Ulmarra, Bluff Point, Brooms Head, NSW

Took the History Walking Tour around Yamba, but used the car instead. Most interesting item was this milepost. Some of us remember them being every mile along the road... Then we had little green shields ever 5k and now you get one big green sign at the start of the section and you're left to dead reckoning and GPS to know where you are 

Milepost. 1 mile to Yamba, 11 miles to Maclean

 Visited some of the places that the Pacific Highway has let us forget. Ulmarra is billed as "A visit to Ulmarra is like stepping back in time as the village remains one of the finest examples of a 19th Century riverport in Australia." You be the judge. It all looked a bit false to me, like a cardboard fascia had been plastered up to make it look like the town they suggest. For all the talk, there's nothing much there really and a quick walk up and down and a sqizz at the river was all it took.

Main Street. Ulmarra, NSW

Bluff Point? OK so you're forgiven for not knowing instantly where this is. Its a point on "the mainland" as the locals put it, on the opposite bank of the Clarence to Maclean. Our interest lay in the fact that it still has a working punt, which we just had to have a ride on. One of the reasons it survives is that the trucks loaded high with sugar can use it to get to the mill. We were first on and the little man called us right up to the gate to leave room for others. Judy complied and we turned our engine off and waited for others. Two more cars to our left and then a very large truck nosed up behind us. We thought we were off but something was wrong, we didn't budge. In the mirrors we could see the truck being backed up and assumed he was being backed off for some reason. But no! With a roar of its engine it charged back on, we braced ourselves to be pushed into the river when it slammed its brakes on and the whole ferry tipped forward. Judy was almost freaked out! Suddenly we were moving, gliding across the river as if nothing was more normal than using a huge truck to give the ferry a kick start....

Bluff Point Vehicular Ferry. Maclean, NSW

Brooms Head is a tiny town right on the coast, 20km east of Maclean. The caravan park, right on the beach, is possibly larger than the town and looked quite attractive, but maybe a bit remote and basic for most. But the view....

Brooms Head, NSW