After giving the vans a good wash to remove the sticky gum from the trees, sticks, leaves and nuts that had constantly been falling, we set off for our next destination.  It was the Big4 Caravan Park at Bonny Hills. Bonny Hills is about 23 kms south of Port Macquarie. Kevin had found the "Good Deal"! Stay six nights and pay for three! It had been quite a job to clean the van and Peter reckons he will be a asking for a site with not so many trees!  The newer Big4 parks have been established in the natural bush setting though, so I think there will be a fair chance we will be amongst the trees.

Kempsey - We travelled the Pacific Highway and stopped at Kempsey for lunch. Kempsey is where Slim Dusty was born and you can travel further inland to the Kirkpatrick home and hear a recording of Slim talking of his early life and then he sings you a song. That certainly wasn't going to happen today, but we did see the Slim Dusty Museum and Conference Centre.  It is just before you go back onto the Pacific Highway at South Kempsey. It's not finished yet.  I googled and found a newspaper article saying 3 million dollars was needed to finish the centre. We picked up a flyer from the Information Centre and you are able to become a Slim Dusty member and these funds will assist the family to complete the project.  We question whether the venture is a bit too commercialised. The Museum is quite a way from the town centre and the Pacific Highway does now bypass Kempsey. Joy said at Tamworth "That it is her aim to get the centre completed this year". 

Kempsey is also the home of the "Akubra Hat". The factory no longer does tours but we watched a DVD at the Information Centre. The factory employs 110 people and in 1970 the Kiar family chose Kempsey as the town to relocate to, from Sydney.   The story of the Akubra hat goes as far back as 1874 when Englishman Benjamin Dunkerley started making hats in Tasmania from rabbit fur.  Stephen Kiar came out from England and worked for Benjamin, later marrying his daughter Ada in 1905 and so the line of Stephen Kiar's began.  We were told of the fourth generation Stephen Kiar, who is currently in Sydney for his secondary schooling.  No doubt his parents hope he will also come home to the family business! The Akubra is manufactured from rabbit fur. The fur of 6 - 7 rabbit skins is needed to make a hat. The factory processes 72,000 skins a week! That's over 10,000 hats a week and over 500,000 hats a year!  We were told a great number of  Akubras are now exported to China.  Damn it even that Aussie Icon has gone to China! 

How difficult must it be these days to source 3.5 million rabbit skins a year? The Akubra is no longer made only from Australian rabbit fur! These days the skins are sourced from all over and a great number of skins come from New Zealand.  Another lot of  educational facts for us!   Of which we would be none the wiser, if we hadn't visited the Info Centre. We actually did a day trip back out to Kempsey and the South West Rocks area and called into the Info Centre again to check out the rabbit skins stats. We thought the DVD had informed us 72,000 skins were processed a day and we found that hard to believe! The fella on duty said NO it would be 72,000 a year! He said he would put the DVD on again if we wished. So the five of us watched what we needed to of the DVD twice!   This ensured we had the stat right!  It is definitely a week! 

South West Rocks Area -  On the day trip we went to the South West Rocks area and visited Trial Bay and the Goal there.  It was a very interesting place and the coastline in the South West Rocks area is extremely picturesque.  Travelling the Pacific Highway south we went over the new Kempsey bridge that was opened in March 2013.  It is 3.2 kms long at a cost of $618 million.  We were told it is the longest bridge in the Southern Hemisphere but info on the internet says Australia!  It is very long. It crosses the Macleay River and that river is the worlds second quickest flowing river when in flood.   The bridge now crosses the large flood plain.  The deepest pylon is 50 feet and it is on the flood plain.  The deepest pylon in the river is at 40 feet and the locals are still waiting for the bridge to be named.  Some want an indigenous name, others want it to be the 'Dusty' bridge. But the locals will always call it 'Fredos Bridge' as it is near the town of Frederickton and the area has always been called 'Fredos'!.  The bridge has 941 concrete beams, supported by 93 piers.

Bonny Hills - Well our caravan sites were down the back corner under the trees and Pete didn't ask for a different site! Hopefully these trees won't excrete so much gum!  Only one swim here as the beach wasn't quite as inviting as Emerald. Walking paths were certainly 'Bonny Hills' and they certainly got the blood pumping by the time you got to the top!  The view was well worth the climb!. I reckon it would have helped to be crossed with a mountain goat though! 

Port Macquarie -  Is situated halfway between Sydney and the Gold Coast and is about 4 hours north of Sydney.  We travelled in from Bonny Hills three times whilst in the area. Took in the coastline and lunch in the CBD one day and a sunset river cruise on the Hasting River one evening. Shame there was cloud cover and no sunset to view, but we enjoyed the 1 1/2 hour cruise and our packed picnic dinner.  Also a great opportunity to cruise by the homes on the canals. There will be no more development with canals though, in NSW. The last canal was finished here in the 1990's and the NSW Government has now legislated that there will be no more.   Because of the mild climate in Port Macquarie, a big percentage of the population are retirees we were told.  Great surf too, so lots of surfers.  Well that is the case all the way down the coastline!  We questioned what everyone does here?  What is the industry?  Seems that it is mostly tourism.  It has a population of 76,000 and a $6 billion local economy.  

The coastline from south Port Macquarie into the CBD is absolutely beautiful.  Any number of beaches to swim and surf at.  Living here is certainly all about lifestyle. On our last day, Valentines Day, it drizzled rain all day.   We visited Cassegrain Winery and made a purchase.  Then it was on to Ricardoes Tomato and Strawberry Farm.  Oh yum!  We picked our own strawberries and they were divine.  From there to the Koala Hospital and a visit to the Roto Historical Home, both in the National Park.  The Koala Hospital is the only wildlife hospital in the world dedicated to the care, protection and conservation of wild koalas. 

The story of the Flynn family who had lived in the Roto home was very interesting.  Two volunteers were at the home to answer any questions and enlighten the story to visitors.  To finish our last day in Bonny Hills our 'Valentines' took us gals out to dinner at the 'Fat Fish Bistro' which operates out of the Bonny Hills Surf Club building.  And I got to wear my sapphire necklace!  I do need to buy a new gold chain though.  It is too fine and too long.  More $$$'s Pete!  

Time to move on down the coast.  Another enjoyable week of our holiday.