Laurieton, Kurrajong & Mossman

Laurieton is across the bay from Port Maquarie, which is the place I thought I would like to live.  In 2001, when we drove down the coast, I thought it was the nicest place I had ever seen, well Laurieton is just as nice.  The beach house owned by Kate's family was just up the hill from the most beautiful beach.  I have already posted pictures from there.  The day we arrived we got settled in and headed for the beach.  You can take your dogs to the beach before 8:00 in the morning and after 4:00 in the afternoon.  They are not welcome at all of the beaches but the ones they are allowed on have specific times, which is good as not everyone loves dogs.  Kate, Trevor and Alex have a beautiful yellow lab called "Bloomer" very well behaved and quiet, loves the water, however, and doesn't mind jumping in on you.  The beaches are nearly deserted after 4:00 so we had lots of room to run and play.  There are several rock pools to play in if you want to stay out of the waves.  

Next morning we got up early and went on a fairly long hike, remember for me all hikes are long.  It was an easy walk, paths all the way, to a place called "Perpendicular Point", named by Captain Cook.  a lovely spot where you can watch whales and dolphins play in the surf.  The views are lovely.  We had packed a lunch so we ate it at the look-out which has a large platform to sit on.  The scenery is fantastic no matter which way you look.

In the afternoon we took a trip up another mountain to see the view from there, the other side of the Town.  Beauty everywhere you look.  

After the viewpoint the guys decided to go fishing.  We found a lovely, long, beach, I swear it was 20 miles long, and we had to walk to the end of it to find just the right fishing spot.  It was hilarious to watch them trying to fish in the surf when the wind kept blowing the line back.  Dalton's first cast had him losing his footing and falling on his face in the surf...and me without a camera.  We stayed there until the son was getting ready to set and we made the long trek back, did I tell you it must have been 20 miles...

We arrived home, exhausted, had showers all around, a late dinner of pasta and to sleep at about 10:30, I think I was out before my head hit the pillow.

Next morning, Tuesday, we packed up to go to the Kurrajong Hills, closest town is Richmond, where Kate, Trevor and Alex live in a shouse (combination of a shed and a house).  They built a huge shed, larger than a three car garage which they are using until the house is built.  They have a horse, two cows, one calf, 6 goats and 2 alpacas (which they use to guard the goats).  The location is beautiful.  Kate was saying that before Christmas everything was brown, however, they got quite a bit of rain after Christmas and now everything is beautiful and green.  

Wednesday Trevor took the train to work, he is an architect in Sydney and Kate and Alex took Dalton and I into Mosman where we are staying until we fly to Tasmania on Monday.

On the way into town, we got pulled over by the police as Prince William's motorcade was going by.  He has been in Australia for a few days, we didn't have any time to spend with him though as we were too busy.