Wauchope & Port Macquarie

On Friday the 20th November, we left North Haven and went to Wauchope and stayed at the Showground. The caretakers are great people, Carmel and Dave, very genuine, salt of the earth kinds. It is a great spot to visit Port Macquarie from, and for only $20 a night, including power and water.
Linda asked Dave about what there was to see at Wauchope itself and he gave us a good tip to go and see ‘Old Bottlebutt’. So after lunch we drove out the 10km on the Bago Road to the turn off. Another 2km or so and we were at the car park. ‘Old Bottlebutt’ is the largest bloodwood tree in Australia and in the International Register of Wide Girth Trees. It has a massive girth of more than 16 metres. It is great how it is naturally set in the middle of a large group of palm trees. It is interesting to walk through the regular heavily wooded bushland into this rainforest.
The next morning we drove into Port Macquarie. It has been a very long time since we visited Port and did not remember anything about it so that was why we included it. We were curious to check it out. After a visit to Dan Murphy’s to replenish supplies at a great price we drove into the CBD which is adjacent to the river and breakwater to the ocean. We visited the Visitor Information and got a leaflet on the history of the place. Nearby was this drain constructed around the establishment of the settlement in 1823. It was built in brick and uncovered in an archaeological dig in 2006. Because we are looking through glass the reflection lowers the quality of the photos.
I was impressed by the old Royal Hotel built in 1937 right near the water. The original hotel was burnt down in 1886 and this one built in its place. Would love to have seen it back in the day.
We then walked out along the break wall to the end. The town beach is on the southern side of the break wall.
Then walked through Mrs York’s garden which has been restored. We then reached the street above and had a good view. Turned back in to the CBD and youo can see from the high rise holiday flats that it is a big joint.
Then back down to the Royal Hotel for a coffee.
We then took a drive along the coast south from the CBD. It was all pretty beautiful and impressive.
After that drive we came back to town where we had fish and chips by the water. Then drove north and checked out the canals with all the fancy houses on them which were very nice as you can imagine. We returned back to camp for a relaxed evening. Relaxed, except for when we went for a walk around the showground and were attacked by plover parents. Just a lot of noise was all. But when they were distracted we departed their area. The next morning we hooked up and headed for Crescent Head.

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