This was a lazy morning day as we’re here for 2 nights – no need to pack up and move on, thank goodness. I realised that I haven’t had a proper rest day since we started these travels – we’ve got so into the habit of waking up about 8.00am, far too early for a retired couple!
After breakfast and a leisurely shower, Tom contacted Roydon for Lorraine’s e-mail address or phone number and had a chat with Theresa then Sue at 1st Call Mobility. He then phoned Lorraine who lives just south of Brisbane at Helensvale, and we’ll arrange to see her and Paul in about 3 days time when we reach that area.
Having made the call, we walked down to the Tourist info, which is just across the street about 100m away. We were looking for accommodation in Ballina, just a bit further up the coast, with internet access, as the only 2 Budget motels in the book have none. The lady in the tourist info was not particularly sharp but did give us a Holiday and Touring guide which covers campsites and trailer parks in Oz and there seem to be a few in there. We would sort this out later.
My priority was to find a hairdresser, which we did and while I left Tom to browse the shops on his own (was this wise?), I had my hair cut….well, no. I had my hair SHORN. I don’t think I have ever had my hair this short, EVER! Goodness knows what it would have been like if I’d asked for it to be short!! So there will be no more photos of me for you to laugh at for the next few weeks! (unless they’re from the neck down…..on second thoughts, I wouldn’t put you through that either!) It’ll certainly be easy to look after. Tom had joked with the staff that they’d get a bonus if they gave me a No. 1 all over – perhaps they thought he was serious. Anyway, my hat now has a new role – to hide the hair as much as keep the sun off my head!
Tom had been very self-controlled and not bought anything while off the leash (!) and we met up for the usual mid-morning coffees, except that it was now 2.00pm. That done, we walked to the Bunker Cartoon Gallery
– over 1km in the baking heat and all my choice. (Tom offered to drive but we needed to get our 10,000 paces done as yesterday certainly came nowhere near that.) This is a WWII military bunker, which was the control centre for Navy and RAAF in the local area. A decision had been made that Queensland could not be defended from Japanese attack and the first line of defence for Australia was to be Coffs Harbour. Bunkers and gun emplacements were built along the coastline, many of which still survive but are mostly overgrown. Thankfully for them, the defence measures were never required but the buildings housed a communications facility that continued to be used until 1980. Five years later, the Coffs Harbour City Rotary Club started a competition for black and white cartoons, and as the years went on, they needed a home for the collection they’d amassed. And so the bunker was put to good use. There is some memorabilia there about the bunker’s history, but the main attraction is the superb collection of cartoons, some of which are framed and on display on the walls, but many thousands (over 13,000) are in albums you can sit and browse through – you’d need days to see them all. The collection is changed regularly to keep the public’s interest alive and there is also a display of local artist’s work, which changes regularly too. It’s only AU$2 to get in and well worth it. Unfortunately, photography is not permitted inside, but when Tom gets a chance, he'll copy a photo from the brochure.
Next on the list of “to do’s” for today was the Botanic Gardens, which my navigator led us to – over flower beds, across grass verges with no footpaths – you can visualise the kind of thing the intrepid explorer casts aside in his quest for the right destination!! We did get there of course (another 1.5km) and walked all round. This is not like any other garden we have visited, it has very little in the way of flowers and concentrates on natural shrubs and trees from all different regions of the world as well as Australia – South Africa, South, Central and North America, India, China.
There is a lot of “bush” and as we were walking the Creek path, near the Aboriginal plants, we heard noises and there was a wild koala rooting around in the undergrowth! Tom tried to creep nearer to him, but the dried vegetation crackled too loudly and he (the koala, not Tom) scurried up a tree for safety.
A man walking past at the time said that there are also kangaroos in the garden, but we didn’t get to see any of them. Because I had lost the map of the garden somewhere en route, silly me, we didn’t get to see all of it but had to find our way out as it closed at 5.00pm and we got to the gate just in time to avoid being locked in for the night!
We then walked all the way back into town via the Coffs Creek Path, ending up in the shopping centre where we’d started the day.(3 more km) As I intended to use the swimming pool at the motel, we just had time to buy 2 beach towels before the shop closed – no, I don’t need two, but we do hope to spend at least one day on a beach somewhere before we leave Oz and we’ll both need one each then.
Having returned to the motel, Tom found a cabin at one of the Parks mentioned earlier with internet access and rang up to book us in for 2 nights – that’s when he found he’d left his credit card in the shop where we’d bought the towels! So his first task tomorrow morning is to be at the shop when it opens and hope that he really did leave it there. But he did book our accommodation with his debit card.
We went back to the RSL club for dinner again, more walking, so definitely 10,000 paces today. Now we’re back in the room feeling quite full and almost ready for bed after doing the blog – I’ve caught up again so he can’t nag me!
I forgot to say yesterday, that before we left Port Macquarie, we called in at a charity shop to see if we could get a belt for Tom’s trousers – he says he’s lost weight cos his shorts keep falling down, but I think the heat has stretched the fabric really. There were no belts to fit him, but they were having a “$1 per clothing item” day, so we ended up with 2 shirts for Tom and 2 blouses for me – they make a change from the ones we brought out – plus a book, all for $5. One of Tom’s shirts is too small so it went back to a charity shop in Coffs Harbour today but the other is good and my 2 blouses will certainly be OK for travelling, then we’ll donate them all to a charity shop in Adelaide, so we don’t end up with too much to pack for the return journey.
