We were packed and ready to go by 8 (a first, since we didn’t have to wait for the tent to dry) and we went on a quick little walk around the campground to find the koalas, but we had no luck. While getting out of the Tilligerry peninsula we stopped at 2 other areas known for the koalas…but again no luck. We did take a really nice walk in a park nearby the lake, and when it was obviously we would see none, we started the trek toward Port Macquarie , the final destination for the day.On the way out we stopped in Nelson Bay, a small beach town that was supposed to be really cute according to my guide, but really wasn’t a big deal. We were on a mission to find free wifi since we had been without internet for 4 days and David needed to check his work email (and I needed to post the blog updates). We found a cute coffee shop that had it so we had some sweets and iced coffee and typed away.
After the coffee stop we were on the road again: we decided to get off the highway to take a “tourist route” that was going along the beach…or so we thought. The road ended up winding through a bunch of tree-lined streets, with no beach in site. We were both disappointed since it turned out to be a waste of time) b
ut there wasn’t much we could do. We continued on, stopped to quickly eat something at a rest stop along the highway and kept going. Along the way we drove through the Booti Booti National Park, and I mention it only because the name made us laugh. We arrived at the campground in Port Macquarie pretty early and got settled. We were greeted by a eastern European sounding woman, and while we were checking in a turned around and saw a Maserati go by. I pointed it out to David and the woman says: “oh, that’s just the boys going for a ride; my husband bought it for me for my birthday but I never drove it because he said I would probably kill myself with it”. We left the office and we both looked at each other and thought: so your husband gets you a Maserati for your birthday…and you run a campground? Can you say “Breaking Bad scenario?” (I know Kirby and Kevin will get this reference).
Anyway, we got settled, went grocery shopping and went back to cook all the food…when you are limited with what you have for cooking, you really need to take advantage of camp kitchen whenever they are there: it is a lot faster to use a regular stove than a camping stove. We sat around ate dinner and talked to Paul, a true transient guy that has been here for a couple weeks: he’s travelled around all Australia twice, working odd jobs and camping around: he figured he can work a month, then take a month off and so on. He had some very interesting stories, that’s for sure.We tucked in for the night and the rain started…it will be another “wait for the tent to dry” kind of morning.