It is school holiday time here in NSW and the kids are certainly out and about. The caravan park is not full there are quite a few empty slots, trouble is they are not near us! There are some big vans in, sitting on sites made for smaller versions. This is a common problem in older caravan parks, designed years ago when things were on a smaller scale. There is one behind us that is right on the border and we could hold hands with them, two small yappy dogs too. Good to get out and about!

The park is right on the edge of the river breakwall and has some great views up and down the river. All sorts walk, run and cycle along it in a constant stream all day. It is also an artist’s paradise, every rock is emblazoned with some creation.

There are also artistic memorials to people who are no longer with us, those who have died at sea, pets or newly weds in the town. Some of them have been there a long time and are partly painted over, others as fresh as a new morning.

Port Macquarie is actually quite an old town that was established as a penal settlement in 1821. The baddies from Sydney Town were sent here.

So there are some old buildings around. The oldest government building is the Court House built in 1869 on the site of an earlier courthouse.

The 1824-28 convict built St Thomas Anglican Church is still in use today.

We had a short river sunset cruise on the Hastings. Took us up stream past the north shore area and then in and through some of the canals. Some rather nice houses and boats.

We followed the cruise with dinner at the Royal Hotel, a restored version of the 1880s original. Some nice local battered prawns, with chips of course.

There is a great coastal walk that starts up the river, runs along the breakwall and then down south past the beaches and headlands to Tacking Point Lighthouse.

Allthego found this to be a compulsory excursion, Homealone remained at base until receiving the call for a pick up at Tacking Point about 3.5 hours later.

The section from our camp ground to Tacking Point is about 7.5km. It is mostly easy going through the bush and along cliff lines, a couple of stretches are on beaches that test out the old calf muscles.

Tacking Point Lighthouse was named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 while tacking up the coast in his ship the Investigator. The lighthouse was built in 1879 and manned until 1919.

It was a great walk through the coastal environment, the drive back to the campground very welcome. There is a bus that does the job for those without a pick up!

Next stop is Yamba.