Day 11
We woke up not feeling too bad! Our fears of a crushing hangover seemed unfounded! We got up and went for a walk along the beach front to have an explore of the area around us as we hadn’t had chance the previous day. As the camera had been poorly the previous day we decided we would try and fix the problem with a new memory card instead of a whole new camera in the first instance! We asked where would be open on a Sunday and went to an out of town shopping centre. We got to the shopping centre and struggled to find somewhere to park the beast of a van. Underground parking and a minimum clearance of 2.8m do not mix very well! We eventually found somewhere to park and wandered into the shops. We found a map and located the one and only camera shop but when we got there it was boarded up! We instead started a search for mobile phone stores in the hope they would have SD memory cards. One of them did and after spending $10 the camera was working again!! We stocked up on more supplies and left starting our journey to Port Stephens. Deb took to the wheel and off we went!
We arrived at our campsite at about midday and had a lovely location away from all the other sites under the dappled shade of the gum trees. We had lunch and planned activities for the rest of the day. Scott wanted to visit Tomaree National Park for a walk whilst Deb wanted to go to One Mile Beach! Scott won this one!
We set off in the van as it was about 8km away and we rounded the corner. The shock on Deb’s face was a picture as Scott pointed out the hill (Deb says mountain) he intended us both to climb. It was a mere 161m above sea level. The route was actually quite short at under 1km but it is near enough vertical climbing rock paths and metal ‘ladders’ that had been bolted onto the cliff surface. The views became more and more impressive as we climbed. It was possible to see the opposite side of Port Stephens, Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens, where we would visit tomorrow. We also looked southwest towards the massive Stockton beach in the distance which is the largest moving sand mass in the southern hemisphere. The surfing Zenith beach was much closer and provided the sound of crashing waves even this far up. We were both thoroughly impressed with the views and reluctantly returned back down to sea level.
During our descent we went via an old World War II gun emplacement. The old bunkers no longer hold guns but Deb was impressed with the 156mm which could fire about 15km or so. As we returned we wandered along the break wall to the headland to admire the views in the setting sun.
We returned to our camp site and set about preparing dinner. As we felt a bit “red meated out” we thought we would experiment with chicken fajitas on the BBQ! They were an overwhelming yummy success!
Tomorrow was only going to be a short drive to Myall Lakes National Park so it was going to be a well earned lay-in until at least 7.30am!!
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