Port Stephens and Nelson Bay

The time taken to get from Ellenborough Reserve to Port Macquarie was only about 90 minutes so it gave us plenty of time on Thursday to have a good look around and stock up on groceries whilst there. Port Macquarie is a growing area with a number of new housing estates and plenty of stunning homes along the canal systems. Again house prices in general, and on the canal (with your own private jetty), were relatively inexpensive compared to New Zealand. It is easy to understand why many New Zealanders make the decision to shift across the ‘ditch’. Housing affordability away from the main centres is an attraction.

We spent Thursday night at the showground in a little town called Taree.  Taree is 317 kilometres north of Sydney and is on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales. It has a population of around 20,000 people and is the centre of a significant agricultural district.

1916 Harley Davidson Cub in perfect condition

We left the Taree Showground quite early on Friday morning as Rod wanted to visit The National Motorcycle Museum at Nabiac before getting to Nelson Bay. Nabiac is 28km south of Taree on the Pacific Highway or 1.5 hours north of Newcastle.

If you have any interest in motorcycles put this museum on your bucket list. The National Motorcycle Museum houses in excess of 800 motorcycles and memorabilia relating to all type of motorcycle from 1900 to the present day. What is even more impressive is that the museum is privately owned and operated by the Kelleher family and friends of the museum. Our favourite motorcycle was the 1916 Harley Davidson Pup (in going order).

For those of you travelling in an RV or caravan, the museum is a ‘no cost’ over night stop. You will need to be self-contained and pets are welcome.  For more shots of the museums display, click HERE .

Harry, Jane and Rod at the Nelson Bay Marina

We arrived at Nelson Bay mid-afternoon last Friday in beautiful weather. Nelson Bay is a coastal resort town of approximately 5000 people located just inside the mouth of Port Stephens, a large natural harbour. Nelson Bay is the largest town of the Port Stephens area and is 223 km north of Sydney via the Pacific Highway.

Harry and Jane live five minutes walk from the beach and about 1km from the town centre. We were able to park the motorhome in front of their home and move ‘indoors’ for the period of our stay. It was a nice change spending our weekend in a ‘real house’ rather than in the motorhome.

Rod and Dearne with the camel train at the Worimi Sand Dunes

Harry and Jane were wonderful hosts and made sure we had a good look around Nelson Bay and Port Stephens area. We loved the little bays dotted around Port Stephens but the most impressive sight was the Worimi Conservations Lands sand dunes. The 32 kilometre long beach is the largest mobile sand dunes in the Southern Hemisphere with some dunes reaching 75 metres in hight.

Thanks guys for a wonderful weekend and looking forward to possibly catching up with you again in May at Alice Springs. More shots of our visit HERE .

We left Nelson Bay this morning and are winding our way to Narabeen in North Sydney to visit Dearne’s cousin Rob and his wife Karen who live in Pittwater. We will be there until Thursday when we will ‘upsticks’ and work our way back inland and further south.