After breakfast and a leisurely shower, Tom contacted Roydon for Lorraine’s e-mail address or phone number and had a chat with Theresa then Sue at 1st Call Mobility. He then phoned Lorraine who lives just south of Brisbane at Helensvale, and we’ll arrange to see her and Paul in about 3 days time when we reach that area.
Having made the call, we walked down to the Tourist info, which is just across the street about 100m away. We were looking for accommodation in Ballina, just a bit further up the coast, with internet access, as the only 2 Budget motels in the book have none. The lady in the tourist info was not particularly sharp but did give us a Holiday and Touring guide which covers campsites and trailer parks in Oz and there seem to be a few in there. We would sort this out later.
My priority was to find a hairdresser, which we did and while I left Tom to browse the shops on his own (was this wise?), I had my hair cut….well, no. I had my hair SHORN. I don’t think I have ever had my hair this short, EVER! Goodness knows what it would have been like if I’d asked for it to be short!! So there will be no more photos of me for you to laugh at for the next few weeks! (unless they’re from the neck down…..on second thoughts, I wouldn’t put you through that either!) It’ll certainly be easy to look after. Tom had joked with the staff that they’d get a bonus if they gave me a No. 1 all over – perhaps they thought he was serious. Anyway, my hat now has a new role – to hide the hair as much as keep the sun off my head!
Tom had been very self-controlled and not bought anything while off the leash (!) and we met up for the usual mid-morning coffees, except that it was now 2.00pm. That done, we walked to the Bunker Cartoon Gallery
– over 1km in the baking heat and all my choice. (Tom offered to drive but we needed to get our 10,000 paces done as yesterday certainly came nowhere near that.) This is a WWII military bunker, which was the control centre for Navy and RAAF in the local area. A decision had been made that Queensland could not be defended from Japanese attack and the first line of defence for Australia was to be Coffs Harbour. Bunkers and gun emplacements were built along the coastline, many of which still survive but are mostly overgrown. Thankfully for them, the defence measures were never required but the buildings housed a communications facility that continued to be used until 1980. Five years later, the Coffs Harbour City Rotary Club started a competition for black and white cartoons, and as the years went on, they needed a home for the collection they’d amassed. And so the bunker was put to good use. There is some memorabilia there about the bunker’s history, but the main attraction is the superb collection of cartoons, some of which are framed and on display on the walls, but many thousands (over 13,000) are in albums you can sit and browse through – you’d need days to see them all. The collection is changed regularly to keep the public’s interest alive and there is also a display of local artist’s work, which changes regularly too. It’s only AU$2 to get in and well worth it. Unfortunately, photography is not permitted inside, but when Tom gets a chance, he'll copy a photo from the brochure.Next on the list of “to do’s” for today was the Botanic Gardens, which my navigator led us to – over flower beds, across grass verges with no footpaths – you can visualise the kind of thing the intrepid explorer casts aside in his quest for the right destination!! We did get there of course (another 1.5km) and walked all round. This is not like any other garden we have visited, it has very little in the way of flowers and concentrates on natural shrubs and trees from all different regions of the world as well as Australia – South Africa, South, Central and North America, India, China.
There is a lot of “bush” and as we were walking the Creek path, near the Aboriginal plants, we heard noises and there was a wild koala rooting around in the undergrowth! Tom tried to creep nearer to him, but the dried vegetation crackled too loudly and he (the koala, not Tom) scurried up a tree for safety. A man walking past at the time said that there are also kangaroos in the garden, but we didn’t get to see any of them. Because I had lost the map of the garden somewhere en route, silly me, we didn’t get to see all of it but had to find our way out as it closed at 5.00pm and we got to the gate just in time to avoid being locked in for the night!We then walked all the way back into town via the Coffs Creek Path, ending up in the shopping centre where we’d started the day.(3 more km) As I intended to use the swimming pool at the motel, we just had time to buy 2 beach towels before the shop closed – no, I don’t need two, but we do hope to spend at least one day on a beach somewhere before we leave Oz and we’ll both need one each then.
Having returned to the motel, Tom found a cabin at one of the Parks mentioned earlier with internet access and rang up to book us in for 2 nights – that’s when he found he’d left his credit card in the shop where we’d bought the towels! So his first task tomorrow morning is to be at the shop when it opens and hope that he really did leave it there. But he did book our accommodation with his debit card.
We went back to the RSL club for dinner again, more walking, so definitely 10,000 paces today. Now we’re back in the room feeling quite full and almost ready for bed after doing the blog – I’ve caught up again so he can’t nag me!
I forgot to say yesterday, that before we left Port Macquarie, we called in at a charity shop to see if we could get a belt for Tom’s trousers – he says he’s lost weight cos his shorts keep falling down, but I think the heat has stretched the fabric really. There were no belts to fit him, but they were having a “$1 per clothing item” day, so we ended up with 2 shirts for Tom and 2 blouses for me – they make a change from the ones we brought out – plus a book, all for $5. One of Tom’s shirts is too small so it went back to a charity shop in Coffs Harbour today but the other is good and my 2 blouses will certainly be OK for travelling, then we’ll donate them all to a charity shop in Adelaide, so we don’t end up with too much to pack for the return journey.
Right, that’s it for today. We’re packing up again in the morning but still have to visit a couple of places here before moving on up the coast to Ballina, which is only 2 hours away. I’ll fill you in on the next exciting instalment tomorrow – bet you can hardly wait!! Night! Night!
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