PORT MACQUARIE
I will start with the usual park information and where we stayed; The park is called the Sundowner Breakwater Tourist Park and for obvious reasons (it sits on the breakwater for the slow thinking folk). It is tagged as a Big 4 and does at this stage carry the Big 4 banner, however the park has been recently acquired by the local council so it offers the Big 4 rates if you are a member but if you ask for a weekly rate it works out cheaper without a membership. The normal rate is $32 p/n or $189 for the week; if you quote your Big 4 membership the rate is $32 x 7 = $224 less 10% = $201.60.
The park is in a prime spot; from our site below you can just make out the rock on the breakwater in the background; the main town beach is approximately 200m from where we were parked. The amenities consisted of 4 blocks and they are average and a little dated and the quality in the 4 blocks varies by how much refurbishment work as been done. The park does have a large and very appealing pool so ideal for the non beach-goer (like me); the park is located right in the heart of town so the car can be left parked if you wish. All (99%) of the sites are grass and some are a reddy type soil so it would be best to pick your own site if possible as if it rains it does become quite messy (we fortunately missed the rain at this park). This park is not pet friendly but there are a couple of other parks that are.
Above was our site.
We were at Port Macquarie during the half iron man competition; I did enter and if you look closely you will see thats me in 5th position. It was a hard race and gruelling race but I managed to take out 4th spot (better luck next year).
I did find myself a surf board but and angle grinder to remove it was a little harder to locate (no power point to run it either).
Linda found this big spinning top which proved a little hard to upright and get going; it is actually a “Folly”.
The history is that Windmill Hill was originally known as Gillman's Folly until Major Innes had a windmill built there in 1825 to grind wheat and corn for government contracts. The windmill had large canvas sails driving a hand-milled wooden shaft with a stone grinding wheel. The remains of the windmill were accidentally destroyed by fire in 1900.
In 1971 the Port Macquarie Conservation campaigned to save the site from development and to turn this vantage point into a reserve. Windmill Hill is one of sixteen sites of heritage significance adopted by Port Macquarie-Hastings Council.
Just out of Port Macquarie is a farm (Riccardo’s) that grows hydroponic tomatoes and strawberries; the tomatoes grown here are always in the top 3 winners for all the shows each year. You cannot pick the tomatoes but you can take a container and pick your own strawberries, there is no bending down as they are all grown on upright frames. When you have picked enough they are weighed and you pay for what you have got; I found it much more economical to just eat as many as you could without being sick and pay for bugger all.
This large reptile was photographed near our site at Port; he was after the baby plovers and was about 1.4mt in length.
FORSTER – TUNCURRY
What a great place this is and the park again was the pick for location; if anything it was only 100m to the beach and a nice one at that.
We stayed at the Forster Beach Caravan Park which is located on the southern side of the bridge that divides Forster and Tuncurry; price for the park is a flat $25p/n (no weekly rate), the amenities are very good and kept clean, the down side is it has timed showers but you do get plenty of time. The park is right in the Forster main township but if you want Woolies and Coles etc they are about a 5km drive.
The only down side to the sites is they tail down into the gutters quite sharply so with a large van be prepared to lift the front end quite significantly to level off, if your van is low to the ground you may scrape but they do have some boards for laying in the gutters on arrival and departure. Once in it is a great spot and we would definitely revisit here. This is a no pet park but for those with pets the Lakeside Caravan Park is quite nice and situated on the river in Tuncurry; the rate here is $175 a week.
Our site above; the gutters are quite deep.
A view of the park from Pilot Hill; we are where the little white bubble is.
Same picture showing more of the park as it looks over the Forster – Tuncurry bridge.
Same area of Pilot Hill but taken looking north towards Coffs Harbour and also showing Tuncurry beach.
Linda has been working on (and now completed) a Teddy for our Grandson, Jaxon; it has been made with love by Nanny Stevens so I thought it should be posted up for all to see.
We have been travelling up through the Hunter Valley and stayed at a friends place for a couple of nights at a place called Glendon (near Branxton) and are currently at Tamworth (bloody hot here).
We are leaving here on Wednesday 18th November and heading up the “Fossickers Trail” so will post that one in a few weeks.
For those that are about in Brisbane we will be at Scarborough for Christmas from the 7th December to the end of January 2010 (look forward to seeing you).
Love & best wishes – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig
