Port Macquarie
Trip Start
Feb 04, 2009
1
19
33
Trip End
Apr 20, 2009
Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia
Monday, March 23, 2009
We crawled into our wonderful little cabin, overwhelmingly happy that for the next 3 nights, we would not be sharing with any snorers or youngsters that dared to be out past 12pm and stumbly on their return - shocking behaviour...man i'm getting old.
We ambled along the coastline next day and came to a beach we had been recommended to visit by campsite staff. The beach was called Rocky Beach, so named because 'it was well rocky'; and the lack of suitable path down to it meant it was completely devoid of people. After negotiating our way down the cliff, with only a few stumbling moments between us, we spent an hour sunbathing and hopping in and out of the sea to cool off.
We made our way back up the cliff at about 2pm, which was suprisingly much easier, resulting in fewer bruises and cuts than the downward trip, and headed for the Koala hospital.
The hospital, run by volunteers, takes in Koalas from the area that have been injured and are in need of a little TLC. The most common reasons for Koala admissions are traffic accidents, attacks by dogs, and chlamydia. This STI is rife amongst Koalas, and with no complete cure for it, many Koalas are being sent back into the wild, still carriers of the disease. Koalas with the worst chlamydia have to be put down so they can not pass on the disease to other Koalas. Sydney University are working to find a cure for this, but they have not yet found a complete cure.
Some of the stories about the Koalas were heartbreaking. Perch Mirical had been caught in a bush fire and was so badly burnt that her eyes were burnt closed, and she had no fur left. After lots of looking after at the hospital, her eyes opened again returning her full eyesight, and all her fur grew back...she was a real beauty.
When the Koalas come into the hospital, they are tagged so their medical history can be stored incase they might be back at the hospital in the future, which many are - 'repeat offenders', they have been affectionatly named by those that care for them.
That night we made a wicked Mexican meal of Burrito's. After dinner, deciding to get a bit of laundry in whilst I had the facilities, I washed the entire contents of my rucksack, except for the maxi-dress which thankfully hid the fact that i had put all my underwear in the wash also. As i hung my washing on the line, i was advised by a frequenter of the caravan park that alot of the laundry hung outside tended to go missing, especially around the weekends. It was Saturday night, and not having a great deal of clothing to begin with and no change of clothes in the cabin, I felt disinclined to leave it in full view. The cabin sooon became a chinese laundry, and every pole, chair, curtain rail and cupboard soon became a peg for some item of clothing.
On our final day in Port Macquaire we walked to the near by vineyard. 'Douglas Vale' unbeknown to us, was run by volunteers and had a great deal of history to it. It started as a family business, and was passed from generation to generation, before being taken on by the heritage group who restored the vineyard and associated buildings to their original state. By this time, much of the land had been taken by the government in order to build the local senior and junior schools, so the little vineyard was left with only one acre of land.
They produced 5 different wines from the vines, as well as one port, and it was up to the volunteers to pick the grapes, send them to the local brewery, and then bottle the wine once it had reached its final state. We were given a taste of each of the wines, and being charitable people we selected 2 bottles of white to take away for our boat trip that evening.
The Chinese Junk, what a boat. We walked onto the spectacular 30berth, with cushioned chairs around the back section of the boat. Being the 1st on, we ran straight to that back and spread out on the sofas. Our driver/captain took us round the port, then up to millionaires row, with all the big houses and yachts parked out back. We picked up fish and chips along the estury and drank to Douglas Vale whilst watching the sun set. Just as we were heading back into port, two dolphins started swimming alongside the boat. They were lovely to watch, and it was the perfect end to a fabulous day. We left the boat pretty tipsy, and not at all ready for the 6hr bus trip to Sydney - why must Australia be so damn big!
