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.