With less than two weeks before we needed to be back in Melbourne, it was time to get a move on. After visiting the Byron region, we didn’t have any other ‘must see’ places earmarked along the east coast. Instead, we’d allocated the final leg of our marathon journey to saying g’day to a few family and friends who’d offered a welcoming invite (or respite!) along the NSW coast. Unfortunately, we couldn’t co-ordinate our schedules with some of them but we’ll hopefully reunite during future adventures!
With fewer people to visit in NSW, we thought we could slip in a quick stop over in Canberra, which wasn’t initially on our itinerary. This meant we’d need to strap in for a few long drives. Having deadlines and quickening the pace was somewhat foreign to us and felt less authentic than the laissez-faire approach we’d been used to throughout the year. We reluctantly said farewell to Alstonville’s beauty and began the long southbound drive to a little town called Bulahdelah, our overnight destination, approximately 500km away.
The trip was not terribly remarkable. Perhaps that’s why we were unexplainably disappointed when we missed the BIG BANANA in Coffs Harbour! The one ‘highlight’, if you will, from that region that was to be added to our growing collection of family photos with other cheesy ‘big’ Aussie landmarks was not to be. It was located on the north bound lanes of a major highway near a fast food restaurant – not the easiest place to stop with a camper in tow! Once we’d past it (heading in the wrong direction), detouring around the town to get back to it would have been a nightmare. It was actually quite underwhelming really - far smaller than we’d expected. It certainly couldn’t compete with the big prawn! We’d planned to have lunch at the Big Banana so when we gave up on that ‘dream’, we pulled into Bunnings, where, reliably, they offered cheap snags to hungry visitors. With tummies filled, we hit the road again and arrived at our destination in time to set up before nightfall. The free camp was a busy little hive of activity and although it looked to us to be near capacity when we chugged in, plenty more travellers kept arriving well after dark.
Bulahdelah is located in the Hunter / mid north coast region of NSW. For such a friendly town, it was a bit sad to find there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about its history. It was briefly ‘famous’ in the 1970’s for having Australia’s most destructive tornado rip through a nearby forest. With logging being the town’s primary economic driver at the time, I’m not sure if this would have hindered or helped the loggers! Judging by the popularity of the free camp with (mostly) grey nomads, it was easy to see why the official marketing info boasted that Bulahdelah’s services and attractions include a golf club, bowling club, bakery, pharmacy, nursing home and Centrelink! Ticks all the boxes for the over 65’s!
photos left to right
the view from the Bulahdelah free camp. So many of these stunning landscapes are shared free in the country!
old fence post at Bulahdelah
beautiful old country pub
love the sign on the back of this car - I'll keep my cow poo in the country if you keep your bullshit in the city!!