CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

March 7, 2023 — As you may remember from my previous post, I had plans on this day to hang out with one of the girls from my dorm and do a little walk along the coast!

In my Googling while on the train the day before, I saw the Port Macquarie Coastal Walk pop up. This is a beautiful walk that takes you by so many viewpoints to the ocean and the cliffs that surround the town. It’s also completely customizable depending on what you’re into! If you like, you can walk straight from its beginning in town all the way down to the Tacking Point Lighthouse. If you want something a little less strenuous, there are bus stops close to the route and you can bus to or from a certain point. You can also do a short section and turn around at basically any point along the way.

We met up at 10:00am, which gave me just enough time to get dressed and have some breakfast.

Although my roommate, Becca, had already completed a bit of the coastal walk, she hadn’t gone too far along and hadn’t made it to the lighthouse. With all the beautiful lookouts we got to experience and beaches we got to walk across, it didn’t feel like long before we made it to the last stretch of the Coastal Walk, which starts at Shelly Beach, crosses Miner’s Beach, and then heads up to the Tacking Point Lighthouse.

It doesn’t feel like a very long walk — but it is. By the time we reached Shelly Beach, it was almost 12:30 in the afternoon and the lighthouse was still almost 3km onward. We waded across Miner’s Beach and then trudged up the hills, through the brush, toward the lighthouse.

It was worth it. It’s a seriously gorgeous vista, just incredible views. The lighthouse itself is so picturesque; quaint and commanding up on its perch. I could have sat for hours, and as it was we did sit and watch the waves for a while.

As the walk had been so long and the day was only growing warmer, we decided to take the bus back into town. We walked the ten minutes to the bus stop and waited there for the bus to come. I’d bought Hydralite the day before (instead of buying Gatorade all the time) so I was glad to have that and dissolved a tablet in what was left of my water to replenish some electrolytes.

We got on the bus and headed into town. The last stop on the service dropped us just about a ten minute walk from the hostel. On the way, Becca stopped by Subway and picked up cookies (and shared! They were delicious) and we made it the rest of the way to the hostel.

It was well after two in the afternoon by the time we returned and we went our separate ways to relax the rest of the day away. I spent the afternoon continuing my Outer Banks binge (so close to starting Season 3 at this point!) and eventually went back into town for dinner. My plan had been to get fish and chips for $9.90, as I’d seen advertised at one of the places in town, but it was just way too hot for that. Instead, I decided on Subway (you could say I’d been inspired). I was really disappointed to find that they don’t sell cold cut combos here in Australia and got the Chicken Classic instead, while consoling myself with a tub of gelato from Black Box Pizza & Ice Cream.

I walked back to the hostel and had a really chilled rest of the evening, watching Outer Banks and listening to the rain pound on the roof as the sky finally opened up at sunset. So ended my first day in Port Macquarie.

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