Family From Afar

2nd November to 18^th November 2024

So, this post is somewhat different as we take a little holiday from our big holiday. My Aunty Ann (mum’s sister) and my cousin Claire flew into Port on the 2^nd November. They flew in from Colorado, USA, and after a good night’s sleep, or not so good in Claire’s case, (she drew the short straw and had the foldout bed) they were set to go and I have to say, we had a ball.

A short drive from mum’s place is Lake Cathie. On one side of the road is a lovely protected cove, you can swim, fish or when the tide is low, walk over to the main beach. A Cathie Creek (more a river than a creek) runs off the cove under the bridge. On the other side of the bridge is some great kayaking. Peter, myself and Claire made good use of the kayaks to explore the Creek while the Mums caught up on the good old days.

Port Macquarie really is a beautiful part of Australia, though their visit was short, we made sure to fit in some of the best that Port has to offer.

On the 4^th we all piled into the car and drove up to visit Kevin and Gabriela at Kingscliff, passing the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour, (one of the many BIG things scattered around Australia) and a brief stop in Ballina. We only had a short time with Kevin and Gabby, but enjoyed a wonderful home cooked meal. Claire had booked a scuba diving trip in Cairns, so , on the 6th Claire, Ann, mum and I hopped on a plane to Cairns. Peter was our airport drop-off driver, so he was able to escape us ladies with a side trip to visit family in Kingaroy.

We stayed in an Air B and B at Holloways Beach, in Cairns. It was close to a couple of restaurants, and a short drive from shops. With our trusty little hire car we had everything we needed to enjoy our three night stay.

Claire had booked three dives on the Silverswift, through Quick Silver, it was a really lovely catamaran and even though I didn’t dive, I thoroughly enjoyed being out on the pristine waters around the Great Barrier Reef. While Claire and I enjoyed the reef, Mum and Ann went on a day trip to Green Island, at the end of the day we exchanged stories while we enjoyed the feast of champions; Cheese, crackers and wine. 🙂

While in Cairns we wanted to experience the Kuranda railway. A stunning one hour and forty minute trip through rainforest and over bridges with views of stunning waterfalls. I did the good tour guide thing and called to book our seats only to find out that for the entire three days we were in Cairns, the rail was closed for maintenance. So, into the car we got and drove up to Kuranda. You don’t get the same spectacular views from the road as you do from the rail, (I did it too many years ago to count) but we had a good look around, and did a couple of touristy things.

At the end of the day Mum, Ann and Claire hopped on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, leaving Kuranda station. Even though there wasn’t a lot of water in the falls, the ladies told me the views were lovely. While they enjoyed the views from above, I drove down the range to pick them up at Smithfield. No, don’t feel bad for me, you see I don’t like Skyrails. I don’t know why, I’m not scared of heights, or bridges or flying but for some reason, Skyrails scare the poop out of me. So, I really enjoyed the drive. 🙂

We flew back into Brisbane, where Peter picked us up, had another evening with Kevin and Gabby, then back to Port Macquarie, this time the inland route taking us through Grafton and the last of the Jacaranda flowers, for more fun in the sun.

Strike One – The BBQ picnic boat. What better way to spend a day but cruising on the clear waters of Port Macquarie. I called and booked a boat for 6 hours, answered all the relevant questions, asked the relevant questions, and the day before ,bought and packed all the goodies we needed. We made it to the boat hire ramp, but got turned away because we didn’t have a boat licence. So much for ‘..all the relevant questions”.

Strike Two – The great dolphin chase. So, there we were with a car full of goodies and no BBQ picnic boat. No worries; There’s a lovely area called Camden Heads, the perfect spot for a picnic, a swim and if you’re lucky, dolphin spotting. We’d all had a lovely walk along the breakwall, and the beach when the BBQ plate started to call me. Mum, Peter and I headed back to the picnic area to fire up the barbie. After a while Peter went to see what was keeping Ann and Claire.

Claire had spotted a dolphin and decided she wanted to swim out closer to it. Now, she is a strong swimmer, but so was the current and before she knew it, the current was taking her out of the inlet and into the ocean – not a good thing! Fortunately, she had been seen from the beach (now several hundred metres away) and a guy called the rescue service before sprinting up the breakwall to help. As scary as it all was, Claire didn’t panic, she made her way across the strong current to the breakwall and with the guy’s help she managed to clamber up over the sharp rocks to safety with only minor scrapes and bruises. The paramedics arrived soon after to check her out and the day’s adventure was, thankfully over.

Strike Three – The dolphin cruise that wasn’t. We opted for a somewhat safer way to see dolphins and booked a four-hour dolphin cruise. It was an extremely windy day, but we were all looking forward to the cruise.

Long story short; we had a glass of bubbles and some nibbles while we waited for cast off. After a few jokes from the captain, the clock struck 11:00 and we’re off! Only we didn’t get very far. We were about fifteen metres from the dock when we started drifting sideways towards another boat which we almost hit. We had lost control of one of the engines, which, we were told, shouldn’t have been a problem, but the wind was too strong to manoeuvre the boat safely.

The map below shows the route we took (well… where the wind took us) to a dock opposite our departure point. When we arrived on the other side everyone, except us, got of the boat and walked back. We decided to stay on board and enjoy the free flowing bubbly and nibbles, and the interesting cruise/drift back to our departure site. It was 12:47 when we finally disembarked, staggered to the nearest pub and bought a bottle of bubbly.

The following day, we farewelled Ann and Claire. It was a a short visit, full of laughter, fun and adventure. It was fantastic seeing you both again, so thank you for coming such a long way. Till next time, stay safe; and Claire…stay away from those dolphins!

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!