Great plans are only that….. The day started with Dotti not well. In the middle of the night she needed to get out, as most men I have a sixth sense that makes me deaf and blind at nights when children or pets demand help from adults. So Marjo took charge and helped the poor dog outside. Nossi analysed the situation and felt that there needed to be balance so to penalize me she quickly jumped on the bed and under the doona, of course on my half……
In the morning Dotti was sick again, this time it was only 7 am, outside of the active hours of my sixth sense, so I got up and took both dogs for a walk. It was still cold and foggy, close to the river near Jackadgery, which made for some nice pictures.
I fed the dogs; Dotti wasn’t hungry and Marjo had meanwhile arranged breakfast. Great teamwork.
We sat down near the river and looked for our next stop. We decided that the Rummery camping ground a nice bush camping in Whian Whian State Forest would be our next stop. We checked to make sure it was no National Park, rang the accompanied information line, checked online and all seemed ok. As fail safe we even looked at the nearby Camp Old Cottage park.
We left early to have plenty of time and arrive once at daylight and took the winding road to Grafton and from there via the Pacific Highway up the coast. The navigator helped us find the most obscure little dirt roads and several times we are convinced that it leads us down the most pittoresque (and winding, hilly and bumpy) dirt roads. It was a very nice trip though, through the rolling hinterlands of Byron, Bangalow and other hippy towns. We stopped on the way to get a new bigger mirror, for coffee and teacake (with apple, yummy) and also for a Dotti stop under Macademia trees. Of course we couldn’t stop ourself cleaning up a little and ended up with half a kilo of Macademia nuts.
Everywhere along the road people are offering produce, all very healthy, macro biotic, vegan, organic and more. Prices are in line with these special features and we felt a bit guilty when we saw a sign for 100 grams of Macademia nuts for $7. Ah well.
The roads got narrower and narrower, with many 25kph turns, bridges and through vine covered tree archways. Very nice and leading up to a beautiful setting for Rummery. Finally we reached the turn to the camping and we were not disappointed. Or? we tried hard to ignore the sign “NO DOGS” and almost convinced ourselves and other camping users that it was only for the north side of the camping. Then we found the camping information board with a large section about domestic pets not allowed.
Finally we decided to go for the backup plan: Camp Old Cottage park only 3 km up the road. After more dirt road with potholes and curves we arrived at three big stumps next to the road preventing vehicle access. I walked up the path behind the stumps and walked into some youth camp with 20 or more 17y old girls and as many tents and cooking pots. Finally we had phone reception and contacted Whian Whian State Forest management. This time someone answered and told us that because Whian Whian is a State Forest Conservation Area no pets are allowed and there was no camping near by.
So much for careful planning.
Maps open, camping books reviewed, internet on…..so we found Wooyung Camping near Pottsville. On the coast. Pet friendly. We wanted to make sure and called them only to find out that the camping management has their day off on Wednesday….today.
The pittoresque and winding roads, rolling hills and pretty sights lost a lot of their charm on the 65 km between Rummery and Wooyung. Certainly now it got later and darker and we were happy to reach the Wooyung caravan park.
Now, with a belly full of nice dinner (compliments to Marjo), a Gin and Tonic, a warm fire and the sound of rolling waves, everything seems like a past dream. I’m sure we will wake up with the sun and have a ball on the beach tomorrow with the dogs.
Sleep tight 🙂
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