Day 3: Holiday Crashing

Location: Port Macquarie

It is quickly becoming a pattern of my road trip that I start my day in the presence of some kind of wildlife very close to my van. I would be concerned, but so far they’ve all been rather benign and far more concerned about acquiring their own breakfast than in me – I am, however, rather worried about what I will find when I get to Courtney’s place. She is rather wild, after all. This morning it was the Kookaburra’s from last night all sitting about to wish me a good morning.

Between stalking the kookaburras and getting the van back in order I left a little later than I would have liked but oh well. I hit the road and headed Port Macquarie way with the intentions of calling in on Renae and co. as they too where holidaying in the area.

After a quick tour of their hotel and rooms, I in turn gave a tour of my accommodation. Basically I just pointed at the van. The kids and I piled into the back, and I think for a while there Kaitlyn had the idea of moving in to her very own van-shaped cubby house. Finally convincing her that sitting on the mattress in the back while I drove was not a great idea, she and I followed Renae, Grant and Jordan to Tacking Point Lighthouse. And might I add, four year olds are the best at playing ‘I Spy’..., though after a while it was kind of hard to keep coming up with different answers for “I spy something beginning with the colour of white” as we drove along behind her parent’s white car.

At the lighthouse (always love a lighthouse!) Jordan tried to start up a who-can-through-a-pebble the furthest contest, of which he proudly declared himself the winner. The highlight, however, was looking out over the sea and spotting a pod of seven or so dolphins (again, the animals are really out in play for me this trip).

From there we headed out to Flynn Beach for fish and chips and some fun on the beach. Kaitlyn and I built a rather spiffy sandcastle, if I do say so myself. I was all prepared to come up with a story about some beautiful princess who lived there, but Kaitlyn, with all her usual forthrightness declared that it belonged to the wicked witch because she liked her best.

With Jordan in his shoes and Kaitlyn with her jeans barely rolled up, we all promised faithfully not to get our clothes wet. And I think we all know just how faithfully this promise was kept as we walked directly over to the rock pools. Still it was worth it to see the urchins and the sea snails – and at one point, a nice couple gave Jordan a ghost crab they had found a little further up the shore. The poor crab was carried all the way back to our seat to show Grant (waylaid with a sprained ankle) and was, unfortunately dropped many times. I think Jordan liked being the possessor of the crab, but didn’t particularly enjoy the feel of its scurrying claws. Kaitlyn declared it too ticklish to carry. It did eventually find its way back to the beach, a little battered but no worse off in the long run.

It was here we parted ways, with the Paynes going back to their hotel and me off to find my caravan park. Edgewater Holiday Park is a lot more crowded that where I stayed last night, with my actually having several close neighbours all around. I’ve noticed that most caravan park holidays fall largely into two categories: families with young kids (they’re the ones riding around and around... and around... on their bicycles) and older retired couples making their way around Australia. Luckily for me I was assigned a space right in the middle of retirement country. As usual, my fascination to sixty year olds continued (I don’t know what it is, I think they all sense I’m a bit of a grandma at heart) and they all wandered over at one point or another to say hi and see how I was. The kindly couple directly next door told me all about their trip and how they were faring. They even asked me to join them for dinner, but since I promised my mother I’d behave myself and not take food from strangers, even little old lady strangers, I politely declined.

And that’s the end of another day for me, as I sit here tucked all cosy in my little Fish.

Kilometres travelled: 353 (524)
Bridges crossed: 21 (35)
Number of times hitting head on campervan: 1 (6)
Number of road workers whom returned my wave: 3 (3)

ETA: I forgot to mention the bunnies! I was exploring the caravan park and found bunnies! What’s with all the animals out and about?