Rocks Rule

The other main thing I wanted to see at Port Macquarie was the breakwater in the town, where the rocks have all been individually hand-painted making an interesting and beautifully heartwarming community art project.




There are nostalgic rocks,




celebratory rocks,




memorial rocks,




family rocks,



angry rocks,




scary rocks,




cuddly rocks,




and my personal favourite, a very clever Suess rock.




There are some rocks that people return to, and add to year after year, some dating back to the 1990s - how cool to have your very own rock to visit on holiday!

But, how does something like this start? I guess a few people paint some, and then people just keep doing it! I reckon someone should start colouring in Wellington. One night, at 3am, people should go out with their paint brushes and test pots (and torches) and just go for it. It's the sort of thing that would suit Wellington down to the ground. Anyone keen to join?











Just discovered that my camera has a panoramic setting - cool!

We had a lovely couple of hours, at the playground and reading the rocks and then to the Macquarie Hotel for Friday evening pizzas, which were delicious. The atmosphere there was amazing, great live music, children playing, and people just relaxing by the waterfront, playing football, throwing frisbees, fishing, and walking their dogs. It was like a delightful page from 'Where's Wally?', (except they weren't all wearing red and white stripey tops).

A perfect end to a perfect day.




Love
Est xxx

P.S. I know we should have painted one, a skinnersontour rock, but we didn't!!!

P.P.S. After all that rock talk, here's a little reminder of an old favourite but long forgotten tv show - enjoy;)

The exciting 3 o clock appointment

Our next stop was at the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie, aww, how cute!!! If people find injured koalas on the road, they call a number and the Koala Hospital people come and pick them up and look after them until they are recovered and able to be reintroduced to the wild. The Koala Hospital names the koalas after the place they are found, and the person who finds them gets to choose their second name.

We made it just in time, at 2.59pm for the 3pm, feeding and koala talk (the keepers talk, not the koalas;).

Here's one of the keepers with a poorly koala, this one is bigger than we expected!




Medicine time.




Barry is a long time resident, he is so famous, he is even on Facebook!




These little ones were a bit sleepy. Koalas sleep about 16 or 20 hours (?) - a lot - of hours each day.




Naomi and Benny supported the hospital by purchasing their very own koalas. Spot the difference!








Love
Est xxx

Port to Port

After a pleasantly exhausting day of sniffing, swirling and sipping, we proceeded to stumble upon a special little campsite in Lemon Tree Passage in Port Stevens (you like it already don't you - I knew you would:). The best thing about it was the name, 'Koala Shores', I was happily hopeful.

The campsite was just divine. Everyone was so friendly. Within seconds of arriving I had met a lady and was introduced to her brother and sister in law from England and her daughter and grandchildren from just down the road. They gave us the latest campsite news, which was that there was a koala sitting just above our heads. Our first wild koala, I ran for the camera, it was so exciting!!!





Here is the view from our campsite, all night long we could hear the wildlife, flipping and flopping about in the water.














Then another lady and gentleman (they were living in the campsite whilst they were building a house in Port Stevens, she was originally from Switzerland) told us they were going to feed the Mum and baby possum, who lived in the roller door (?) above the camp kitchen. So we followed them too!




Yes, the mummy possum is holding a piece of carrot, given to her by the Swiss lady. Even Naomi had a turn at feeding them.

The next morning we were really sad to leave Lemon Tree Passage and our new friends, we waved a fond farewell to the koala, the possums, the Oz/English family and also our neighbours, Gordon and Margaret (no, I am not kidding!).

Gordon has suggested a pleasant walk up the Tomaree Head for the next day, and we gladly took the advice. He ensured us the views would be some of 'the best we would see'. ...ever? ...in our lives? We just had to go!

Here are our first views on the way up. There were spiders aplenty, and they were pretty ginormous. They were even bigger than this photo shows (but that probably depends on the size of your screen, if you are reading this on your 55inch web enabled TV, don't worry, they were actually much much smaller than this;)




And then the glorious view over Nelson Bay - it was worth the climb,





and the 'sea' side,




(note that Benny is still attached to his iPod, even up a mountain).




At the top of the hill, people had attached padlocks, as little memorials, which I thought was just lovely.











Then we ran down the mountain again, to rush to Port Macquarie. It was a straight three hour drive (we are such Aussie drivers now), it was 11.45am and we had to be there to see something very special at 3pm!

Love
Est xxx

The Hunter Valley

An excerpt from our Lonely Planet:

'A filigree of narrow country lanes criss crosses this verdent valley, but a pleasant country drive isn't the main motivator for visitors - sheer decadence is. The Hunter is one big gorge fest: fine wine, boutique beer, chocolate, cheese, olives, you name it.

Going on the philosophy that good food and wine will inevitably up the odds for nookie, the region is a popular weekender for Sydney couples. Every Friday they descend, like a plague of Ralph Lauren polo-shirt wearing locusts. Prices leap up accordingly.'

Sounds good eh?

