Port Macquarie
10 November – 2 December
We drove out of town about 20km
and turned off towards Boorah Reserve. The information was a bit sketchy at
best, but we were hopeful of finding some good birdy spots, until we had a
slight accident. The door to the fridge box came open as I drove across a
cattle grid and the fridge slid out and hit the fence post. The whole fridge
slide came out on one side, and bent around on the other, the fridge ended up
on the road, but not before hitting the side of the trailer causing some more
damage. We were both upset and angry at what had happened, but just had to deal
with it. We picked up the fridge and bits we could find and headed back to the
highway and on the Manilla, where I telephoned the insurance company. They
identified a repairer in Port Macquarie who does their repairs and also does
lots of Cub work, so Port Macquarie became our destination. It was a very long
drive and we weren’t sure we would make it that afternoon. We stopped at Walcha
and looked online at caravan parks and decided to try for a cabin (we had no
idea how long it would take for the trailer to be fixed). The Big4 at Bonny
Hills had what sounded like a good option so we booked it and drove on.
We arrived at the
Big 4 caravan park
just after 5.00pm – very late for us – and checked into a “motel suite” which
looks like it was once two motel rooms that has been converted into a nice
“cabin” which has a separate bedroom and new compact kitchen. It would do us
for a few days. Bonny Hills is about 20 minutes south of Port Macquarie itself
and is situated right on Rainbow Beach. It’s a great location.
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| Another grass-tree bird. The very common and aggressive Noisy Miner. Taken at the local garden centre. |
On Friday morning we took the
trailer in to the repairer who spent some time documenting the damage and
detailing what would be required for it to be repaired. We became very
disheartened when he explained the process for having the insurance claim assessed
and then approved might take more than a week, and then there would be the time
needed to order and obtain the parts and have all the work completed. Bugger!
We were at their mercy.
We decided to make the most of
our time in Port Macquarie and set about being tourists. I met up with an old
friend for morning tea on Saturday, and on Sunday we went for a swim in the
ocean – a bit of a treat for North Queenslanders. We moved into a bigger cabin
closer to the beach on Sunday afternoon and set about planning our next few
excursions.
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| This Tawny Frogmouth was nesting just outside one of the cabins we stayed in. |
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| Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo. These were common around the park. |
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| Dollarbird. These are nearly always perched very high making it difficult to get a decent photo. |
On Monday morning we set off for
the
Sea Acres Rainforest Centre which is not far from town. There is a 1.3km
boardwalk and Mick was hoping to photograph the resident Powerful owl. But of
course, it hadn’t been seen for more than a week. It was a nice spot to spend
the morning anyway. There is a café as well as a gift shop too. We then headed
into town to the Visitor Information Centre and into a shopping centre for
lunch.
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| We visited the lighthouse first and looked for passing whales. Oh well, no whales but we got some nice views. |
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| The other side of the headland. |
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| Crested Shrike-tit |
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| Land Mullet (very large skink) |
Armed with a brochure listing all the op shops in Port Macquarie and
nearby towns, we set off to find as many as we could. After visiting a number,
we drove out of town and up the highway a short way to
Ricardoes Tomatoes. This
tomato and strawberry farm has a café and also sells lots of yummy jams, chutneys
and other local produce. Of course we had to stock up!
On Tuesday morning we headed up
into the hills to
Boorganna Nature Reserve, a spot that Mick had been told
might reveal a Green catbird. We drove down the coast road and then through Kew
and Kendall and on through Comboyne to the reserve. There is about 15km of
winding gravel road before reaching Comboyne. We found the reserve but had to
share it with two National Parks rangers who were mowing, cleaning and
generally tidying up. Ah – the serenity! Once they had finished with the mower,
whipper snipper and leaf blower it was OK. We had coffee at the picnic area and
then went a short way down the walking track which leads to a waterfall. We
didn’t go far as it is an easy walk down but a tough uphill walk (Grade 4) back
up again. The picnic area looked like a good spot for birdwatching so we spent
most of our time there and Mick was rewarded this time. The Green catbird
showed itself just near the picnic tables on a number of occasions. We ended up
spending nearly 4 hours up on the plateau where it was warm when the sun was
shining and cold when the sun was obscured by clouds.
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| Green Catbird |
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| Eastern Yellow-robin |
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| Eastern Whipbird |
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| Brown Gerygone |
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| Lewin's Honeyeater |
For Wednesday’s excursion we
decided on
Crowdy Bay National Park as we had hoped to camp there. We had
visited and camped on a southern trip about 10 years ago with our kids. Since
then it had been on the “must go back” list. We headed back down the coast road
and onto the highway at Kew, before driving south to the turnoff at Moorland.
