Out of Sydney to our overnight stop at Bulahdelah

Tuesday morning I left Mars packing up with the boys and ducked up to the Westfield Shopping Centre with Karli - with the excuse that we needed some more towels. We enjoyed browsing the shops for about an hour then picked up some groceries and walked back to the caravan park with them.

After the neighbour gave each of the kids a bag of licorice each and a bag for us to share we get on the road about 12:00.  It was actually a good time to head through the city of Sydney - as it wasn't hectic busy! We travelled over the bridge but didn't get to enjoy the view as it was an enclosed tunnel.

It took about 90 minutes to feel like we were out of the city and out of the suburbs, driving along the highway.  We eventually came to our camp at Bulahdelah, pulling into a spot next to a group of Grey Nomads enjoying 'happy hour' about 4pm. They were in good spirits and we enjoyed their commentating while we set up.  The looks on their faces when we told them we were going to park our van snugly next to theirs... then told them we had 5 kids and were eyeing them off as potential babysitters!

Mars and the kids walked across the bridge into the little town for a few grocery items. It was drizzling for a little while and the neighbours told us that there was heavy rains predicted for the following day. 

The next morning we packed up and headed into the town to pick up some bread from the bakery.  Also purchased a cake so we could finally celebrate Axels birthday with some cake!

We drove on to Port Macquarie where we stopped at a park to enjoy the cake and let the kids play on the playground toys.  The beach was not very inviting as it had a river flowing into it making the water turn brown. The weather was also somewhat dreary with a constant drizzle - not quite the heavy rains we were anticipating - which we were thankful for!

 

 

After our stopover we drove through Port Macquarie and headed back out to the highway, which we took to Coffs Harbour.  We stopped at the Clog Barn Caravan Park where we planned to stay for the night.  There was a large gift shop with lots of dutch items, then behind the gift shop was a large display of miniature houses and buildings, built by the man who opened the Clog Barn. 

It was very enjoyable to wonder through the miniature village, reminded us of Madurodam in Holland.  Perched on a lot of the buildings and in the river through the caravan park were Water Dragons - very large lizards.  They were very neat to see.  

The day had turned quite warm so the kids were keen to have a swim in the clog-shaped swimming pool! We had the pool to ourselves!

The park was very nice and the pool was a highlight!