Port Macquarie

Well, that was a long drive.

We spent a few days at Port Macquarie this week, staying in a 2 bedroom apartment. It took about 6 hours to drive there and back, which is probably the limit of my patience in a car with the kids, who were very good but understandably bored by the end of it.

Port Macquarie was lovely, Brett and I stayed there for a night or 2 B.C. (before children), so it's been a fair while since we have visited. The most thrilling attraction for the kids was the fact that the place we stayed had a HEATED POOL! With a SPA! And the spa had COLOURED LIGHTS that were switched on at NIGHT!

Seriously, we could have just stayed in Wollongong if we could find a place with that level of luxury. So the kids flitted in and out of the pool and spa, which were heated, but not to a particularly high temperature- and seeing as this is the actual middle of winter, they had to run, teeth chattering and shivering, across the grounds back to our apartment, wrapped in the soggy towel that hadn't dried yet from the previous dip in the pool. I am trusting the hardiness of their immune systems.

Apart from the swimming we took in the sights of Port Macquarie, including Timber Town, the Koala Hospital and a rainforest walk, which was really wonderful- we saw two wallabies hopping about on the forst floor. Last night we took the kids to a Chinese Restaurant for dinner- you know, the real tacky 70's style with dubious 'authentic' decor and formica tables and a menu that lists "australian meals" next to the sweet and sour pork and beef in blackbean. I think the food was full of MSG- Declan had a bad reaction to it and sobbed himself to sleep after crashing magnificently after being high as a kite.