February 3, 2024

South West Rock to Port Macquaire to Sea Rocks to Bulahdelah

Our first stop today is the Laggers Point. There is Trial Bay Goal (a fort) where Australia was keeping German prisoners of war during World War I. When the Australians learned that a German ship was on its way to free them, they moved the prisoners to Sydney.

Then we drive over to the Smokey Cape Light House where a small herd of kangaroos is being fed by the lighthouse keepers. The mama kangaroo is waiting on the side while a young male and two young females are happily eating rice cakes. We are able to hand feed the boy. The mama is waiting her turn to pick up the left-over morsels.

We continue our trip along the beautiful beaches. I have to say, the Australian beaches are even more stunning than the Caribbean ones.

In Port Macquaire we stop at the Koala Hospital. Here they take care of injured Koalas, be it from a dog bite or being hit by a car or other injuries. The goal is always to let the Koalas go back to the wild which is unfortunately not always possible. Last year they helped over 200 Koalas. They were able to release over 80% of the injured Koalas back into the wild. Right now there are a couple of permanent “residents” and there are three of them which they are trying to get ready to release back into the wild.

Did you know that there are over 700 different species of eucalyptus and most of them are of Australian origin.  Each Koala can only eat 4-5 different species. Eucalyptus are very fibrous and therefore very hard to digest. That is why after eating, Koalas sleep between 18 and 22 hours.

Our next stop is in Sea Rock which is again a beautiful, little known beach with a light house. We do not stay too long because it is important that we get to a campground before 5 pm (the office closes at that time).