Port Macquarie

It was another painless drive, down the Pacific Highway, from Coffs Habour to Port Macquaire and we arrived about 2pm. We stopped half way through at the metropolis that is Macksville, for coffee and cakies. 

Coffee and cakies in Macksville

Lovely old fashioned coffee shop, they had wooden bench seats - kind of like an American diner. We enjoyed the sun on our bones, whilst watching the locals come and go, then we dropped into the corner Op Shoppe, before we hit the road again. 

Op shopp, Macksville.

We eventually arrived in Port Macquarie about 2 pm and found a great apartment, right in the centre of town, with fabulous balcony views. The apartment was so nice (and warm) we decided to have dinner in. 

spectacular view from our apartment balcony

So after a stroll around town, a quick trip to Coles (sadly Aldi was too far for walking) and a visit to two Op Shops (they are everywhere!) we watched the spectacular sunset at the local pub (which quickly became our favourite). It really was something, lots of locals exercising, tons of birds and a couple of glasses of SSB with my beloved, as the sun set over the hills - perfection!

Sunset Port Macquarie - no words needed!

We really enjoyed Port Macquarie, so much to do and so beautiful. We spent a lovely few hours at the Koala Hospital, which was a great way to see koalas and learn how they were rescued. Plus it was the first time we've seen Koalas in Australia, previously we'd only seen expat Koalas at San Diego Zoo.

Next to the Koala Hospital was Roto House, a fully restored house from the late 1800's. It was owned by one family, The Flynns, from late 1800's until mid 1970's. 

We lunched at our favourite beach side bar again, and then took a 1.5 hour river cruise on a Chinese junk. It was lovely, there were about 15 of us on the boat (including about 9 Indian students who, sad to see didn't interact with anyone, despite approaches by the other passengers, just gabbed to each other in Hindi or played with their phones). 

on the junk

view from boat cruise

The cruise was pretty cold, but we were rugged up and they also supplied blankets. Apparently Port Macquarie was Australias' fourth penal colony, so the history was really interesting. After the cruise, we wandered around town and ended up at the Zebu Bar and Grill, listening to a lively Spanish guitar music. We bumped into the captain of the junk boat, and spent a pleasant evening talking crap with him. We had planned to have fish and chips for dinner, but all the fast food (except McDonalds) closed at 7pm! So we ended up back at Coles to buy some grub for a fry up. 

Our favourite beach side bar, Port Macquarie

We were so enamoured with Port Macquarie and our lovely warm apartment, with the fantastic views, that we decide to spend an extra night. I dragged Richie to a few more Op shops, but no bounty was to be had, sadly! We finally gave into the temptation of the nearby pie shoppe, The Ridgy Didge Pie Shop and it didn't disappoint. We took our delicious pies back to the apartment and spent a lovely evening doing nothing - something we are quite expert at!

It's ridgy dodge!

We were up bright and early again for the short trip, to the twin towns of Forster/ Tuncurry. We are really only visiting because lovely Kristen grew up here, plus everyone says how nice it is. We also planned to visit her fathers bakery and check out the apple turnovers, as recommended by Kristen.

Kritens' Dads' bakery, Forster Tuncurry.

We left Port Macquarie, via the coastal road and stopped off at Dooragan National Park. The views really were Spectacular - Patrick would have been lost for words! We took quite a few pics of the view and then drove back down to the coast, to the farthest look out, to see the view back up to the look out point. 

View from Doorman National Park - SPECTACULAR!

I'm stunned by the scenery but I'm smiling on the inside...

We finally reached Forster about 3pm, but it was starting to rain - our first rain since Byron Bay, although we can't complain as we have been blessed so far. Can't say we are that keen on Forster, it has lots of lovely water ways but seems to lack the charm of other towns we have visited. 

We found a pleasant enough hotel, motel, holiday inn, cranked the heating up high and after a surprisingly good meal at Hogsbreath Cafe, we retired to the warmth to watch the football, drink wine and write the blog. 

our trusty transport