Emerald Beach NSW August 30 2015

Emerald Beach NSW August 30 2015

Just a couple of days doing nothing. We are at Emerald beach which is just north from Coffs Harbour, close enough to be half-handy, far enough away to be relaxed.

As relaxed as one can be with mum, dad and the 4 kids across the road going flat out at full volume all day from 630. One of the kids just sits there and squeals all day. They have a pop-top van with the beds folded out each end. They have 5 bicycles, 6 chairs, a play pen, several tables, a BBQ, numerous toys. The whole lot is spread out over two caravan sites. Mum sits out in the road, using it as a table to fold the once clean clothes. Dad is reliving his childhood through his children, which is OK, except he's making more noise than them.

We went out. Naturally, on day 1 we gravitated to Coffs itself and stumbled into the markets, a car show, saw a steam engine, snapped a DC3 and had an ice-cream at Sue's sisters place on the wharf. We wandered around the marina and found some fish, a rusty hulk and a Pirate Ship.

Dad used to build little vans just like this. Coffs Harbour NSW

Just like Reg's. A '61 Corvette. Coffs Harbour NSW

A 1945 model DC3. Coffs Harbour NSW

Down to the sea in ships... just not this one. Coffs Harbour NSW

Pirate ship. Coffs Harbour NSW

We had lunch at the Sailing Club in the Ynot restaurant overlooking the ocean. It's one of our favourite places. Probably has a Facebook page and we should go and kiss it or hug it or lick it or whatever.

me studying the menu at the Ynot restaurant.. Coffs Harbour NSW

View from Ynot Restaurant. Coffs Harbour NSW

Another day, another early morning chorus of raucous kids. I didn't hear them, I went for a walk along one of the beaches and around the headland and through the tiny town. Fortunately, by the time I got back, the kids had found some other kids to run wild with, way down the other end of the park.

We eventually went out again, first to shops to get some scripts filled, and then down the road, south about 20km to a place called Mylestom, out along the Bellinger River toward the mouth. This is a nice quiet little place, one of those towns which is the forgotten cousin of its better known rival across the other side of the river - Urunga.

I was driving and 'winging' it navigation wise. There is the motorway and then there is the old Pacific highway and they are entwined in and out as you go up and down the coast. The instructions from the waitress at the cafe were clear: Urunga's just over the other side of the river. Naturally I drove back along the river, turned left over the bridge and turned left again back along the other side. Even I could tell that this was probably not the way to Urunga, but we kept going just because it was interesting. We could see ahead, a gaggle of cars apparently stopped in the middle of the road and we suspected an accident. As we came up to them, it was obvious that it was a railway crossing and that they were waiting for a train, which duly arrived 10 seconds later. It was the source of the steam and smoke we could see in Coffs yesterday. Talk about timing. 10 seconds later and we would have seen nothing.

A 1940s D59class steam locomotive doing what it does best. Raleigh NSW

Finally we stumbled across Urunga, which of course is still in the middle of the main road called the Pacific Highway. We must have driven through here 20 times over the years and never once stopped to sniff about. Today was different, I was on a mission to find the 'new' boardwalk as mentioned in one of the ubiquitous tourist guides. We could not find it. We drove down along the river. We drove up along the river. We were heading back to the i-place when we saw this huge sign in a deadend carpark advertising the boardwalk, and suggesting that it was 2 minutes drive back the way we had come. We went back, we could not see it, nor any sign to suggest that it was near. We parked 'at the centre of town' as it said in the guide, which also happened to be next to a caravan park and opposite the Ocean View Hotel. Then we saw a path that seemed to be going back up the river. With nothing to lose, we got out and started to follow it. What would you know? After a few turns, we were at the back of the van park and could see in the distance a boardwalk stretching out into the river toward  the headland. Must be at least 500m long.

Boardwalk. Urunga NSW

We walked its length. It's fabulous. Nice easy walk out over the lagoon and along the river rock wall to the heads and Urunga Heads Beach. The tide was out, leaving this one large pool, full of fish feeding on flotsam as it came out from the still emptying lagoon. There is an extension that runs down along the lagoon as well. It's billed as an 'interpretive' boardwalk, whatever that is. Further out along the rock wall, we could easily see large fish flashing silver in the sun as they twisted and turned chasing their dinner. A lovely place an worth a visit and walk.

Lagoon at Boardwalk. Urunga NSW

Boardwalk. Urunga NSW

Lagoon. Boardwalk. Urunga NSW

Fish galore. Boardwalk. Urunga NSW

Boardwalk. Urunga NSW

Am i leaning or is the boardwalk falling into the lagoon? Urunga NSW 

Boardwalk. Urunga NSW

Completely unspoilt sand at the head. Urunga NSW

Mind you the van park, which looks nice enough, is fully exposed to the onshore breeze which was in full song today.

One last thing. We are getting low on fuel and we need to fill up before taking the van out again tomorrow. We knew that there was a big Shell right near our turn-off so we sailed past all the servos in Coffs smug in our knowledge that we could get a fill right near our 'home'.

When we got there, we found that they didn't actually have a diesel pump - can you imagine that? They advised that the closest diesel was at Woolgoolga, a few kms north. Off we went looking for another big servo. Woolgoolga used to be on the main road and it was when  we last rolled through a few years back. We took the turn indicated by the blue sign with the petrol / toilets /  food sign and found a tiny servo. Closed. Further along we found a bigger shopping centre but only one servo, a down-at-heal looking Liberty. But they had diesel and beggars can't be fussy about their fuel, so we filled up and slid out of there back to Emerald Beach to settle down for the evening.