060. Day 65. Sunday 17th May 2009. A long day at Nelson Bay…

We travelled to the old town of Morphett where parts of the footpath, road and guttering are still paved in the original sandstone. Many of the old houses have been maintained in sandstone as well. At some point many of them had a coating of cement render which in many cases is falling off. Creeping vines cover many houses and hide any defects. The overall impression is of a town maintaining the old buildings to attract tourists to the Alpaca shop with outrageous prices, candle shop, herbs and health stores. The second hand, bric a brac and antique stores are only outnumbered by the coffee shops. The traditional pie man sells duck & mushroom pies for $13.75! Yet, people flock here and so it was at 10am parking was becoming difficult to find in the main street and we watched people pay $25 and eat a monstrous breakfast. (4 bacon rashers, 2 fried eggs, scrambled eggs, 2 sausages, baked beans, mushrooms, a whole baked tomato, hash brown and several toasted slices of sourdough bread).

Our real destination was Nelson Bay and the associated real estate hot spots along nearby beaches in and around Port Stephens. We went to the tops of hills with lookouts, beaches with lookouts, estuaries with lookouts and marina with, you guessed it, a lookout. We had pre dinner drinks at the RSL and bought tickets in the giant raffle, winning 2 large chooks and a fruit and veg tray. Then it was on to an Indian restaurant where we were the only customers and had an excellent meal. I particularly liked the Tandoori cutlets. We arrived back at R & C house just before 10pm after a very long and tiring but enjoyable day.

Ricketty Bridge at Morphett.

 

 

Stockton Sandhills.