Heaps of beaches along this area with lots of small towns where you could imagine heaps of visitors every year coming to this area to enjoy the sun and surf and probably lots of fishing. The ocean was still angry from the storms and there was no way I was going swimming, but you always get those mad surfers going out to catch those big nasty waves. I leave them to it.
The drive around Port Macquarie is very scenic and we decided to go for a drive up and down the coastal towns of Lake Cathie, Bonny Hills, Laurieton and Dunbogan. Laurieton lookout was a steep drive but the view was breathtaking. Taking off for a walk around sub-tropical rainforest, Crowey noticed a leech on my leg, Yuck! Needless to say I did kind of panic and slightly screamed and carried on whilst Crowey got it off my leg. Heading back to Port Macquarie to watch the waves at the beach Crowey noticed a lot of blood on his foot and soon discovered that a leech had hitch hiked and in the process bloated himself up full of his blood. It was not long after that that I noticed another one on the inside of my big toe and second toe. The blood that comes out once you flick these horrible monsters off is quite amazing. Just disgusting.
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| beautiful view but horrible leeches lurk |
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| Crowey showing the size of the leech once full of blood (he has a big thumb) |
The next day we ventured onto Tuncurry and Forster, basically just over the bridge from each other, the northern side of the Great Lakes area. Staying just the one night we then ventured to Stroud, just inland from Tuncurry/Forster where we were invited to stay with a wonderful couple, Mark and Jazz, who we met in Wyndham WA in August last year. We really get along well and over the next couple of days had many a laugh with them. They took the time to show us around Historic old Stroud and also around the area of Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest which lies on the Northern shore of Port Stephens. The weather was not kind to us but we loved being chauffered around and we stopped at the Tea Gardens pub where we had $10 fish and chips and couldn't even get through half of the food the serving was so big. That night Mark got out a couple of his guitars he hadn't played for a while and the boys had a bit of a jam session while Jazz and I listened (well sort of, amongst the chatter). They made us feel so welcome and it was sad to say goodbye. Needless to say the invite has been set for them to come to Melbourne and visit us. It was a really nice time with some really nice humble people.
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