Author: Mr A
Location: Moonee Beach
It was another intermittently wet day, following an evening where a bloke with big bags of marbles was hurling them onto the roof of the caravan all night! The morning Bollywood markets at Woolgoolga we sought were cancelled due to bad weather, so a café breakfast was the substitute. Now guess which meal was mine and which was Mrs A’s?
Yes…home made toasted muesli for me. I will be wearing sack cloth and ashes next. We checked out the spectacular scenery and lookout in the bright morning sunshine after breakfast, before heading back to Moonee Beach….
As we left camp another Zone was coming in, and finally in the late afternoon the last Zoner checked in, coming straight from the factory at Coolum Beach yesterday. So 14 vans have checked in here – around 10% of the total number on the road. I think it’s interesting that we would all be quite happy to come and spend a weekend with mostly total strangers, just because we brought the same product. We think it’s a lot to do with the Zone Owner’s Facebook group that has allowed us to get a feel for the type of people who are buying them. The posts are positive and collaborative, exchanging tips and ideas, all moderated very professionally, unlike some of the other groups we belong to in the caravan space. In these challenging times for Facebook it’s good to remember that social media can also be used very positively, in this case encouraging on-line relationships to be converted to real world connections.
So an evening was spent very merrily at the local Moonee Beach Tavern, 27 folk I think from many different walks of life, chatting away about their lives and travels, united by a love of the great Australian outdoors. It reminded me of how lucky we are to live in a country that enables us to do something like this. We have spent the afternoon walking on a pristine beach that Catherine and I had to ourselves, and then we spend the evening planning new adventures with a whole bunch of like minded people.
Our walk was special – not only did we see off the last of the rain, but the sun came out, allowing us to walk the 7km without getting anything other than our feet wet and enabling us to enjoy this stunning coastline along Sapphire Beach.
We are also thankful that we don’t have to worry that someone with a semi-automatic is going to break into the pub. The worst we had was a young football team rehearsing some testosterone fuelled war cries. We go to bed with full bellies and I think generally happy hearts. Yes a bunch of us have our health issues, our family problems, but compared to so many in the world… life is good here, and long may it continue.
Australia as we know has had a “dream run”, the Lucky Country. Our challenge will be as America withdraws from Asia – how will we respond to the rise of Chinese soft and hard power? Will our politicians be up for the new challenge that represents for Australia? I hope they find the courage to look beyond their short term personal ambition to provide the leadership we will undoubtedly need to navigate the changes this will bring culturally and economically.
If you fancy a sobering read then check out respected academic Hugh White’s essay “Without America” (https://www.quarterlyessay.com.au/essay/2017/11/without-america)…this gives some clues as to our potential future landscape…
A fun morning tea was had with lots of laughs and discussion with our fellow Zoners.
We have such good memories of our last visit to Coffs Harbour, the beautiful sights and plenty of walking, paddling and cycling opportunities. Its a beautiful part of New South Wales.
From there we drove to the Forest Sky Pier, a jetty which stretches out over the rainforest allowing a view across Coffs and to the south. The views were magnificent, probably moreso because of the dramatic skies with billowing clouds, showers and rainbows out over the ocean.
We returned to the campground via the Moonee Tavern, confirming our group booking for dinner tomorrow night and booking the courtesy bus to ferry us down there. Before long 6 o’clock drinks were calling us, and we all reunited in the camp kitchen for stories of travels and tips for future adventures.
Our catch up was made possible by the hard work of fellow Zoner Ash Cook, who set up and administers a Facebook group so Zone owners, and those considering buying, can exchange stories of their travels and experiences with the caravans. It’s been a fantastic resource for us all.
I love Australia’s naming conventions and how they keep you guessing! It was a fabulous view, massive rollers coming in after the recent wild weather and pounding the coast. Looking forward to exploring a bit further afield tomorrow.
The other side of the river was much quieter, with hardly a car on the road. We passed more oyster farms and beautiful white gum trees, before reaching the next ferry about 6km later.
While the afternoon was bright and sunny, we noticed that the sky to the west was looking very dark. A quick look at the weather forecast listed a whole load of warnings, including for severe thunder storms, large hail and strong winds…we whizzed back to the campground to make sure windows were closed and the awning was secured. Of course, no inclement weather eventuated, just a hot cloudy humid evening. Still it was a good 18km ride, and got the blood moving after a few days of not much activity.
