0405 Rainy days and Tuesdays

TUESDAY WAS rainy, so we decided to go for a drive.

We hadn't gone far from our flat when we spotted a Tourist Drive sign, which took us out towards the Highway and, ultimately, towards Kempsey. The main part of this drive was along Hastings River Drive, a generally fairly narrow road which takes the intrepid tourist through extensive areas of low-lying farmland and mangrove swamp. However, just beyond these, glimpses of the beautiful Hastings River are seen.

When we reached the end of this road, as we came to the Pacific Highway, we discovered that the Tourist Drive itself came to an abrupt end. After a mental coin-toss, we chose to drive south, intending to look at Kew and perhaps Kendall.

In 1978, when I was sitting for my professional practice examinations as a Local Government Town Planner, we were given a Design Subject which involved preparing a regional plan for an area defined in a base map supplied by the examiners. Although identifying details were removed from the base map, it was clearly the Port Macquarie area -- which I had never visited. So I have been keen for over 30 years to see the actual district I had spent a month poring over.

However, time makes the memory fuzzy, so I was surprised to find that Kew and Kendall were west of the Highway.

We drove through Kew, but were more interested in Kendall, the next town we came to.

In Kendall

Here are a few photos...

This is the old Kendall railway station, also used as a Craft Association centre.

The people of Kendall don't lack a sense of humour...

When you see what a pretty place Kendall is, you understand why the poet, Henry Kendall, author of the poem, "Bellbirds", would have been keen to live here.

On the coast: Rainbow Beach

Next, we drove back towards the east, crossing over the Highway.

We stopped in Laurieton for lunch at a nice little café, then began the trek north towards Port Macquarie. There we found Rainbow Beach.

As you can see, there were no rainbows there that day, but beaches have their beauties in grey weather, too.

We stopped here for about 20 minutes before continuing our journey north.

A well-designed subdivision

Our final stop for the day was in a small subdivision, just south of the main Port Macquarie township. Because it is on a steep hill, most houses have good views.

Here are a few shots.

At night

It was still drizzly, so we went to the local Blockbuster store for a couple of DVDs. We watched "Julie and Julia" which I found a much more enjoyable movie than I had expected, but Chris fell asleep about halfway through.