So, at 10am, as soon as the cellar doors opened, we were there. We started at Oakvale for tastings. Funnily enough we were the only people there on a Thursday morning at 10 o clock, and when I stopped to think about it, 10am is probably a little early to start consuming wine, even by my standards, but the lady at the counter took it all in her stride, so we tasted five wines (and of course that is 'we' in the proverbial sense, Alex was the designated driver, again; I have not driven since October last year, I will let you know when I get back on the road in a few weeks time, so everyone can make space;) bought two bottles and wobbled out.








The Hunter Valley region is beautiful, kind of like Martinborough, on a larger more glamorous and more commercial scale but without the lovely quaint towns of Martinborough and Greytown close by. The nearby town of Cessnock, (you can tell by the name really can't you?) doesn't really cut it. But, Hunter gets the crowds in by incorporating chocolate, ice creams, sweets, gift shops and even golf courses and children's play areas into the wine experience, very clever!

We stopped for some cookies, this spelling mistake made us grin, and Alex said, 'well, they wouldn't be made from fake ingredients would they?'. Alex went into the store to tell them about the spelling error, rather than us just laughing at them. The lady in the shop explained that it was her 17 year old daughter who had written the sign. 'Oh dear' she said, 'all the money I spent on her education.... Oh well, at least she's pretty.'





I got to take a relaxing turn around the Hunter Valley Gardens, whilst Alex and the children swung their clubs to try to win lots of money at Aqua golf. Naomi was completely convinced that they would win. Alex treated himself to a 'bargain' set of golf clubs as well, which has to take the prize for the largest thing we have to carry home (up to now;) and he is never allowed to tease me about lamps again.







Meanwhile, the gardens were quiet, peaceful and exquisite.



















And then a lovely lunch, followed by some more tasting. We had rain and mist for the caves, but the sun definately shone for our Hunter Valley day, it was glorious!











I took a photo of this wine rack because Alex thinks he is going to make one of these for us when we get home. But can you imagine us ever having this many bottles of unopened wine at one time?











Bottoms ups!

Love
Est xxx

The Jenolan Caves

After our big Blue Mountains day we decided to go native and enjoy a 'camping on the side of the road' experience on our way to the Jenolan Caves. That day we finally got around to purchasing the Camp 6 book (the campers Bible) which details every free campsite and rest stop in Australia. With the purchase price the equivalent of one night's camping in a Big4 campsite (they charge us an extra $10 each for Benny and Naomi, which is crazy for our two, who are only having two showers a week at the moment if they are lucky, the rest of the time a dip in the pool or a nearby lake is suffice;), if had paid for itself within a few hours. That night we were truly in the middle of nowhere. I can cope with no shower for a day or two, and I have actually been wearing the same shorts for four days now (hey, I don't know anyone in Australia, so it's ok:) but no service on my iPad? That is hard.

I never really understand people who love being completely alone, it always makes me just a little bit nervous. Call me old fashioned, but I like civilisation, I really do. Out there in the wild, I felt a bit exposed, you know, to the elements, to the wild...things.

But, the next day, we were still alive, we had survived - get that Bear Grylls - we survived, in our fully equipped campervan with wine and chocolate and hot and cold running water. I was so proud. If I ever go to a job interview again in my life, and they ask me to tell them of my toughest challenge, I will regale the story of our Aussie off road experience with confidence and pride (and a bit of colourful exaggeration for good measure;).

The next day we drove down a very long hill (like the Rimutakas in reverse) into a rainy valley and did not come across another vehicle all the way. It was rainy and misty and ghostly and ghouly, but at the same time as wishing life would appear, we were kind of glad there were no other vehicles, as it was an 8km road of windy one lane driving, with a mountain on one side and a sheer drop to oblivion on the other.

Eventually, after what seemed like years, we came to a large rock, which we were obviously expected to drive through...




...and on the other side, life! Crazy life! Tour groups and tour buses (?) and tickets and credit card machines and coffee and internet! Wooohoooooo!!!!





We had reached the Jenolan caves!

They have been there for millions and millions of years - and still no one has created a better way of getting there! We asked the lady at the ticket office, 'Is there another way to getting here?' 'Yes', she said brightly, 'Ahhh, is it a better road that the one we came in on?'. 'No', she said, even more brightly. What is with this place? Where do all the staff live - in the cave???

We took a guided tour in the Orient Cave, and it was spectacular. It is hard to believe that this truly natural phenomenon has been there for so long and is changing and evolving so gradually. Some of the caves are so large, they even hold concerts in them.























Don't forget, stalactites hold 'tight' to the ceiling and stalagmites 'might' reach the ceiling - you will always remember now:)

In the gift shop we overheard the the school tour bus was leaving at 2.30pm so we took the opportunity to quickly jump into the van and tailgate it back up the hill, then if we did meet any cars, the bus could deal with them rather than us, rather like following an ambulance when you're in a rush, aren't we cunning?




And it did happen, more than once!

Crazy roads, but worth the caves, and definitely worth the story;)

Love
Est xxx