Jelly tent

Our usual packing chaos!

It had been so very windy through the night!  Our tent would balloon massively and then bow under the next huge gust.  Vaughan was lucky and slept through everything but Nick and I were awake a lot - as was Erin in her smaller tent next door.

Given that Vaughan had slept so well, it was not greatly surprising that he was wide awake at 6:00am! He commented on waking that the tent "moved about like jelly" - and he was quite right but fortunately the wind had started to ease by then.

Nick got up at that point and I tried dozing for a bit longer (until Nick's insulin alarm went off at 7:00am). Once up, we all worked consistently and were ready for departure by 10:00am - a full hour before the check-out deadline!

Long Exposure

While the rest of the party were fishing, I was photographing - playing with some longer exposure shots. 

(I have since worked out a better method but quite like the arrow-effect of the bridge at right).

Cat(ch) fish!

There was another fishing expedition that night, along the river at Macksville.

Vaughan had sulked at one point because he "was only allowed to do the boring bits"!

Nick then relented and our boy enjoyed casting for a while, before wandering off for more entertaining pursuits. We checked the trees for flying foxes, surprising a few (and vice versa!) until the cold caused us to retreat to Elmer's shelter.  All were much colder (and wiser?!) by the end of our three-hour stint by the river. Needless to say, the fish remained elusive. The only catch was a small, slimy catfish, very quickly returned to the water!

Way Way good!

It was 18 months since our last visit. 

One of the highlights of that trip was spending time in the Way Way forest.  On that occasion we had front-row seats to goanna wrestling! 

There was no sign of the wrestlers this visit - we mostly had the picnic area to ourselves.

Unkya Reserve

When Vaughan awoke at 6:30am, it was fairly grey and I assumed the day was going to be cold/overcast but the sun wasn't up at that stage!

After breakfast and a few other missions, we packed up some provisions and set out for a day of geocaching.

The Unkya Reserve was our first stop, where a very creative person had made this fabulous mosaic memorial seat.  Unfortunately we were not there on one of the regular funkya@unkya market days - maybe next time!

Dominoes/Family Feast!

Although the fish eluded us, we cheffed a most wonderful feast for our dinner that night. 

In fact, Nick had trouble fitting everything on the BBQ plate - and Erin was recruited to cook some side dishes on the camping stove.

In between the main feast and the (low-fat!) creme brulee ice-cream, we played a few games of dominoes.

Not long after dessert, it was time for Vaughan's bedtime stories - and bed (for everyone)!

Afternoon tea on the V!

Erin and Vaughan were both keen to catch fish, though less enthused to exhibit the necessary patience for fishing! 

In any case, we spent some of the day out on the V-wall in the v-ain hope that at least one fish might hook up with us!  

Heading around

We enjoyed some rock-hopping down there ...

Our caravan park was right next to the beach, so we were lulled to sleep by the sound of the ocean (though the many flying foxes did their best to disturb our slumber).

We were woken each day by hundreds of Keegan's relatives!

Nick, Vaughan and I took several walks around the nearby headland.  We didn't find the geocache we were looking for but weren't greatly disappointed as we spotted a few dolphins - and two whales in the distance (or one whale twice)!

Double-up

Erin's tent tucked under a gazebo in case of rain ...

We are not used to staying in caravan parks, so booked two sites in order to spread out a bit, keeping a buffer between us and the neighbours!

Our accommodation was lovely and we are happy to recommend the Scotts Head Holiday Park.

Blinded by the light!

A very good friend was given this camping headlamp, which she generously re-gifted to me.

I am very glad she did as the light is wonderful for reading, writing, cooking - and blinding unsuspecting family members!

Just up the road

The distance from home to Scotts Head (our destination, as indicated by the Young Master) is just under 400 km, so after our Mount Alum breakfast and re-hitching we enjoyed a leisurely trip up the coast - making several geocaching and/or rest stops en route.

We parked Elmer on the highway at one point and headed into the scrub, where we were very surprised to find a substantial go-cart track - in use!

(Various signage declared the track an "International Kart Racing Circuit").