Searching for a surf beach (Apr. 12/09 - Port MacQuarie, Australia, mileage 250km)

Since we have four days left on our van rental before having to return it in Sydney (though we're having so much fun we've re-rented another one for ten more days after that), and there's not much distance between here and there, we wanted to find a beachy spot to stay for a couple of days and try our hand at learning to surf. There were a few beautiful sounding spots in the next stretch of coast that sounded lovely, so we picked one and headed that way.

The rain hadn't even threatened us all morning, and as we pulled into the town of Kempsey, it was bordering on hot. There's a little roadside place called Fredo's Pies, which is known for its homemade meat pies - even the Lonely Planet recommends stopping there. It just happened to be lunch time when we drove by, so we had to check it out. The outside is randomly decorated with statues of Marilyn Monroe, and inside is a massive selection of freshly made meat pies. There are over 50 flavours - from normal ones like steak & kidney or chicken & gravy to odd ones like chicken satay, crocodile, or emu. We stuck with a couple tried and true flavours and were definitely not disappointed.



Just past Kempsey, we turned toward the beachy town of Crescent Head, where longboard surfing is still all the rage and some of the best breaks in all of Australia are found. Apparently, everyone else in the state had the same idea as us, as the campgrounds were packed full. We got directions to the next nearest campgrounds, which took us down a horrible potholed gravel road (yeah, yeah, we broke the no gravel roads rule) before emerging at a lookout over a gorgeous beach. A minute later, we came across a mob of people camping at a dumpy little free spot where we would've had to run around naked with a joint in our hand to fit in if we wanted to stay there. No thanks. A real campground was just down the road, but they wanted $50 to camp there - I don't think so! So we retraced our steps all the way back to the highway and went to Plan C. The next spot was Port MacQuarie, which sounded like a bigger town worthy of a couple days' stay. The first campground we checked wanted $60 for a site (unbelievable!) and we started to lose hope with that ongoing trend. But stop number two was a success, charging normal prices for decent spots just a short walk from the beach. Just as the pouring rain was starting up again, we were pleased to find we had company - a koala sleeping in a tree right above our van.