AusTour 7: Port Macquarie

After leaving Byron Bay at 6:40pm we arrived into Port Macquarie 11:30pm. It was raining when we got there, and we had little idea where the YHA we were staying at was exactly. After some directions from a couple of policemen as they drove by we arrived at the visitor centre. The problem was the hostel was in completely the opposite direction. Back through the night and rain we eventually found the hostel and passed out in what lonely plant describes as a hostel “homier than nanna’s spare room.” It wasn’t. The next morning we got some directions from the hostel staff (LP managed to get that part right—“the owners are charming”) and headed out on a grand loop. Our first ‘stop’ was at the maritime museum, but for a building the size of a caravan and an admission of $7 it was really a stop and turn around. We first made our way to the koala hospital where koalas are nursed back to health after run-ins with cars and wild fires. Following that we walked up hill street (aptly named I might add) to the coast and coastal walk. Up along the coast we snaked along a short section of winding trails before busting out at the two beaches of Port Macquarie. It was still cloudy today, the rain had passed but the sun hadn’t reappeared. With that in mind, and the challenge of an unperturbed strip of sand on the beach I set about drawing this:After amusing our little minds, we followed the beech down to the flagstaff for a look out at the miserable ceiling of clouds and back on the small town. Further along the second beech we found the town’s most famous attractions—the break wall. Essential it’s a regular break wall, but all the rocks that are easily accessible are painted. The rocks include pictures, families, lovers, messages and poems. Following the break wall we made our way to a sunset cruise. Though with the cloud cover still resisting removal, it would probably not be anything special. I was wrong. About 10 mins out of the harbor and up the river we came upon about 5 or 6 bottlenose dolphins. They circled the boat, at some points catching a ride between the catamaran hulls. We followed them for the best part of 20 mins before catching a glimpse of the sunset and returning to port. We left port at 11:30 that night, following a particularly hard trivia night.
Port Macquarie: the Complete Review
Not the most exciting town ever, and for the majority of our stay one disappointment after another. The dolphins though we definitively the best part of the trip and almost made the town worth it. I was glad to be back on the road after this short stop and on to Australia’s 5th largest city, Newcastle.
Also how can you arrive at and leave a city without knowing exactly how to pronounce its name?

Phillip Island

A 45 minute ferry ride (or if one of you engines, say, breaks down an hour ferry ride) is the small (or, say, what you thought was small but really 26 km) island of Phillip Island; Home to some awesome sand beaches, the Phillip Island grand prix, fur seals (on rocks), a wild life park, a koala reserve and the penguin parade. With a weekend we looked to do some of the most well known parts of the island, including the koala reserve and a must see, the penguin parade. On the first day we experienced Cowes (apparently related in some way to the Cowes on the Isle of Wight) and headed to the penguin parade in the evening. The parade is essentially the fairy (or little) penguins heading in from the sea at sunset. They wait off shore for the sun to set behind the island before heading onshore to their nests on the cliffs and dunes. They’re nervous, and timidly run part way up the beach before running back to the waves and trying again. Unfortunately picture taking and camera recording is prohibited, but i managed to get some film so that will be around soon.
On the way back up to the car park you walk up through the dunes where there nests up, a chorus of penguin calls (barking, squawking, singing…I don’t know what you would call it) greats you. Oh, and the stars were so clear it was absolutely unbelievable.
We spent the night in a camper caravan before getting up to go to the koala reserve. We rented bikes in Cowes and rode there as it was a pretty good distance out of Cowes. At the koala reserve the koalas live (almost free), they have large sections of land full of eucalyptus trees. In between two sections there are wooden skywalks that bring you to the level of the koalas. Koalas sleep most of the day, but we did get to see some actually moving about through the trees and along the walkways and even eating. We were also informed that koala poo smells of eucalyptus, which is incredibly true (and it’s incredibly potent).
On the way back to Cowes to meet the ferry we rode through a forest like reserve. Actually we rode through it twice after reading the map wrong and doing a complete circle. Apparently there were really wild koalas out here, but we only managed to spot some wild wallabies and what I think was a kookaburra. It was good to be out of the city again, and into a place that could easily be mistaken as any English country side if one didn’t look too hard. The weekend went quickly and gave us the chance to be tourists again, and see something that is fairly unique in the penguin parade and koalas up close.

Cairns

Although my time in Cairns was short lived (due to my insane travels described below) it was a good time. Originally scheduled for a 3 day orientations weekend, with trips to the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest, I only spent 1 and a half days missing the Great Barrier Reef. I did get to go to the rainforest though, to a place called Rainforestation that was literally 20 minutes outside cairns. Cairns is a cool place in that you can be inside the city with 10+ story buildings, nightclubs, malls and restaurants then 10 minutes outside be surrounded by sugarcane (and sugarcane toads—which it’s the law to kill on sight) and 10 minutes further and up a mountain to be in the rainforest. With a zoo-like animal sanctuary, actives like how to throw a boomerang and play a didgeridoo with aborigines, and army duck tours through a rainforest set-up it was a quick immersion into Australia and Australia’s wildlife and plant life. The wildlife park was probably the best part of the day with kangaroo’s up-close, koala’s, wombats, barramundi, crocodiles, cassowary, snakes, and a lot of the other animals in Australia that can and will kill you (and the signs made sure you knew it). I spent the rest of my brief time in cairns touring the small town/city enjoying the cultural intricacies of Australian life. Oh, and I saw Dark Night with a bunch of people (yeh, 2 days before its release in America).