Finally dolphins!!!

After having finished our loud river breakfast, which I wrote about in my last entry, we drove to Nambucca Heads, which is only a few kilometers away from Macksville and located by the sea. There we first went to the Visitor Centre, where a nice lady told us about a few things to do in the town.

First, we went to a parking lot at V-Wall, a road and then a path by the river to the spot where the river flows into the ocean. There we sat at a picnic table again and researched campervans. Then we walked along the path by the river to the end and enjoyed the view. It was really cool because there were painted stones, mainly with families' names. And the best thing was: dolphins! There were tons of dolphins in the sea, surfing the waves and jumping out of the water. It looked so cool! You could really see how much fun they were having. It was so funny because they didn't jump like you see in dolphin shows, but rather uncoordinated and crooked. It was a lot of fun to watch the animals and I am very happy that we finally saw dolphins in the wild 

After the dolphin trip, we visited a few lookouts. We looked at a total of 2 viewing points. Both had a great view of the river and its mouth into the sea. The sand wasn't quite as white, but otherwise the view with sandbanks and green forests reminded me a lot of the Hill Inlet Lookout on Whitsunday Island. Really beautiful! And we could still see the dolphins from above :)

From the second lookout, we could also see the other side of the town and the coast to the north. But that wasn't as spectacular. After the lookouts, we went to Subway for a quick lunch for Andi (he didn't feel like having our cheese sandwiches). We drove to Main Beach to eat, which was much more deserted and run-down than we would have expected for a beach with the name 'Main'. That's why we only ate there and then left again.

On the way south, we passed Macksville again and stopped at our overnight gas station to check if the showers were open again. And ta-da: they were open. So we quickly took a shower and then continued driving. Our next stop was a small peninsula with a village called South West Rocks at the tip. Sue, the mother of our first host family in Sydney, recommended this place to us. There is also a national park with a lighthouse nearby, which is where we went first. The path up to the tower was really steep, but from the top, we had a great view of the coast, the sea, and the forest. The lighthouse itself was really pretty, and there were even accommodations where visitors can stay.

After the Smoky Cape Lighthouse, we went to a historic site, the Trial Bay Gaol. It is a building on the coast of Trial Bay, which was built from 1877-1886 and served as accommodation for prisoners who had to build a breakwater there to protect the ships. The house is very old and practically antique for Australian standards! However, you had to pay to enter the prison, which unfortunately wasn't worth it for us because it was already 3:45 p.m. and they only stay open until 4 p.m. Instead, we read the information outside and enjoyed the view. Below in the sea, I even spotted a few more dolphins :D

Because many Germans were also accommodated in the prison who, a bit further along the coast, built a memorial for 5 comrades (who drowned and died of illness) during World War I, we walked to the German Memorial. But unfortunately, it wasn't that exciting anymore and not even the original because it was bombed just a few months after its construction. But the path was quite nice and we could even get another view of the gaol from further up.

After the historical trip, we briefly drove back to South West Rocks, looked at the tiny shopping street, went to the toilet (they really have funny automated toilet cabins here that speak and play music), and then continued driving. For the night, we chose the rest area that was next on the Pacific Highway, from where we could drive into Port Macquarie the next day. However, it wasn't easy to find this rest area because the highway is currently being renovated in this section, so the exits aren't necessarily as they should be. So we drove too far at first, had to turn around (which would have been necessary anyway because you could only access the rest area when driving north), but then drove too far again because although there was a sign saying 'Rest Area 2km', there was no exit. In the end, we just took a left turn at some random junction. We knew that the rest area had to be somewhere on this side of the highway, so we just drove along the parallel road to the highway, on which we were now located, and lo and behold: suddenly a rest area appeared on our right, which could only be accessed when driving north. So we turned around again and went up to the rest area. There, besides us, there was only another campervan with 2 German girls who had stayed overnight there the day before, and it turned out that the parallel road we had driven on was the old Pacific Highway and that the rest area was located there at the old road. However, the entrance to the rest area from the new highway had been closed that day due to the construction work, so there was no official access. We were extremely lucky to have found the rest area :D Of course, thanks to excellent sense of direction ;)

In the evening, it started to rain, but luckily there weren't many people around, so we could prepare our dinner under the roof of the only picnic table. According to the other two, the rest area was packed the night before... We were already excited that we had found two companions for playing cards, but unfortunately, the two weren't very sociable and disappeared into their campervan at 8 p.m. So Andi and I finished eating, cleaned up, and went to bed.

The next morning, we actually wanted to get up early and drive to Port Macquarie, as there is supposed to be a great dolphin beach and the city itself is supposed to be a nice holiday destination. Unfortunately, it was completely overcast when the alarm went off and a steady drizzle poured down on us. Clearly not beach weather! So we stayed in bed and searched for campervans again for New Zealand and booked an apartment for the first 3 nights in Auckland. We still hadn't found a van. Around half past ten, we got up and had breakfast because we were super hungry. After all, we had already been lying awake in bed for 3 hours! After breakfast, despite the still bad weather, we set off and arrived in Port Macquarie around noon. We then decided to go to a shopping centre and look for gifts for our host families, because in addition to the rain, it was also quite cold outside. In the shopping centre, it wasn't really warmer because of the air conditioning, but at least we could warm ourselves up with conversation :D

Regarding gifts, we were not quite as successful as we had hoped and went back to the car for lunch and then drove towards the waterfront. We just wanted to walk around a bit there so that we could see something other than shops in Port Macquarie. Unfortunately, it was so cold that we sat back in the car after 10 minutes :D

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the library, and when it closed at 6 p.m., we got back in the car. For the night, we went to a free campground in Johns River, about 35km further south. It was quite nice there, not as noisy as a regular rest area right on the highway, and in the evening, we could even dance a little on the concrete slabs of the footpath. The next day, we headed to Newcastle, but that will be in the next entry :)