There’s no hurry at Forster-Tuncurry

When I first read Les Murray’s poem ‘The Buladelah-Taree Holiday Song-Cycle’ back in the ‘80s I was intrigued by his take on the Forster-Tuncurry region on the NSW mid-north coast, especially the bumper-to-bumper holiday traffic ex Sydney,

‘that big stunning snake; it is looped through the hills, burning all night there.’

Only now have we found the time to experience what an impressive region this is: endless beaches, bushwalks, rocky headlands, lakes, fishing, camping – a perfect holiday destination.

The Tuncurry Beach Caravan Park was our base camp for a four-day Indian summer of bushwalking, swimming, touring the Wallis and Myall lakes, and of course feasting on seafood (can you imagine local schoolies at $9 a kilo!).

Clearly a lot has changed since Murray penned that poem. Forster and Tuncurry are now bustling metropolises, with booming populations, smart fashion shops and roads that ensure holiday traffic is not stuck ‘glowing all night behind the hills’.

Yet it’s still gloriously rural, and the Great Lakes camping and picnic areas meticulously cared for.

‘It is good to come out after driving and walk on bare grass; walking out, looking all around, relearning that country.’

We can only concur.

Man-eating Easter Bunny terrorises Port Macquarie

A loud shriek from Carol shortly after our arrival at the Melaleuca Caravan Park upset scrabble tables and caused beers to spill.

For there, under our awning was Carol being menaced by a rabbit waving its front paws in a way that spoke: “hand over your carrots or else!”

Visibly shaken, she took a step backward … and the rabbit took a hop forward, and another.

‘Shoo! Go away,” she cried to no avail. Only when it realised we had nothing to offer did it hop off to terrorise another van.

You can’t be too careful when it comes to rabbits. Remember the 1972 movie Night of the Lepus (Janet Leigh and Rory Calhoun) about mutant rabbits terrorising the south western U.S.?

Thankfully our rabbit turned out to be the camp pet, answering to the name Bugsy.

Anyhow, our fine weather continued at Port Macquarie where we were able to catch up with Merelyn Kelly and her Mum Shirley, residents of this large and growing resort town.
Merelyn, a close family friend, was one of my favourite clients (Hypertech, AST Research).

Over a top seafood dinner Carol whipped up at the camp kitchen we recalled old times, like how Merelyn used to round off our fortnightly Friday afternoon meetings with a bottle of Bollinger (that was in the late ‘80s, before Keating’s ‘recession we had to have’).

Her Mum is a delight: at 82 busy, independent, on all sorts of local committees and happy to lock horns with you on politics, religion or any other topic you’d like to raise.

We’re sorry to say to goodbye to Port Macquarie, man-eating rabbits notwithstanding, but South West Rocks beckons.

Farewell Anna Bay

Before we report on the next leg of our journey north, here are more pictures from Anna Bay where we spent two months.

We were delighted to have Carolynne Gorman, an old schoolmate of Carol’s (All Hallows, Brisbane) visit in her powder blue Jag. Thanks for raising the tone, Carolynne!

We got together with old friends Bob and Judy Bottom at the Nelson Bay Golf Club for dinner. Bob and Judy have retired in Port Stephens and it has been a delight to reconnect after almost 30 years. I met Bob when we were journalists on the Daily Telegraph in 1969. We became firm friends, as did Judy and Carol and the kids, but later lost touch as we pursued different careers.

Bob went on to become a highly respected investigator of, and author of books on, organised crime while I branched into PR.

Our final farewell was by niece Mary Dique (not pictured). She crashed her car on the way up from Sydney, switched to the train, only to find there was no connecting bus to Anna Bay after arriving in Newcastle. After SOS’ing us on her mobile we met for a great cheer-up lunch at The Brewery on the Hunter. By the way, Mary survived the crash uninjured.

Our final picture is of Carol in her element atop an enormous Aboriginal midden at Birubi Point carbon dated at more than 1200 years, an area once occupied by the Worimi tribe.

More news soon.

Patience rewarded

Our venture into the world of the grey nomads following Nigel's retirement on 16 January 2009 came to a shuddering halt when he developed bilateral inguinal hernias requiring surgery.

Despite the frustration, we did manage to make it as far as the Bays Holiday Park in Anna Bay, Port Stephens before the operation, which turned out to be a simple keyhole job. But Nigel's not supposed to lift anything over 5kg for a month and for weeks after that has to take it easy, so Carol has been amassing merit points waiting on him hand and foot…well sort of.

Anna Bay has proved to be a great place to recuperate at (close to beach, shopping and pub) and close enough to Sydney for us to attend follow-up medicals and for family to call in.

So far Steve, Louise and family, and Jeremy, Angela and baby Lily have checked out how tough life can be. We’ve also had visits by a koala and joey, and a large, muscular goanna that has at least once wandered into the ladies’ amenity block (mercifully unoccupied at the time).

Most unwelcome have been the sandflies and mosquitoes, and (scratch, scratch!) we’re suffering for our unpreparedness.

The only event to interrupt the park torpor was an invasion by large and rowdy group of footballers up to play a local side. After the match they partied unapologetically through the evening and into the wee hours (as you do). Not one vannie complained, but an irritated cabin occupant did, forcing the manager to emerge at 3.30am with a ‘keep the noise down’ admonishment that predictably had no effect. Our visitors eventually surrendered to fatigue and the effects of alcohol by around 4am. We grey nomads, with memories of our own miss-spent youth, and for whom every new day is a bonus, were of course unperturbed.

Nigel has missed work and workmates, but is starting to settle into this new environment. Carol settled in from day one, and has become a regular at Birubi Point beach armed with boogie board and sun cream. It should not be left unsaid that she's doing the intellectual thing studying archeology at UNE by distance education, communicating with laptop and wireless modem.

We’ve begun to make a lot of interesting new acquaintances and reconnected with old friends who have moved to the region. One English couple we met travelling the world (he's a mathematician) say they are working on reducing their carbon footprint to a figure approaching zero. Good luck!

Now we’re into autumn and impatient to depart Anna Bay for points north. More news and pictures in a month or so.