Day 3 at Barrington

Oh boy did it rain last night! I thought the roof was going to cave in with the drumming of the rain on the corrugated veranda roof. The morning sunrise never happened as the clouds were so low that the hills in front could not be seen. The river was definitely noisier than last evening. With morning tea we have a habit of looking at the news on the net and checking email as this is not checked again maybe until evening or even the next day when on holiday. Paul said it seems the net is down and checking the Wi-Fi hub - the light was red. So he spent time troubleshooting and found that our Wi-Fi had been switched off. But since there was a lead connecting the hub with the line through the wall he just pulled out the hub and plugged it directly into the laptop. Hey presto net was back on.

As usual with breakfast we pour over the maps to see where we would like to go today. Yesterday I had seen a turning off the highway for The Lakes Way, a scenic drive which at one point is literally the road with Tasman Sea on one side and lakes on the other. There are a couple of towns – Tuncurry and Forster that are historical.

This time we made proper note of the way we left Barrington and got to Gloucester just to make sure we did not get lost returning – again! We followed the road all the way to Pacific Highway like yesterday and turned to towards Taree. The exit we had to take was Failford Road turning right across the lanes. This was a smaller road and we thought let us see what road signs we come up against today. The first one was Bullocky Way and the next one was Darawank. Both were hilarious but Darawank (means dark waters) in particular as we at once thought about putting this up in Mock The Week Facebook page for Dara O’Briain to see. Shame the page does not allow us to put up the pic but a message was left! Managed to get a picture of Bullocky Way but missed out on clicking Darawank. Maybe next time……

This road ends at a T-junction with The Lakes Way. By now the sun was out and pleasant breeze was blowing – a far cry from the gloomy wet sunrise we had. Drove into Tuncurry and this is where the Wallis Lake meets the Cape Hawke Harbour and there is a long bridge connecting Tuncurry to Forster. We stopped at Tuncurry to have a look around the marina area.

Hooligans are here as well (Cockatoos)

Tuncurry Marina

Big Boat

Meeting of the Wallis Lake and Cape Hawke Harbour

Forster-Tuncurry bridge

This bridge is different for all bridges I have seen The middle was flat and the ends were raised curves.

Forster-Tuncurry Bridge

And we enter Forster and drove right across it. It is very much of a tourist town with usual shops and eating places and walking about the marina and promenade. But instead of stopping we decided to go further down The Lakes Way to the point where for a while you can see water on both sides as per the map. This area appears to be old rainforests and varied vegetation, lots of different palms about and pristine beaches without a soul on them. This is the Booti Booti National Park and it is wonderful the slightly warm salty air and sun occasionally peeping out from grey clouds. We stopped at Seven mile Long Beach and stood watching the waves. Paul even managed to get a vid clip when I was pointing to the holes in the sand and wondering if they were made by razor clams.

Enter Booti Booti

Seven Mile Beach

Alone on this windy beach

We drove a little further but realised that there is forest on either side without actual sighting of water all the way. We also did a quick stop at Boomerang Beach and turned back as it was getting to lunch time by now.

Boomerang Beach

Boomerang Beach 

Crashing waves

Trying to take off at Boomerang beach

Back to Forster and made sure we did not go to the shopping mall with its usual 74 specialist shops! But went to the town centre and found parking for 3 hours. Had a wander around for the fish and chips shop again. We could have had some fancy veggie burger with quinoa or roll with spinach and feta but chips always are the first choice at seaside. While walking the length of the high street we saw a gelato place and decided that was going to be the dessert stop. Now everyone knows we love ice cream but this gelato place was wonderful with new flavours. Paul had blood orange and dark chocolate while I had rum and raisin and fig syrup and mascarpone ice cream. Oh my it was delish! In the middle of it all I decided to see if I had mobile network and as I switched it on I saw messages pouring in with a few missed calls. Seems people were looking for me.  Indeed I got a vid call at once from my friend worried as to why I was missing for the past 2 days! I did try to take pic of my ice creams as some people I know love to see them. But I tried with my phone and the light of the sun was so strong I could not see properly and guess the pic cut off half the ice cream and top of Paul’s head…. hahahaha

Man in Forster

After lunch we wandered up the promenade to see the local pod of pelicans. Both of us are fascinated by pelicans as they are so big but so graceful even when taking off from the water. Here you find them sitting on lampposts at most seaside places.

Pelican in Forster

Came in for a portrait

Pelican pod

As we were walking past the gelato shop I spotted a kitchen ware shop and decided to have a peep in it. You see I have been trying to find a tea leaf strainer so I can do away with buying tea bags after all these years. I try being green so decided high time I gave up tea bags but did not want to buy a pot to make tea. More over its good to wander through kitchenware place as you never know what you might find. And yes there were tea strainers of all variety. I got the mesh ball and spring mesh tea infusers. The eye caught a glimpse of some crockery that was colourful. I liked a couple of bowls with patterns made in dots so we got those too.

Then it was time to start the journey back and fingers crossed to not get lost like yesterday. We saw some big bird high up but could not make out what it was. Maybe we will see it again. The galahs and rosella were out along with the wrens darting across the road. This time we found the road correctly and reached to the cottage in time for a cup of tea. The evening was pleasant but the clouds had come down again. Seems we were going to be in for some more rain. Indeed after last night the river crossing was fast flowing. Dinner was some toast and brie with tomatoes and more potato salad from yesterday and plums. Nite nite!

Clouds descending