the Myall River to Hawks Nest, is connected by a bridge known as the Singing Bridge - named for its tendency to act like a wind harp in a strong south-westerly breeze. (Will try to get a photo of it one day). Tea Gardens was so named after a failed attempt to grow tea in the area. Both these small towns are popular holiday destinations.

We have had a little light rain tonight. It's been a bit cooler today with overcast skies.
That's all the news I have for now.

Cheerio and love from Lesley and Peter.

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Day 13 - Hawks Nest

Hello,

We left Bulahdelah this morning for a short drive to Hawks Nest where we will be staying for the next week. The caravan rally doesn't start till Tuesday but we decided to arrive early. We will do some day trips from here. The caravan park is huge with 178 sites and it is packed for the weekend. I guess a lot will leave by Sunday afternoon.



Looking towards Hawks nest from a lookout -


The caravan park where we are staying-




The beach is a short walk from the park-










This is our spot for the next week. We are next to the path to the amenities so there is a lot of foot traffic past our van.




After lunch I did a couple of loads of washing - (the housework never stops), went shopping for some essentials and went to church tonight, so we had a fairly quiet day. About 7.15pm ( daylight saving time) Peter went back to the beach for some sunset photos. Tomorrow we are going to visit our niece Elouise at Mayfield near Newcastle. That is about an hours drive from here.

Till next time,
Cheerio and love from Lesley and Peter.




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Day 12 - Bulahdelah and Dungog

Hi everyone,

50 years ago I starting writing to a pen friend - Kaye- who lived near Dungog, then moved into Dungog a couple of years later. I finally met her for the first time in 1990, but lost contact with her again. I contacted her again a few weeks ago ( after some "detective work"), knowing we would be in this area and we will be meeting up in the next week. I decided I would like to go to Dungog as I had never been there, so we set out this morning - it's only about 75 Kim's from Bulahdelah. The road was windy and rough again, but we seem to be getting used to these roads as we travel through the National Park areas. Closer to Dungog were these rolling green hills, and then the unusual tunnel under the train line. Dungog is an agricultural, grazing and timber area.








We arrived at Dungog and had lunch. We then went to the house where Kaye lived till she married. Her mother still lives there. We called in for a surprise visit and Kaye's eldest sister was visiting as well. They were so pleased to see us, as I was to meet them for the first time. We had a lovely couple of hours talking to them. Now I'm looking forward to catching up with Kaye and her husband.
Here I am with Kaye's sister and Mum.




This is a very narrow bridge just out of Dungog- definitely no passing or overtaking on this one!




Below is a beautiful heritage listed home in the main street of Dungog. It has been owned by only 2 different families since it was built in 1895. Local cedar has been used extensively throughout the house.



The main street in Dungog -




That's all for today,
Cheerio and love from Lesley and Peter.




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Day 11 - Buladelah

Hi

We left Port Macquarie this morning and travelled south through Taree to Buladelah which is not a very large town.

After lunch and Peters usual poppy nap, we went for a drive. Firstly we went to see The Grandis - NSW tallest known tree. It is a 400 year old flooded gum located in the Myall lakes National Park. After travelling several kilometers on a rough gravel road we found the road was closed due to a bridge being washed away.




We turned around and when we got back to the turnoff, I saw a road closed sign that I missed on the way.
From here we decided to go to Seal Rocks. The road was quite windy at times and a few kilometres of very rough gravel. I was disappointed as there didn't seem to be much there, and we couldn't find the lighthouse and blowhole which featured in the brochure. Perhaps it was further up an even rougher road that I decided wasn't worth driving on. So it seemed like we went on another wild goose chase again today.



There are areas along the road called "lay-bys". These are areas for slower vehicles to pull over to allow cars to pass. I had never heard of this term before as part of the road.



Part of the beach at Seal Rocks.







There was a caravan park there but I wouldn't want to take our caravan on that rough road.

That's all for today,
Cheerio and love from Lesley and Peter.




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Day 10 - Port Macquarie

Hello,

Yesterday just after we arrived at Port Macquarie, we couldn't believe the number of sirens we could hear going past the caravan park. Later we heard there was an accident involving a bus with school children, so then realized that was the reason for all the sirens.

We woke to a fine day here this morning at Port Macquarie with the temperature getting into the mid 30's. It's also very humid.

For a bit of history, Port Macquarie is one if the oldest penal settlements in NSW. 3 ships arrived with 60 convicts and 40 soldiers in 1821 and remained a convict town till 1847. In 1830 Port Macquarie (named after Governor Macquarie in 1818) was opened to free settlers.

There are a number of beautiful beaches surrounding Port Macquarie. We took a drive to the Tacking Point lighthouse. This is the 3rd oldest lighthouse in Australia. It has recently been restored. It was built in 1879, and I was surprised to read that it was converted to automatic operation in 1919. There are some beautiful views from the lighthouse. I saw some dolphins enjoying a swim in the water below.















Photos near the Marina







After lunch and Peter's siesta, I decided to drive to the Kew/ Laurieton area. There is a woodturning gallery there which Peter of course would be interested in. The brochure said to ring first to ensure they are open, which I did, and a message said they were open till 4.30 today. We headed off through Lake Cathie, Bonny Hills and North Haven, and arrived at our destination to find they are closed today. Was not impressed. So we headed back to Port Macquarie through some very heavy rain. At one time I couldn't see in front of me. The next minute the road was dry. The storms missed Port Macquarie.

We will leave Port Macquarie tomorrow and head further south.

Not sure what happened with yesterday's blog. I had trouble posting it, I tried about 4 times, so removed some photos and it appears 2 went. Hope you are not too confused.

Till next time,
Cheerio and love from Lesley and Peter.

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