We originally planned on camping either at Diamond Head or Myall Lakes to camp on/near a beach after Coffs Harbour. However, the forecast looked ominous and while the forecasts in Australia are rarely accurate a 90% chance thunderstorms with 20 – 40 mm usually means there will be rain. Instead, Jon found us a great, cheap motel to stay in Bulahdelah, New South Wales (NSW) close enough to Myall Lakes that if the forecast changed we could still camp there the following night.

This was our second time packing up camp and it didn’t go smoothly. Nothing fit where it used to fit and I broke the only coffee mug I brought, a free to me KeepCup from Altis (my former employer). Sigh. A quick stop for coffee and scones in Nambucca Heads cured those blues. Back on the road we made stops at the Big Axe and Big Oyster after stopping for an amazing Thai food lunch in Port Macquarie and taking the scenic route through Forster.

The first thing anyone asks about with our trip is the impact of the bushfires. The recent focus has been on massive fires further down the coast in NSW, but earlier in 2019 some major fires went through the area south of Coffs Harbour among many other areas unfortunately. We saw a lot of the aftermath along the highway which had been closed during those fires including melted highway signs where the letters looked like they were dripping off the sign. It’s surreal to think of massive flames being right along a major (for Australia) road. Fortunately, that fire and many others are now out and people are starting to get a chance to grieve and begin the process of recovery.

So back to the trip, we spent the night in Buladelah where some storms did come through and break the heat on a very hot day.

The next day we set off to see Myall Lakes, but not to stay since the forecast remained unsettled at best. The trip to Myall Lakes requires driving on an unsealed road and taking a teeny ferry across.

We checked out the camping areas in case we want to stop on the trip back and took in views of the lovely lake and beach. We couldn’t do any hikes as the trails were still closed due to fires. The fires were out, but the park service still needed to check the trees after to make sure they didn’t just topple on walkers.

We stopped in the very cute beach town of Hawks Nest and made PB&Js for lunch and drove on to Newcastle. We arrived at a local brewery, Foghorn, just in time for the Superbowl to be over. We caught the post-game nonsense and were reminded of the time honored Aussie tradition of wearing whatever NFL gear from whatever team to watch the Superbowl.

We enjoyed a beer and walked around the city a bit and headed off for more big things. The Big Kookaburra in fact.

Then on to Cessnock for a night at another not bad budget motel. We ignored the budget for dinner and went to a local place, Vincent Street, where we unexpectedly had an amazing dinner, possibly the world’s best salad (rocket and feta and pumpkin AND bacon, oh my!) for me and a pork sandwich topped with a jalapeno popper (wow) for Jon.

It was smokey when we woke up the next day in Cessnock as the fires in southern NSW and near Canberra were still going strong at the time. It cleared up as we got out of town and into the proper outback. We stopped to make PB&Js at the botanic gardens in Dubbo.

We also stopped to see the famous Big Bogan which, perhaps unsurprisingly, is located near the Bogan River.

Then it was off to Cobar for the night.  We setup camp at the local caravan park, ate dinner and headed into down for a beer before trying to get to sleep. It turned out to be a VERY WINDY night and the noise kept us up. Another unfortunate side effect of the wind was that everything was coated in the red dust of the outback.

We made oatmeal for brekkie in the no frills camp kitchen and hit the road again. We drove through some interesting changes in scenery and stopped to check out the view and make PB&Js at a park in Broken HIll.

We stopped at a big gum tree (not sure if it counts or not) by Orroroo (one of my favorite town names yet) and made it to yet another not bad cheap motel in Port Augusta. We got Chinese takeaway for dinner and researched our next stop.

We decided to head to Ceduna, a coastal town, and stay 2 nights for a change of pace. We, of course, stopped at The Big Galah and celebrated making it halfway across Australia!

We camped for 2 nights at a place called Shelly Beach. Jon managed to secure our tent in some very hard ground with the help of water and much hammering leading to the purchase of better tent pegs the following day. We relaxed and enjoyed our time in Ceduna with some beach time and general sitting around. Ceduna is known as an oyster town and we indulged in the local specialty while there.

The 2 night stay gave us time to regroup and prepare for our trip across the Nullabor. I was going to make this post go all the way to Esperance where we were when I wrote the last one, but I’ve babbled so much I think I’ll stop here. We’re in Kalbari, Western Australia for the night and moving up the coast quickly so hopefully I’ll get up to that point in the trip soon!