riverECHO

784 km around Australia

We spent the last two nights in Crowdy Bay National Park and although we still have another day to our weekend, I feel like we’ve already had more than a weekend’s worth of adventures. Here are just a few to add to the list:

• We mountain biked along an awesome coastal hiking trail that dropped off in numerous places to meet the crashing ocean below.
  
• We finally touched the cold (yes, cold!) waters off Australia’s east coast and looked on in awe as surfers played with the waves, despite warnings of high surf, shallow waters and deathly currents.
  
• We camped among a couple kangaroo families. Kangaroos are actually much smaller than I had envisioned, standing only to about shoulder height. They are amusingly enough pear shaped and are quite entertaining to watch as they bound across a grassy field. Their strong tail acts like a fifth leg, which they use to help them graze. You see they don’t walk or waddle, but plant their tail and front arms like a tripod as they gracefully lift and move their hind legs forward. If there isn’t already a yoga move out there called the kangaroo, then I will dedicate this trip to creating it . . . and then BJ can post photos of it for your enjoyment.
  
• I stepped on my first Australian snake. Okay, it was only a foot long and it didn’t bite me, but it almost made me wee my pants. I’ve been reading Bill Bryson’s book about his travels around Australia called Down Under and he is obsessed with pointing out how deadly everything is down here. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to a rustle in the bushes, especially when we head up north to the land of the salties, their very endearing term for man-eating salt water crocodiles. The only rustle in the bushes we heard down here ended up being a goanna (monitor lizard) which was large enough that it made us keep our distance. Notice the lizard trying to climb the tree stump in the photo below.
  
• We made friends with a kookaburra who we named Bruce, who was particularly interested when we were cooking up eggs for breakfast. Kookaburras are known for making a shrilling laughing call. But until I actually knew what was making the noise high in the trees I swear I thought we were surrounded by a group of angry monkeys.
  
• We explored some of the east coast’s spectacular coastline. The ocean is crystal clear, brilliantly blue and totally inviting. I just need to get over my fear of Australia’s man-eating sharks.
  

We are now back in Port Macquarie, at the same campground we were in last week. It’s probably not a town that we would normally post up in for this long, but we are patiently waiting for my new work computer to arrive before we can continue our journey north. BJ has found a few biking trails just a short drive away and we stumbled upon a very cool used book store/café this afternoon, so I am sure we will have no problem staying busy until we depart. I must say we are already feeling like five months down here might not be enough time to see everything we want to see, but like any road trip it’s not about the destination and usually the unexpected things you find along the way are the things you remember best and enjoy most. We will, as my sister Shalyn said to me tonight, make sure to stop and smell the roses.