Port Macquarie

The Tale of a Rocky Coastal Town

After spending a few more days in Byron than planned and having surf lessons i decided to carry on south down the coast to Port Macquarie. Most people go from Byron straight down to Sydney, that's a 13 hour bus ride. But i decided to check out Port Mac on the way. Ken had left Byron a few days earlier and had joined a surf camp down to Sydney, where we planned to meet back up for shits and giggles. I must return to Byron on day...

Having finished 'The Motorcycle Diaries' My next book was 'The Da Vinci Code' Which Canadian Eric from Byron had supplied me with a copy of as he'd previously promised me on the way to Surfers Paradise - Cheers Bud! The Greyhound arrived just in time for the amazing sunset which spanned the horizon. The YHA hostel here was one of the nicer i have stayed in so far, it was much smaller and more homier than previous ones.

Here there is a small space observatory, but this wasn't open either of the two evenings i spent there. I had one full day here and my coach to Sydney was to depart at 12 midnight - night bus for me. So I started my full day in Port by heading out in the searing sun to the quai side. the break wall here was made up of hundreds of boulders, each of which had been painted by locals or visitors in a unique fashion, either with names, symbols, birthday wishes or in memory of loved ones.

I decided to head for a light house that was marked on the map. The coastal walk transversed 7 beaches. I'm not totally sure on the cumulative distance but it took me 4 hours to get there from the town. Lots of bush tracks, sandy beaches and scrambling over rocks involved :) This light house wasn't as inspiring or as magical as the one at Byron Bay, but worth a look. On returning to the hostel I had my meal of noodles and got chatting to a few interesting people who were there. One guy I met from Vancouver Canada had been travelling for 7 years....! Also had some interesting in depth food conversations with a lactose intolerant lady called Heather who was working the reception there and had lived in Leicester for a while, but had just got back to Oz. Must get in contact with her!

After that it was the overnight bus to Sydney...



Port Macquarie Photo Album