Back to Newcastle

Going slowly trying to make the trip last as long as possible but getting ever closer to our starting point.

Coffs Harbour - 'The Big Banana'. Australia's first big thing and the last big thing on our lap. Built in 1964 for 1200 pounds and based upon the best looking banana they could find, which was then cut into 40 pieces in order to develop the plans from which the builders could construct the worlds largest banana.

Taylors Arm - 'The Pub With No Beer' named after the song of the same name by Gordon Parsons, aka the Yodelling Bushman, written at this Pub, and sung by his mate Slim Dusty. The song relates to the time the pub was cut off by a flooding Kempsey river and no beer could get through. Luckily there was beer when we turned up.

Harrington - Fleur and Ellie mucking around on the go carts. This was a return to the site of our very first caravan trip, before our big lap, where we were evacuated due to a bush fire. No such problem this time.

Crowdy Head Lighthouse on the Mid North Coast was built in 1879. Looking north you can see beyond Diamond Head and the Three Brothers mountains (south, middle and north) which were named by Captain Cook in 1770 as he sailed up the East Coast. To the south you can see as far as Seal Rocks. A cold but clear day.

Diamond Head in the Crowdy Bay National Park overlooking the empty beach, another cold but clear day, Fleur and Ellie rugged up against the chill wind.

The red line on the caravan map tells the story - back to where we started from. The big lap is nearly complete, only Sydney left to go.