Grafton to Forster - 23rd August

See Photo - Yamba Lighthouse.

Next stop Platypus (NSW state animal) so we headed to Grafton out thru a little coastal town of Yamba, it was a beautiful little town surrounded by hills, this included the local surf club and ocean pools in the main part of town. Yamba is located at the mouth of the Clarence River 680 km from Sydney, fishing fleets from Yamba, Iluka and Maclean catch 20 per cent of the state’s seafood – so enjoy fresh seafood when you're there. We visited the lighthouse ( no visit is complete without seeing a lighthouse when you're 5 and 4 ) then went down to check out the ocean pools at the local beach but it was much too cold to swim. Before we headed off we noticed the rear indicator was filling with water so after a little roadside maintenance we were off!

See Photo - Platypus at Nimboydia,
you can see them in the wild!

It was another long bumpy ride along the Pacific Hwy down to Grafton which was a stopover on the way to Nimboydia to see one of Australia's largest Platypus colony's. We dropped off the caravan at the Grafton Showgrounds and headed south to Nimboydia, the trip was only 40km, but we felt everyone of them along the way, the road needed a little "Love " from the state government. We arrived and headed for the Nimboydia Coaching Station "PUB" where they have a Platypus viewing platform in the beer garden? ( every pub should have one ) and the "Museum of Unusual Things". This is all owned by the one and only Russel Crowe, and the museum is filled with local historic and Crowe memorabilia, it was a fantastic place and well worth a visit. During our time here we spotted 5 platypus, ate 2 bags of Samboy chips, drank 2 glasses of water and had 1 beer! so the day was considered a success! Except Bell wish she had her big camera!!

After the platypus excitement we headed back to Grafton and our trusty van for dinner and bed!, Grafton is a neat town and has a great bridge which was partially hoisted to allow river traffic through many years ago, the bridge still has the mechanisms but is not in use today. It is also famous for its jacaranda trees, which were originally planted in the 1870s , it is also famous for its more then 24 parks in Grafton containing more than 6,500 trees. We had dinner and proceeded to resume teaching the boys how to play Connect 4, Riley is a bit of a shark now and likes playing with me or Bell (not keen playing with Aiden and his creative rules! ) then it was settling in for a quite night.......  and no rain!



See Photo - 1973 version of Big Banana
Chris with his Mum and sister.

See Photo - Big Banana - new version
built 2004.

Wednesday we packed early and headed for Coffs Harbour and the Big Banana, along the way we passed thru the Wedding Bells State Forest where we met a 7ft + kangaroo crossing the road just in front of us, we managed to slow as it bounded across the highway with just 4 hops!......... it was big. Bell did not get a photo, but did find new hand grips on the side of the seat. We arrived in Coffs Harbour just before lunch time and headed for the Big Banana in search of the elusive fruit, known in these times as a delicacy after the floods, cyclones, errrr and anything else they can use to keep the price over $10/Kg. We managed to get our photos and hit the road for the town centre and a view of the harbour, we walked across to Mutton Bird Island for a view along the coast and also back across the mainland. It was great. Originally known as “Korff's Harbour”, after John Korff, a shipbuilder who took shelter here during a gale, Coffs Harbour developed as a port for the shipment of cedar and other timbers. Bananas were introduced into the area in 1881 and the industry thrived following the completion of the rail link to Sydney in 1923. 

See Photo - Trial Bay Goal with Aiden, Riley and Chris.



After lunch we hit the road and headed for our camp located at Arakoon just past South West Rocks, we arrived at the National Park by 2pm and checked into the camp site, it was located just below the ruins of the Trial Bay Gaol and right on the beach! Set on cliffs high above the sea, Trial Bay Gaol was built in the 1880s to house low-security prisoners who worked to build a breakwater around the bay below, but the project was abandoned when it was only partially completed. The prison was closed in 1903 but it was re-opened in World War I as an internment camp for men of German and Austrian origin who were resident in Australia, even though some of them were second or third generation Australians.




See Photo - Kangaroos Shhhhhhhhh!

See Photo - Black Creek Footbridge.

We then headed for the Smokey Bay lighthouse to climb the hill and enjoy the views along the bay. Smokey Cape was sighted and named by James Cook in 1770. Riley managed to see a "massive" (Aiden's favourite word ) kangaroo before we headed for the supermarket for some ice creams (travellers tip - you can get 4 ice creams from the s/market for the price of 1 at the shop! ) and we headed for Southwest Rocks to have a look around, we found the surf beach right in the centre of town on the north side of the headland, while we were there a RAAF Hercules did a low pass along the beach.... amazing ! The area is just lovely with lots of different walks to do, we had a blast. We headed back to the campsite where Bell took the boys down to the beach while i got the BBQ going and dinner sorted, while I was cooking I could hear this noise, only to find a Kookaburra sitting on the drivers mirror and hitting his own reflection in the window with his beak. After Bell and the boys returned it was dinner and bed, next morning we were up for our early morning bush walk with great views, then a tour of the Gaol before we hit the road and headed for Forster! 

  

See Photo - Sunset at Arakoon.

See Photo - Pelican taking off or landing? You decide!

Sadly we had to continue to move south (could have stayed a week) and we made our way to Forster. Driving through Pt Macquarie we continued on and discovered more lovely beaches and inlets along the way.
Our caravan park was in a great location, central to everything, It was interesting to note however so many 'permanent caravan' setups in the park with more than 1/2 vacant!! So without hesitation the walking shoes were on (as usual) and of we went. We watched the locals fish for black fish (they caught heaps while we were watching), and the pelicans came in to land as the locals fed them left over fish we enjoyed the wonderful weather as we walked the Beach and jetty areas. At 4pm each day the Dolphins come in to the inlet at the marina just 4 meters off the point, we were lucky enough to sit and watch them feed for 1/2 an hour..... what a way to finish the day!



See Photo - Booti Booti National Park - Seven mile beach.

As we made tracks the next morning we enjoyed the lovely weather with a number of stops along the way through Booti Booti National Park. With a lake on one side and the ocean on the other the views were spectacular. However our only miss was the largest tree in NSW. The turn off was on a corner with the sign ... you guessed it ... on the corner. We found out latter this area is a black spot and with no where to turn around we continued on to our next destination.

Here is our latest youtube video!




See Photo - Our journey on this leg....