Much rain overnight.

Before we left the Port MacQuarie hotel, we decided to have a quick look round the town. Overall, impressed – we like this place.

The name comes from a formidable gentleman of the past named Lachlan MacQuarie. A truly remarkable bloke, who is tied up with a lot of Australia\’s history. There is a fascinating entry about him on good old Wikipedia again, which I commend anybody to read, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lachlan_Macquarie. He should certainly be more celebrated than he currently is – there are so many references to him around Australia and he did so much that was memorable, not necessarily all of it good. There is a link with Captain Bligh of \”Mutiny on the Bounty\” fame that I had absolutely no idea of.

Moving on….

Stopped for a coffee and a snack, then set off on our way to Port Stephens, about 250 km further south down the east coast. My attempt to find a route alternative to just flogging down the Pacific Highway came to grief on a gravel road, so, rather sheepishly, I turned round and went back on to the Pacific Highway.

It was actually a very nice drive. Good scenery, little traffic and a nice smooth dual carriageway most of the way.

Checked in at the Port Stephens hotel and, to my consternation, they couldn\’t find our reservation. Of course, we had the voucher to back it up, so they allocated us a room anyway, promising to find out what had gone wrong. Apart from a slight contretemps at the Peppers resort in Launceston, Tasmania, which got sorted very quickly, this was the first inkling of any of the bookings going awry.

Anyway, the room is excellent, with a really nice view from the balcony:

Another nice meal in the resort restaurant, with lots to find out tomorrow. Promises to be another relaxed day.

The weather is definitely much cooler and fresher than we have been used to recently, and this seems to be set fair for the next few days.