Day 17 Sunday 28th July, The dead centre of Port Macquarie

An easy drive of about 200kms brought us to the very popular coastal town of Port Macquarie. I have to say that I was a little excited about visiting this town due to the beautiful scenery and the history. We decided to stay at a small very well reviewed caravan park that was on the banks of part of the Hastings River. The business is mainly built around boat hire with lovely cabin accommodation and a few caravan sites. Close by there are many stunning, fairly new homes, built on man-made canals, like those seen in Queensland. We set up and then spent the afternoon exploring some of the sights of Port Macquarie, including the beautiful beaches and the mouth area of the Hastings River. Of course I wanted to visit the cemetery as the history of Port Macquarie is so interesting, being an early penal colony from 1821 onwards. Many of the buildings and early infrastructure was built by convicts and Rob was quite interested in an archaeological dig that had exposed the early brick drainage system dated from about 1828. I visited the old cemetery which had people in it, including convicts who had come out on the First Fleet.