We left Byron Bay this morning (Friday) and headed south toward South West Rocks; a small village on the coast in the Macleay Valley near Kempsey. We love this place and it lives up to all our rigorous requirements; surf beach, bottle shop, bakery and pizza shop if it’s Friday.
The local Eagle Boys pizza has been replaced by 131 Pizza, and Ross discovered that the new incarnation opened it’s doors TODAY !!!!!!!!!!
The Pizza was none to shabby, and we have certainly had far worse.
On the drive south we had to pass through Coffs Harbour, home of the magnificent Big Banana. Ross refuses to avoid the Narna and will not listen to any requests to drive on past. Even though Ross is the only person that eats the horrid choc coated frozen bananas on a stick, he makes everyone endure the Narna on every single occasion.
After getting out of the car, Barb look at the confused aimlessly wandering Ross and pointed to a ramp where she said “we usually go through there to get in”. We all stop dead, and pondered that statement. As it turns out, we apparently have a usual entrance. The realisation that we have a usual entrance into the Big Banana, caused this particular visit to the Narna to be particularly annoying for Barb.
We found Daniels mate Dylan from Byron Bay, and his parents of course. Ross sang the praises of choc coated frozen banana on a stick, and we all headed in the Big Banana inner sanctum; the banana temple; for some one on one time with the banana.
We took Daniel tobogganing at the back of the Narna and had a couple of zips down that with Daniel. Strange story. We were the only ones there. We bought 2 tickets for 2 rides from the tobogganing guy and he immediately took one back for the first ride. We are still the only ones there. Ross and Daniel went up to the top and zipped down as fast as the thing could go. We are still the only ones there. Barb turn. Barb sides up to the toboggan with Daniel in tow and the tobogganing guy asks “ticket please”. Barb looks at Ross, Ross looks at Barb, Ross looks at the guy, the air is thick with confusion. None of us have been any more than 15 feet from each other and we are still the only ones there. The guys casually watches for what seemed like an hour as Barb fumbled through her bag for the stinking ticket. He reluctantly let her on without the ticket, but insisted we destroy the ticket when it’s found. Which of course we happily agreed to. Ha, Ross says … check eBay for that little gem. Disaster averted.
We reached South West Rocks and found that whilst our site wasnt one we had hoped for, it was pretty good. Horseshoe Bay caravan park is on the edge of the beach, perched on a hill with fantastic views across the bay. Most of the sites have views, some better than others.
A notice in the caravan park toilet bans washing machines in caravans and demands a declaration of existant aircon in any caravans, a declaration which comes with a $3.30 per day surcharge. We’ve never seen this before, and failure to declare the aircon can result in eviction and worse, being banned from returning ………. ever. Bazaar to say the least. Needless to say we took the deception avenue, but we felt like Anne Frank, hiding in the camper with the curtains closed and the zircon hidden behind old Elvis posters. We shit ourselves everytime somneone walked within 20 feet of the camper.
Day one in South West Rocks started with a sleep-in for Barb and breakfast for Daniel and Ross in the cafe opposite the park.
We spent the whole day on the beach in the mild sunshine and cool water. The surf was small beach breaks which were good for a swim and for kids, but not for much else. The wind kicked up in the afternoon and started to blow quite hard by night fall. We retired to the camper, happy with another day in the sun behind us.
We went to the Supermarket out of town for some “surplies”, and as usual Daniel wanted to look at the toy section and as usual buy a car. Daniel and Ross have been looking for a Professor Z car from Cars 2 for ages, and Ross said if they have one that is the only car we can buy. Ha, Ross thought …………… (you can see where this is going, cant you.)
There are some really strange critters on the beach around South West Rocks …. this one looks like some from a really bad B grade SciFi
We leave this paradise and head a little further south, possible around the North Haven area, which was a fleeting visit last year and a place both Ross and Barb would have love to have spent some time but were hampered by bad weather on that occasion.
Ross was armed with the knowledge that Daniel was hypnotised by Dylans Nintendo DS in Byron Bay when he was reading the local paper today over a coffee. The paper revealed a advertised special on the better Nintendo DSi XL, but the special finished today. Ross made a series of calls and after some sweet talking, somehow managed to get a Nintendo put aside for him for collection tomorrow about 2 hours drive south. The dept manager put the Nintendo on layby for Ross with her own $2 deposit.
Daniel will be blow away, and Ross will be a bestest mostest fantastico dad in the cosmos for a whole 10 minutes.
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