31/03/12

This morning was spent on domestic duties - laundry and cleaning out the inside of Freda.
It's hard work, not working, so I just HAD to have a nanna nap in the afternoon.
When I awoke, Dea and I went for a walk around the main town area, making mental notes of the venues that put on live music.
I was pleasantly surprised to find there are a lot of venues that do live music Friday to Sunday.

That night, Dea slaved away in the kitchen, cooking up a stellar roast - certainly beats soup any day!

Dea slaving away in the kitchen

MMMM Roast dinner....get in my belleh!

30/03/12

Today the weather was great, as it has been all week so Dea and I went for a massive walk following a track past some of the main beaches closest to town.
Port Macquarie seems like a pretty good sized place with plenty to offer the resident and traveller.
That afternoon I happened to notice in my FaceBook news feed that a friend from Wagga and fellow muso Brett James was performing at a local hotel tonight.
So Dea and I decided to surprise him and went along to see him play.
His reaction when he finally noticed us in the audience was a classic double take and it amused me no end.
He looked up and saw me then looked back down at his guitar then looked straight back up again and realised it was me and had a look as if to say "you got me, you bastard".
It was good to briefly catch up with Brett after the gig and it goes to show that no matter where you are in the world, you're never far from someone from Wagga!

Former Wagga muso Brett James performing at Port Macquarie. Good bloke with FANTASTIC fashion sense...go the checked shirt and jeans!

27/03/12 - 29/03/12

The next few days were pretty cruisy, heading further north and checking out a few little coastal places on the way.
Tuesday was spent driving to Crowdy Head where I drove up to the lighthouse to see the view of Crowdy Bay and beyond.

Freda overlooking Crowdy Bay...how's the serenity?

Lighthouse on the hill

I then spent some time in Harrington and walked the breakwall which is at the junction of where the Manning River meets the ocean.

The break wall at Harrington

The rest area I stayed at turned out to be pretty good with a nearby creek and big tall trees so I spent the next day as a "holiday day", playing guitar, listening to the radio and finishing off the Powderfinger book. I got talking to a bloke who was heading north with his wife - I soon added him to the list of people besotted by Freda.
The next day I continued the journey north, stopping at New Haven for a jog, swim and a shower. I had initially planned just a brief run but ended up doing two laps of the beach which took me a couple of hours - felt good to be running again though I think my calves are gonna feel it in a couple of days after all that sand jogging.

I'm filing this pic under "What the hell am I doing?" I've tried to work it out, but I have no idea..a pained karate chop at the beach, perhaps? What a weirdo...

I then made it to Port Macquarie and caught up with Deanne who has kindly allowed me to stay with her for the weekend.
First impressions of Port Macquarie were very good - heaps of beaches, good library and a big enough CBD area without being too busy.