Day 2 - Port Stephens to Port Macquarie.

In the morning I woke up having had not too pleasant of a sleep.  It was about 6:30 in the morning and I was not pleased to be awake but happy to be starting my day.  We got dressed and headed to the information center to plan our day. 

The center didn’t open till eight so we did some lovely but intense yoga on the playground.  Surya namaskar is the type we did and it was something I had never done before, I really liked it because you use very muscle in your body.  You start standing up with you hands palm to palm in your chest, bend backwards and out stretch your hands, touch your toes, crouch down and then put your right leg back followed by your left, slowly lower yourself into a plank, hold that and then move up into cobra, downward dog is next and you move your right leg forward followed by your left and then repeat.  We did 20 of these and I was glad to be done.

Once everything opened at 8 we booked a dolphin watch that started at 11.  There was loads of time to kill so we headed for some beach walks.  The first walk we did was to wreck beach, which had a beautiful beach with no one on it.  I realized I had forgotten my sunscreen so we only stayed here for 45 min admiring the ocean.

Time for a walk.

Not this way though.

So peaceful.

Made it to Wreck Beach.

I wonder if I  can hike that?

No one in sight.

Perfect blue waters.

The only one on the beach.

He's asking to get wet.

It's coming to get me.

All those clouds.

He's coming home with me.

Next it was to the car for sunscreen and then walk to our next beach was to box beach.  The walk there seemed so much longer and it was so hot out.  We did a bit of walking around here but had to head back so we could make it back in time for the dolphin watch.

Walk to Box Beach.

Here we are.

It is not all rock...

He can't climb as fast as me.

He doesn't know its seaweed.

Starting to get a little tubby... but it keeps me warm.

Wasn’t long before we were on the boat and ready to set sail and find some dolphins.  We grabbed some cookies that were below deck and then headed to the bow to do some spotting.  I took a quick nap on deck before I headed down again for tea and more cookies; they were the only things that would keep me awake.

Hari said we wouldn’t see any dolphins… I proved him wrong by spotting the first pod.  A side net was lowered above the water; I threw my clothes off and jumped into the net getting completely wet.  Hari is deathly afraid of water but came down anyway and actually enjoyed himself.

Ready for boating.

Water nets.

Shark?

Bottle nose Dolphin!!!!!

They are so friendly.

The dolphins came so close to us when we were in the water I could have jumped on top of them.  What an experience that was, I wish it had been longer than and hour and a half though.  Most of the time I was in the net while the boat was moving and got sprayed by the water.

After the boat we went for lunch at another Thai restaurant.  This one was really good as well and they gave me lots of tofu!

Our next adventure was to climb Mt. Tomaree.  There were three different trails to do and we did them all.  The first was across the side to a lookout point of the ocean; it was a dangerous trek to get there but we did it!  Hari needed a few moments to catch his breath and then we were good to go on our next trail.  I had lost and found my sandal earlier along this trial and just when Hari was going to laugh at me again he slipped and broke one of his sandals.  We both laughed and called it karma.

Did the whole hike.

And we begin

No looking back

Tiny and beautiful

So many incredible colours!

 

The next trek we did was super steep to the peak, we didn’t wear any shoes and the metal grates were hot.  After quite the hike in the heat we reached the top to discover all cloud and mist; a contrast to the weather we had just been in.

Hari stared out into the clouds after he mentioned all the locks on the gates; couples place them there to lock away their love.    

There goes our view...

Going, going, gone.

Next walk to the old canon placement from WW2.

Canon post

More walking

First site of the WW2 outpost

Home of the canon

Goanna!

We saw two different species of goanna while walking which was very exciting!  

At the end of the trail we hoped in the car and made our way to Port Macquarie.  The weather was still insane as always; only when we arrived for food did it finally stop.

We only managed to get lost once the whole way there!  But we stopped at Forster for a quick break.

Forster beach

Walk along the water

Poison jelly!

Massive spikes on this!

I really enjoyed this drive with Hari because we talked about almost everything there was so be said.  Hari can play the piano, indian drums and flute.  He can speak French, Russian and a bit of German as well as his native tongue and English.  He also plans to get his MBA in three years time.  There is also some other stuff but that is much to personal and I promised not to tell.

We took a quick stop in Forster for fresh air and t see some more dolphins!  This time it was free.

We stopped for delicious pizza before we camped out by the beach.  It was still pretty stormy when we went to bed and I got to see an owl outside the bathroom!

Sleeping this night was a little more bearable than last.