From there it was along rough gravel roads – we didn’t remember that bit. We
drove up to Diamond Head where the visitor centre and one of the campgrounds is
located. It’s also where you must pay your $8 per person day use fee. We had a
cuppa in the picnic area and then drove back down to have a look at the other
two campgrounds - Kylie’s Hut and Indian Head. Diamond Head is the main
campground with the best facilities including easy access to a great swimming
beach. Of course it is also the most popular and so most crowded. The other two
have more of a bush setting and fewer campers when we visited.
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| Crowdy Bay |
Before leaving Crowdy Bay we
checked out each of the other three picnic areas – Geebung, Cheese Tree and
Blackbutt. There are certainly many options for spending time there. We drove
north out of the park and realised it would have been better to have come in
that way as there we far less dirt road. Something to remember for next time.
We revisited Crowdy Bay National Park late in the afternoon on Thursday as well so Mick
could stake out the Grass Trees and we could have another swim.
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| The flower of a smaller grasstree growing in the coastal scrub. |
On the weekend we visited The Hub
Markets in Taree, about 45 minutes south. We stocked up on a few things then
called into the Visitor Information Centre on our way out of town to inquire
about a couple of places we had seen signs for on the way in. We decided to try
our luck at Bird Tree – a really huge tree in Middle Brother National Park. The
sign on the highway indicated a 9km drive. The road was gravel almost from the
start, and very quickly degenerated into a narrow, windy and very rough road.
When we came to a junction about 3km in, we took the opportunity to turn around
and drive back out. The road was so awful we really didn’t feel like going the
rest of the way. We drive on plenty of rough roads but this one was a shocker.
Shame the guy at the information centre didn’t mention this essential piece of information.
After lunch we headed over to Lighthouse Beach, which is patrolled on weekends, for another ocean swim.
On Sunday we drove the short
distance to the Riverwalk Markets in Laurieton. This market was quite large and
had an impressive assortment of stalls. We spent some time poking around then
headed home and had yet another afternoon swim in the ocean. Rainbow Beach is
patrolled on weekends.
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| Rainbow Beach |
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| This guy stood out among the surfers at Rainbow Beach and was really great fun to watch. |
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| Tawny Frogmouth chicks with the adult on the right. These were in a park close to the town centre. |
On Monday we checked in with the
repairer and visited Sea Acres again. This time we heard the owls had been seen
on Sunday so we paid the $9 per person entry fee and set off on the walk. We
ran into some people who had photographed the owls the day before but we
couldn’t find them. When we saw these people again they also hadn’t been able
to find the owls. In the afternoon we walked along the track that runs behind
the caravan park, along the creek towards the residential area. A very pleasant
walk, with lots of birds to be heard.
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| Goanna at Sea Acres |
On Tuesday morning we were
driving out of the caravan park and noticed three of the ladies from the office
peering up into a tree so we had to stop. We figured they were observing one of
the local koala population and we were correct. It is so nice to stay in a
place where local wildlife can be seen. We then headed out to a local birdwatching
spot Mick had been told about.
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| Another subject that was too high up for a good shot. |
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| Tawny Grassbird. |
After more than two weeks waiting for the camper trailer to be repaired, we really started to feel like Port Macquarie was home. We managed to fill our days with lots of short excursions and activities.
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| We did a mangrove boardwalk in town but were chased by threatening weather. Striated Heron. |
Queens Lake Nature Reserve - as its name suggests another lake with lots of bush and a couple of walking tracks
Kooloonbung Creek Nature Reserve - right in the middle of town, with an extensive network of boardwalks and walking tracks, traverses a number of different habitats
Perch Hole - again on a lake and supposedly a good birdwatching spot
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| These beautiful Christmas Bells were flowering in the heath near Perch Hole. |
Lake Cathie - a great safe spot to swim. This is a really popular place for families and there were lots of groups here on weekends. The water isn't very deep and there is plenty of room for everyone. Stand up paddleboarding and floating on inflatables seems to be the thing to do.
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| Lake Cathie. We had a few swims here when the surf was too rough. |
Rainbow Beach - the caravan park is right on Rainbow Beach so we went for a few swims here on weekends when it was patrolled. Mick also took lots of photos of surfers, although he didn't have his camera with him when there was a surfing competition taking place one Sunday morning.
The Fat Fish - this cafe is located at the surf club at Rainbow Beach and has the best view ever. The service is great and the meals are too. We visited a number of times for coffee, as well and breakfast and lunch.
Bonny Hills Tavern - just up the road from the caravan park, this local pub serves good lunches in a great setting. We were surprised to find the outdoor dining area backs onto bushland that is home to many birds. Mick enjoyed it so much we went back for lunch again the next day.
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| Below are a selection of birds photographed from the beer garden of the tavern. Little Wattlebird. |
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| Eastern Spinebill |
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| Scarlet Honeyeater |
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| Yellow-faced Honeyeater |
We finally picked up the repaired camper trailer three weeks after our accident, and were glad to be able to head off again.
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