North Sea vibes and Angry Birds

Day 48 - Grafton/Coffs Harbour/Urunga - 10.08.2018

Our day started early today. Since I had slept for almost 11.30 hours and Janina usually doesn't need as much sleep as I do, we both woke up before the alarm around 7 o'clock. The weather was very good again after a little rain shower in the evening, and the sun warmed us up during breakfast at this beautiful showground. After the morning shower, we first drove to a nearby viewpoint on a mountain in the city. From there, we had a great panoramic view of the city with the corresponding 'Clarence River'.

We had chosen several small towns for today, all of which were on our way south and that we wanted to visit. Our travel guide did not promise any major highlights, but most of the places are nice for strolling and walking around.

The first stop was 'Grafton'. This city is also called Jacaranda City because of the streets of the city lined with purple blooming jacaranda trees and the Jacaranda Festival named after them, which takes place at the end of October and attracts many tourists. We wanted to see if these beautiful trees were already in full bloom. Unfortunately, we were a few weeks too early, even though many of the trees already had blooms. So we strolled up and down the shopping street a bit and discovered a baby clothing store that had been in existence for 47 years and was run by two older, nice ladies. For almost half a century, baby and toddler clothes and toys have been made here, all knitted and crocheted. Although some things looked rather old-fashioned to our taste, there were also very nice things to buy, such as baby slippers, hats or bodysuits. The saleswoman was very nice and we talked to her about our trip and about her store, which she runs with a lot of passion and dedication.

After a short stop at Aldi, we continued to Stop No.2: 'Coffs Harbour'. This city, as the center of the Australian banana industry, was much larger than 'Grafton' with its 45,500 inhabitants. We drove through the city center and reached the island named 'Mottonbird Island' near the coast of the city. The island is connected to the coast by a dam, which we walked across for a few minutes. On this island, the so-called 'Mottonbirds', which looked somewhat like brown seagulls, lived and nested. Everywhere on the island, small holes were dug into the ground, in which the mothers incubated their eggs and gave birth to their young. Janina and I had the feeling of being at the North or Baltic Sea in Germany from time to time, as the vegetation here resembled that in northern Germany. After a lookout point, we continued along the path. The island was not very big, but incredibly beautiful. We had a great view of various beaches, the small harbor, and the seemingly endless sea. Of course, we also saw some whales in the distance. When we reached the end of the path, we took some photos and sat on the warm stones for what felt like eternity, enjoying the view of the water, the different birds, the whales, and the beaches. We actually wanted to go to the city center, but we liked the moment so much that we stayed.

Now it was already close to 3 pm and we had a short drive ahead of us. Our day was supposed to end in Urunga. Janina had taken care of a new parking space for our 'Liu' around noon, and we drove another 20 minutes down the M1. To our delight, we had been lucky with the choice of campsites recently. This one was no exception. Located directly on a small river and in absolute peace, we parked the van by the water in the evening sun and unpacked our chairs. A few meters away, we spotted an excited bird mother sitting on her eggs and calling the bird father. We had apparently come too close to her nest. The papa bird immediately showed up and sounded the alarm. Janina opened her Australian bird app and found out that these birds were called 'Masked Lapwings'. With small spines on their wings, they rigorously defend their eggs against enemies and intruders. Every now and then, a seagull got too close to the nest and the bird daddy was there immediately. We decided to leave the slightly nervous animals alone and watched them from our spot.

For dinner, we had our favorite vacation meal, chicken curry with lots of vegetables and rice. As usual, we were alone in the camp kitchen and could prepare our dinner in peace. With all our belongings, we returned to the van and ate with a view of the water. Seagulls, pelicans, and duck parents with their young flew or swam by us. How beautiful is this place, we both thought...

J♡J