What a lot of things we did in the second half of our road trip! We stayed at a beautiful cabin on stilts which we'd highly recommend (although Marisca and I agree that it's not really a treehouse), a little way south of Port Macquarie. We had two nights here so a bit more freedom to enjoy the surroundings.
On advice from the owner we took a trip up one of the Brother Mountains, for a good view of the Haven and for some playing round and round the tree.
Then we headed into Port Macquarie and found a tomato and strawberry farm. We had a highly technical talk on the tomato growing methods and then were let loose on the strawberries. Both made a highly recommendable addition to our lunch.
Um, we went to the beach (spotting a pattern yet?)
And also to the koala hospital. Sick koalas are just as cute as healthy ones, and these ones were actually better as they seemed to be kept more naturally with a good amount of climbing into the trees above. We saw one with only three legs climbing down from a tree, which was quite impressive. Those other ones up in Brisbane couldn't even be bothered to move, beyond the occasional yawn.
And we raced the sunlight home to reach a local beach in time for a little sunset. The children were asleep so we had to each make do with half a romantic sunset each while the other one stayed with the car!
And then, special treats, wine and pink milk with our barbecued prawns, sausages, and pumpkin. Mmmm.
Another day - a visit to the lake towns of Forster & Tuncurry, mostly to enjoy a big steak. But actually the lake was quite pretty, and I could have brought home a whole load of fish if I'd wanted to.
We then drove down to Newcastle, to the Newcastle Museum for some child friendly fun. Having cooped them up in the car and forced them to enjoy beaches, mountain tops, and playgrounds for a few days, we thought some indoors culture would be a good idea. Of course, museums nowadays have playgrounds too :-) I'm not sure which one of them is using this piece of play equipment right...
Staying in a bigger town (a city, even) meant that we decided to go out for dinner. Our stroll to the centre went a little farther than anticipated but did give us the chance to see this gorgeous view of the beach and waterfront.
There's a light show of sorts along one of the main streets, which was a bit over-hyped for what it was, but did add a little something to the location.
In the end, after a long walk, we ended up about 100 yards from the hotel in the opposite direction, at a thai restaurant. The children loved the sticky rice, while we somehow had to cope with a very large fish. And to finish off, an ice cream each across the road. How lovely are these two?
Right, I don't know why I didn't just split the road trip into more sections. This post is getting long and I'm getting tired.
We went to Hunter Valley. The beer was nice.
The wine was ok, although tasting it was fun.
And the vines were hibernating over the winter.
Road trip: the end. Next stop: Sydney.
Ooh, where was the steak in Forster/Tuncurry? We're staying on our way to Brisbane in December and would appreciate a recommendation!
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