Port Macquarie

We have now returned from our first week-long trip since arriving in Australia.  The week had its ups and downs, but overall, it was an awesome trip.  We packed in so many things, I don't think I can write about it all in one blog post.  So, I am going to split it up in different sections.

We began our trip on Saturday, June 30.  We were headed to Port Macquarie for a 2 night stay.  We chose Port Macquarie because it was about mid-way to the Gold Coast and it looked like a nice coastal town.  We stayed 2 nights because most hotels were offering better deals if you stayed more than one night and it would give us a little time to explore the area.

The car trip from Sydney was only supposed to be about 5 hours long, but we decided to take a more coastal route.  It was an interesting drive, but it seemed like forever in the car.  Also, Aubrey got carsick as we were entering Port Macquarie.  We all felt kind of beat up when we finally reached our townhouse at Shelly Beach Resort.  To top it all off, I tend to feel more homesick when I am not in our apartment surrounded by all the familiar objects from our US home.  To make a long story short, it was kind of a rough start to the vacation.

After a good night's sleep, we woke up a little more refreshed.  We just needed a day to unwind and ease into our vacation.  Luckily, we were staying right next to an spectacular trail through the rainforest along the Pacific Ocean coastline.  The day was a little cloudy, but it was still very comfortable outside with temps in the mid-60's (Fahrenheit).  It was just the day we needed.

A picture as we headed out on our walk.

Aubrey and I posing by the first beach we visited, Shelly Beach

Aubrey showing off the shell she picked up on the beach.  She was very proud of this shell and carried it with her at all times for a couple of days.

Carter watching the wave coming in that was going to ruin his wall of sand

Another picture of Aubrey and I on Shelly Beach

Carter on the trail

Shelly Beach after we went up a million steps on the trail.  To get an idea of how far up we were, those little figures are people walking on the beach.

Nice views along the way

Later in the day we visited this lighthouse.  It had a lookout on the side that was a good place to watch for whales.

This is what we saw from the lookout.

When you blow it up, you can clearly make up out a whale fin.  We saw many splashes out in the ocean from the whales migrating close to the shore.  We took other pictures, but mostly it just shows the water being displaced from the whales.

A final view from Port Macquarie

We did venture into the town itself for dinner and for a few errands.  It was a really nice town with about 6 beaches and a downtown with lots of restaurants.  There is a Koala Hospital that I wanted to visit, but we ran out of time.  The next day, Monday, it was time to continue our journey up the coast.  More on that later.....