Port Macquarie « Alice Goes Walkabout

2 days of utter relaxation! We spent a great morning at Super Di’s sampling her delicious homemade cakes and drinking freshly brewed coffee. Di is quite possibly the best cook in creation, everything is a delicacy! The day passed in a really cruzey fashion until Mark arrived home and then it was all hands on deck to prepare dinner. Kate went over to help out with the grooming of the horses, and came back 2 mins later with a streaming nose, red eyes and breathing difficulties. Apparently she had developed an allergy to horses…. Not good!

After Kate had improved we settled down to the final prep of dinner, i.e. Mark cooks the steaks, we make sure his beer is topped up and we all sit like a harem around him chilling out on the back deck listening to him tell classic stories. Dinner served, wine poured and jokes cracked – a great evening!

We lazed in the second day as well and eventually surfaced at around 11 to find that everyone had left the house. We waited to the chimney sweeper to attend and then we put on our walking boots and made our way to the local Macadamia farm, which is a gentle 20-minute walk away for lunch.

It’s a really dinky little café with a great vibe – well Super Di does work there. The Macca farm harvests all the Macadamia nuts on site and they create all sorts of great products from them, which they then sell on.

We stayed on until the restaurant and then caught a lift back to Di where she presented us with a bottle of home-brew vodka… mmm

We made our way back to the farm with her in order to prepare ourselves. We packed an overnight bag, grabbed ourselves a bottle of vodka and got ready for the infamous….

FRIDAY NIGHT FUCKWITS!

‘Real Australian men’

Gynecological doctors – ‘I’m only training but I could take a look if you’d like

Mad times

Funny jokes

Cracking!!

Chundermonkey

‘Sorry you’ve been spiked’

‘If you want Furbie, he’s in there waiting’

‘That seats taken’

‘Pommie lass’

‘What would you think if a man spiked you?”

“ I’d think I was well in there!’

Bundi and coke

Port shots

Mudshake … mmm

I btl Absolut

3 btls sparkling wine

Choc rum

4 lts goon

Smirnoff ice cans

Amazing night…. But we paid for it the next day!!

We had hit the hay at about 5 am and at 9am Mark came bounding in and dragged us out of bed. Ouch, we all felt rough but none worse than Gabi, who was chundering away merrily. Oh we were HANGING!!

We made it to Port though and went straight to Red Rooster. Best hangover cure of all time! I wandered over to Ozzie Pozzie whilst the girls munched, picked up the goon I had left and said goodbye to Simon, give us a song Mr Tambourine Man!

We made it to the Greyhound with time to spare and settled in for another 7 hour journey, very much looking forward to the next destination!

I found Ozzie Pozzie via a google search and since it was reasonably priced I called up and booked myself a few nights.

I paid $30 a night to stay in a 6 bed dorm. The bed I stayed in was comfortable and the rooms were clean. You have a key to let yourself in and out of the room, but if you are security conscious then lockers are available.

It isn’t a large place but it has a great atmosphere. The rooms are situated around two courtyards, which are broken up by a middle section, in which there is a substantial kitchen, a TV room with cable and a computer section. Free internet is provided, and although not wireless, there are 4 computers to use.

The layout means the courtyards become a cosy social meeting space with plenty of table space and its a great place to chill out in the evening and meet others as everyone tends to congregate here. You can even have a swing in the rather comfortable hammocks.

There is a swimming pool on site and also a games room, where you can play pool or have a game of air hockey, for no charge.

The staff are really friendly and informative. The owner, Richard, offers personalized recommendations and organises activities.

The hostel itself is only a 5 minute walk to town and when the greyhound bus arrives in town, the hostel sends down a convenient free bus that picks you up, which saves you trekking around with all your bags. It’s also only a short walk to the local beaches.

If you want to take advantage of the 9 beaches around Port, you can rent bikes for $5 a day, or hire surfboards for only $20. Alternatively you can use the boogie boards free of charge.

It is a stipulation that the courtyard area is cleared at 11pm, which means that if you do fancy an early night you aren’t kept awake with chatter outside your bedroom, or if you want to carry on then there a few local pubs, such as Finnians or the Macca.

Port isn’t party central, but it’s a great place to stop if you want a break in between Byron and Sydney as it’s a halfway point between the two.

Cleanliness – 5/5

Atmosphere – 5/5

Facilities – 4/5

OZZIE POZZIE BACKPACKERS