The plan is as follows; head up the east coast of NSW this week, through the rain by the sound of it, then meeting up next weekend with some fellow Zoners just north of Coffs Harbour. Then making a friend’s property in western Brisbane home for Easter, then more friends in Noosa for the following week. After that we actually haven’t decided more than “keep the ocean on our right”, we tend to only book about 3/4 weeks ahead. Most likely we will go up into the Northern Territory before heading down the centre to be back in Sydney mid September.
What else are we doing differently on this trip? Well we returned to to our pre-travel regime of fasting two days a week. Cutting out pies and snacks, and getting back to our fighting weights. It was a fasting day today, so tempting as it was being a little hungover to pile some fatty stuff in on the road, we resisited, and the first food since the wedding dinner last night is one of Catherine’s amazing veggie Pad Thais. Just delicious! It’s hard not to treat every day like a “holiday feast”, but when you’re travelling long term thats a recipe for getting over our recommended weight, as we did last year.
There was a lot of birdlife around our camp, with yellow robins, honeyeaters, fairy wrens, black cockatoos, wattle birds all flitting around. We climbed down to the beach and discovered pelicans, white bellied sea eagles and pied cormorants – a veritable sanctuary of feathered creatures.
Our stay was brief, however, and the following morning we headed back on our way.
That evening we enjoyed a delicious night out at the local Thai restaurant where other friends Alan and Jo joined us, entertaining us with stories of their goats and life on the farm.
A lovely quote caught my eye on a bench at one of the lookouts, an apt thought to end the day on:
We toured down the river, stopping just before it went into Merimbula Bay, close to where we had been hiking last Sunday.
Just over twelve kilometres later we were back at our start point munching on a dozen oysters each. Well deserved this time!
There were a few abandoned camps along the river but we didn’t see a soul until we were back at our launch point three hours and 13km later. A couple of fishermen were staring longingly into the water hoping for a bite. The river was really beautiful, winding its way between sandy banks, very little breeze disturbed the mirror like surface.
I had read trip reports from people who had been paddling with a kayak guide who runs tours along this stretch, and from those was hoping to see kingfishers. Finally, on the home stretch we saw one. Our waterproof camera sadly doesn’t have a great telephoto so he escaped our lens. trust me he was a beauty, all peachy belly and deep blue back. Not a startling blue one like some we had seen down this coast, but still a lovely sight through my ever present binoculars. My eyesight is shocking, so without them I wouldn’t be seeing much at all!.
It really made us smile to see her so happy. It’s so nice to be away from crowded caravan parks, for all of us. We had been a bit tied to them running our car fridge on freezer mode, but gave that up today and switched it back to a fridge so we don’t worry about needing to be on electricity to feed the power hungry battery.
The water looked perfect for paddling on, being shallow and not too fast moving, but there was a strong southerly breeze which makes it a challenge. We decided to save paddling for tomorrow.
All this blog writing had made my iPad keyboard battery run out…or so I thought, so we popped out to the nearest shop for a new one (I later found that it is not the battery, but the Bluetooth capability which has stopped working. Ugh – seems a new keyboard might be required unless any readers know an easy fix?). On the way back we called into Boydtown for a look around.
We finished off with feeding the peacocks, peahens and a chick before heading back for dinner, armed with the eggs and a bag of fresh spinach from the veggie patch.
The rock formations were amazing creating some amazing backdrops for the paddle.
In the afternoon we headed off in cars to start a short walk up the coast though coastal forecast in Ben Boyd National Park. The roos were plentiful, the very lawn like grass indicative of a sizeable mob enjoying this grazing. Dolphins even obliged by appearing on cue, as well as an echidna and bush wallabies. A sea eagle soared overhead, while crested terns dived for fish in the bay.
This area of coast is one of our favourite spots in Australia. It does get busier every time we come, but there is still leaves plenty of space. We would only have seen half a dozen people on the entire walk.
Spending time outdoors in this serene and largely pristine environment is so good for our souls. It’s especially welcome as we mourn the loss of our friend. He’s on my mind a lot of the time, processing thoughts that move from angry to sad in a heartbeat. Our friends provide a welcome distraction, reminding me of the criticality of these relationships to our overall wellbeing.
