MONDAY 22 FEBRUARY     WOOLGOOLGA

I had an early beach walk again, before John got up. It is a great way to start the day.

After breakfast, walked to the shops. Posted my ring to Rubyvale via registered post. Collected our bag of mail from home. It contained the Telstra bill – $40 – not bad. Got the expected rates installment notice. There was a letter from former colleague MO – great.

We went driving again, taking a packed lunch. Drove north, part way to Grafton, on the highway, then took the road east to Minnie Water, through more of the Yuraygir National Park. There was a gem of a camping area, just through Minnie Water, that we would be able to get the van into, easily. No power of course, so it is one to note for when we have our solar set up.

We parked there and walked along the beach to Rocky Point to the south, and back. Then continued along the beach for a while, to the north, before returning to the Truck.

Had our lunch at the camp area, enjoying the solitude – there were very few campers there – and watching birds. We were particularly impressed by one enterprising willy wagtail, who had taken up its position on top of the large rubbish hopper that had an ill fitting lid – the insects came to it!

Then drove to Wooli, which is south of Minnie Water. This was a strung out village between the little Wooli River and the sea. The village itself was nothing special, but the location is scenic, and interesting because it has sea walls at the river entrance. people were fishing there. There is a lovely long beach stretching back to the north.

Both the locations we visited today were quite a distance from the highway, some 40 kms  – it would feel quite remote, living along that access road. There is farming country between the highway and the boundary of the National Park.

Today’s was a great outing, though the skies were overcast for much of the time. Supposedly, Yuraygir has some of the best beaches in Australia – worthy of our further investigation at another time?

We drove 195kms today, so it was a substantial drive.

Tea was soup, lamb chops with vegies and fruit after.

John played computer games till late. I went to bed at a fairly early hour, being tired after the day’s walking, and read.