As 2008 wound to a close, the Snook and I realized and A) we hadn’t had a vacation together in a long time, and B) we hadn’t visited the rellos in many years. So why not have a week’s holiday in the bush? We packed up a rental car and headed to the mid-north coast of New South Wales to the Snook homestead. (Distance from home: about 450km/280mi.) We spent eight days sleeping in, drinking wine, taking naps, and going on day trips to the surrounding area.
Behold the mighty Penguin! Pa Snook has been restoring this sailboat for a while now. I’d been hoping to go sailing, but he’s still got some work to do on it.
One day we decided to head to Wauchope. (I had hoped to see the Big Bull, but apparently it was pulled down not long ago.) Ma Snook recommended that we stop at Ricardoes Tomatoes & Strawberries for morning tea. It was so cute! Snookums and I both had the scones with jam and cream.
Here’s a close-up of the scones. They were great, and we were convinced to buy a couple jars of jam on our way out. The coffee also gets a thumbs-up.
Ricardoes have “U-Pick” strawberries and we couldn’t resist filling a bag. The berries grow hydroponically on a clever structure of pipes, so you don’t even have to bend over to pick them!
Aren’t they pretty?
Timbertown! As soon as Snookums told me there was a recreated pioneer village nearby, I was all about it. (I have fond memories of going to Connor Prairie on school trips.) Timbertown – “A Fair Dinkum Day Out” – is a turn-of-the-century NSW logging village. And adult admission is only five bucks!
I am powerless to resist a novelty wooden cutout photo opportunity. Here I am as a modern bush firefighter.
Timbertown has a lovely old steam train that chugs around the village. It costs extra to ride though, so Snookums and I decided to be economical and skip it.
Here we are in Timbertown. It was the PERFECT day to visit, sunny but not too hot. The village has loads of trees for shade and I was just floored by how pretty everything looked. (The last time I visited the north coast, the scenery was damaged by drought and bush fire.)
Snookums the horse-thief finds himself in the Timbertown village stocks…
…while his villainous missus finds herself in the clink next door.
“Hello there! Well, you’d make a lovely jumper, wouldn’t you?!”
This beautiful old quilt was in one of the recreated log cabins. I fell in love with the colors. I need to do some more quilting.
Most of the Timbertown employees seemed to be off for the holidays, but there were still a couple people around. The guy who drove the horse and wagon also offered rides on this genuine pennyfarthing. (Snookums and I were not game enough to try it.)
The BEST part of the day was the demonstration of a working bullock team by a real bullocky. His name was Ned, and he explained to us how the teams used to haul the logs out of the forest.
After the demonstration, we got a chance to pat the smallest of the bullocks. (I asked a guy what the difference is between a bull and a bullock. The former has testicles; the latter doesn’t. And now you know.)
Snookums and the bullock.
We also had a chance to try cracking a whip. Snookums nearly took his own head off, but once bullocky Ned gave him some instruction, he was doing it like a pro! (I’m not in the video, but I managed to get it to crack afterwards as well.)
There’s a massive log out in front of Timbertown, and we couldn’t resist posing before we left.
Snookums’s turn.
After Timbertown, we headed over to Port Macquarie to have a look around town. We stopped at a chippie and got lunch to have on a bench near the water. I had a fantastic burger, complete with grilled onions, pickled beetroot, and grated carrot. YUM.
On another day, we headed north towards Coffs Harbour. We stopped along the way in Urunga at The Honey Place for a coffee and a look around.
I ordered a “honey of a latte” off the menu, and this is what I got: a bit of chocolate on the very bottom of the glass, then a layer of honey, then an espresso shot, then steamed milk. I was instructed to stir them all together before drinking. It was sooooo good!
Then it was on to Coffs Harbour and the famous Pet Porpoise Pool! Apparently it’s one of only a few places in the country with captive dolphins, and they pride themselves on being incredibly “interactive”. You’re invited to put your hands in the dolphin pool so they can swim past and touch you. (They explained that when it started in the 70’s, “porpoise” was used as a catchall for both dolphins and porpoises. Now we distinguish between them, but they decided to keep the name anyway.)
A couple of times a day, guests are invited to queue up to receive a kiss from a seal and a dolphin. They take your photo and you can buy it when you leave (for an exorbitant $15!). We decided to try to film it instead.
Snookums prepares to receive his dolphin kiss.
SMOOCH!
My turn!
The dolphin show was pretty good. Here are Bucky and Zippy doing the thing where they propel themselves backwards on their tails.
This kid got picked to come up and brush the dolphin’s teeth!
I actually did not know that seals really can balance a ball on their nose! This little fella walked right across the whole stage with that ball on there!
After the show, we all put our hands in the water so the dolphins could swim around on their backs and let us pat their bellies.
The Pet Porpoise Pool had lots of other Australian wildlife, including an aquarium with sharks and fish and turtles.
Snookums looks at the fairy penguins. Some of them were molting, and they looked pretty funny with their feathers sticking out all over.
We had to run an errand on the Coffs Jetty – getting a part for the Penguin – so we walked out along this causeway. It was incredibly hot and windy! (I got a little sunburnt on my shoulders, despite wearing sunscreen.)
I couldn’t resist stopping off at The Clog Barn on our way home from Coffs. We missed the clog-making demonstration though, and we didn’t feel like paying five bucks to see the miniature Dutch village.
Time for fishing! Snookums and I joined his Pop for a day out on the tinny on the Nambucca River.
As the Princess (without a fishing license), my job was to sit in the middle of the boat and read my book. Here’s my view as Snookums pushes us off the bank.
Behind me, Captain Pup manned the engine.
Snookums took this one of me huddling in the boat as we zoomed around the river.
We came across some abandoned oyster racks at lunchtime and stopped to investigate. Pup showed me the proper way to shuck a natural oyster straight from the river.
My turn!
A little gritty… but delicious!
Suddenly the skies opened and it began to rain. We donned our jackets and headed back towards the boat ramp.
We got SOAKED. It was pretty miserable. Ma Snook had hot tea and scones waiting for us back at the house though, which made it all worthwhile.
Christmas Lunch, Australian style. It was too hot to have anything warm. We had fresh tomatoes and crackers and dips and cheese and fruit and nuts. Oh, and wine. It was lovely.
For Boxing Day, Ma and Pa Snook took us on the long drive out into the bush to the Pub With No Beer, which was made famous by the Slim Dusty song. Other than us and one or two other obviously tourist families, the clientele was pretty rough: mostly locals and dirt-bikers. It was very ocker. We had lunch and sampled some of the beers that are brewed there. (Note to self: Next time climb up on the giant log BEFORE you drink the beer.)
Here we are on the verandah.
Finally it was time to drive home. We knew the post-Christmas traffic was going to be formidable. We missed lunch and pulled into the first truck stop we came to. Hey, it’s Leyland Brothers World! I always wanted to pose in front of a giant fake Uluru that looks like it’s made out of paper-maché.
The signs on the bathroom doors were pretty cute though. (I don’t think I’ve ever seen anthropomorphic USA’s back in the States.)
Eventually we cleared the traffic and made it home to Sydney. I felt pretty sorry for the poor buggers going north though. They were backed up for miles! Moral of the story: Don’t try to leave Sydney between Christmas and New Year’s.