Day 5: Beaches, Waves, and Tempermental GPS’, Oh My!

Location: Ulmarra, New South Wales

Okay, so apparently if I don't blog in a timely manner, you all think I’m dead. What’s more, you ring/text/facebook/email/tweet me to tell me as much. Good to know I’m loved in a weird way. So on that note, I apologise for not blogging, I was tired and pretty much went straight to bed when I got back. Am I forgiven now?

I had decided to stay on two days in Coffs Harbour because, as I had said, there were a few things I wanted to see and do. Turns out I didn’t do any of them and could have moved on, but not to worry. I had planned to go to the Porpoise Pool and see the dolphins and the marine show (okay okay, I really just wanted to see more penguins), but decided that, even with a student concession, it was a bit pricey. Instead I spent the morning at Park Beach.

I was just roaming around and found they had a walking track leading off the sand and over the hill. It appeared to be getting a bit of attention from the other beachgoers, so I figured I’d go see what was up there. It was pretty steep but well worth the climb once I got up there. I did a bit of quick googling and saw that the path continued on the meet up with the beach I went to yesterday. I didn’t go all along the path, partly because I’m lazy (okay this was a lot of it), but also because I loved the view from the cliff/inlet(?) half way along.

I found a great spot looking out over a huge rock and probably sat there for an hour or so watching the waves crash over it. Every once and a while there’d be a really big wave and the water would spray up high, the mist reaching all the way back where I was. I must admit, I was getting a little crazy hyper watching the waves, trying to guess just how big the wave would break. I talked to some people from this point so they can vouch for my level of craziness and excitement over the waves (it was really cool!).

After finally tearing myself away from the waves, I headed off to investigate a cafe and craft store in Ulmara. I was all up for the side track – James, however, was not. For starters he sent me down the longest road in the middle of nowhere. I’m not kidding, I think I was on it for about forty minutes. Paddock, paddock, paddock, farm house, cow, paddock, paddock, OH MY GOODNESS! LOOK AT THE CUTE LITTLE LAMB!!!!! paddock, paddock... I had no choice but to follow it along as it was pretty narrow and had no streets to turn off on. I just had to hope it would get me where I wanted be be, albeit via the longest route possible. Best of all, when I DID finally turn off the street, landing me exactly in the middle of town, it was right back onto the Pacific Highway that I turned. What are you doing to me, James? I think he’s getting his revenge on me dropping him yesterday.

So! As I said, finally in Ulmara, a good hour and half away from Coffs... and the store is closed! I had a bit of a laugh to myself – of course it would be closed. Not to worry, I puttered around the town anyways and had lunch at the pub before heading back – where again James decided to throw a tantrum and lead me to a tip. This however was a bit of fault on both sides: he took me an alternate way and I chose to ignore him. Once I figured out what he was trying to get me to do, it all became clear.

Once I got back to Coffs Harbour I was pretty much exhausted so I cheated and bought Maccas for dinner. I wasn't awake for much longer after that!

Kilometres travelled: 231 (951)
Bridges crossed: 26 (102)
Number of times hitting head on campervan: 1 (7)
Number of road workers whom returned my wave: 0 (3)
Number of times James completely freaked out because he thought we were bush bashing: 0 (2)