Saturday 14 September 2013 – Ballina to Nambucca Heads

Change of plan today when we decided to balance out the next two travel days instead of having one longish drive and a very short one.  So instead of making for Port Macquarie we are instead camped at Nambucca Heads.  We were up pretty early this morning and were actually on the road at 8.30am!!  Very good for us. 

We were probably only about an hour into the drive when we made the decision to change today’s destination, and I think it was a pretty good move as there were massive roadworks along the way, which I’ll write about a bit further along.

here are some pretty little places along the way on this stretch of the Pacific Highway, and though practically impossible, it would be nice to spend some time in each of them as they all seemed to have something of interest – historical, quirky, museums and just plain ‘out there’! A few examples are: Broadwater, in the middle of huge sugar cane plantations and where you are hit by a strong smell emanating from the sugar refinery which dominates the township – not an unpleasant smell, just different; Woodburn – where a market was in full swing in the main street, and situated on a huge river; New Italy, where the only feature was an old museum building with large Australian and Italian flags flying outside; Harwood, with a sugar refinery and a most impressive bridge over the river; Tyndale had a display of model windmills from about letterbox size to two metres high; Ulmarra, an 1860’s river port, with quaint buildings and Maclean, advertising itself as Australia’s only Scottish town and home of the annual Maclean gathering of the clan.

Sugar mill at Broadwater.

We noticed a huge difference in the area around Woolgoolga where many years ago we had two annual holidays.  The town itself has now spread to include both sides of the highway, and though we did see a sign indicating a caravan where the old Colonial Surfside Caravan Park was situated, the massive road works under way there (overpasses, increasing lanes, etc.) the entrance road to the caravan park was practically hidden behind all the earthmoving and road surfacing vehicles which went from Woolgoolga to about 30 kms south of there.  So obviously there were roadworks speed restrictions, but we managed to get to our park here at Nambucca Heads by a bit after midday.

Boy it is hilly here!  In fact we think we might be stuck here forever as we are not sure we’ll be able to get up some of the steep hills to get out!! We are at the Big 4 Nambucca Beach Holiday Park which is at the end of a road, and it’s lovely.  A young NZ couple (Janine and Sean) with two children are managing the park, and when I asked Janine if there was a Telstra shop in town (to sus out my useless dongle), she told me that there wasn’t, only an Optus, but perhaps her son Kade (13 year old) could help.  After we set up the van he came to see if he could help, but after going through all the appropriate checks he told me I should go to a Telstra shop!

As we won’t be getting to Forster (nearest Telstra shop) till Monday, and I had a couple of bills to pay, Janine gave me a complimentary hours use of the WiFi they offer here (at $10 for an hour).  So I was able to pay the bills, and hopefully will sort out the problem on Monday.

We are only a two or three minute walk from the Pacific Ocean here so we went for a walk over there this afternoon.  Though the day has been nice and sunny, there has been a strong wind, so it was very choppy, with white caps visible to the horizon.  We are here for two nights so tomorrow we’ll explore the area.

Grant checking out the surf at Nambucca Heads.

As I had finished reading all the reading material I brought away with me, I went to the recreation room and there was a big bookshelf full of books, so I swapped what I had for three books which should keep me going till we are close to home.  Grant is, at present, sitting back on our lounge, open book balanced precariously on his stomach, eyes firmly closed and occasionally making himself heard with random snuffly sort of snores!

We were talking to a lady walking her dog here late this afternoon, and she comes from Mt Beauty.  She knows Don and Dot Wharton (Grant’s old work associate who lived in Mt Beauty 50 years ago, and her husband worked at Yallourn many, many years ago and boarded with Richard and Di Zupecki!!  Talk about six degrees of separation.