Port Macquarie

After years of sailing on our schedule, I am finding it challenging to be stuck for weeks making no progress on fixing Go. But, we have been stuck in worse places than Port Macquarie, and we are trying to make the best of our time here. Here’s what we’re doing to have fun and stay busy in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, also known in Aussie lingo as “Port”.

About Port Macquarie

A town in the Mid-North Coast region of New South Wales, Port is located at the mouth of the Hastings River almost 400km north of Sydney. It’s known for its beaches and convict history. The town has a population of about 50,000, many of whom are retirees relaxing in the cafes and on the waterfront. Port is also home to a healthy mix of young families and college students.

A relatively quiet town, Port livens up on weekends and holidays, when visitors savor the best climate in Australia at the many hotels, motels, and caravan parks lining the streets and shores. We arrived in March when the rain was relentless. In fact, it was the highest on record. Fortunately, Port is redeeming itself and we are getting a taste of the acclaimed excellent climate.

Getting Around

Sometimes we get around Port by bike, other times by bus, or we walk. We’ve also rented a car from the airport when we wanted to explore a bit further afield. Cycling isn’t great here; there are only a few places with multi-use paths, which tend to be full of dog walkers or families. Otherwise, we have to ride the bikes in busy streets or on sidewalks, neither of which are ideal. The good news is there aren’t a lot of big hills.

We’ve taken the bus to the airport car rental and to the lighthouse. Since most everyone here has a car, the buses don’t get used much, which probably explains why they only run every two or three hours.

Port Macquarie Koalas

KOALA HOSPITAL

One of Port Macquarie’s claims to fame is as the home of the first koala hospital. It’s an amazing place where they rescue injured and ill koalas with the goal of rehabilitating and rewilding them. The koala conservation hospital, over 50 years old, is home to a few koala permanent residents who cannot survive in the wild.

The hospital is only a few kilometers out of town, so Brian and I biked there and back.

Hello koalas sculptures

Port Macquarie’s Hello Koalas trail celebrates the town’s connection to the cute marsupials. The collection of 91 one-meter high fibreglass koala sculptures were each painted by a different artist with different themes. Many are themed to their location, like the koala in prison garb outside the historic Courthouse in downtown Port.

If you’re in Port Macquarie, you’ll spot a few of these colorful sculptures. With 91 placed at different businesses in Port and adjacent towns, they’re unmissable!

Other Wildlife

Aside from the koalas, Port has a resident colony of flying foxes, a first for us. They are a type of fruit bat, the largest in Australia, and the Port Macquarie colony is massive. They live in the Kooloonbung Creek Nature Reserve, but there are so many, they spread into the cemetery and neighboring parks.

You can hear them first, before realizing the trees are full of them, hanging, flapping their wings, and sometimes soaring above. It’s especially cool to see them fly, when their wings are expanded to their full 1 meter length.

We thought the flying squirrels were pretty cool. They’re not cute like wombats, but we’ve never seen them before, and we’ve seen a lot of wild animals in Australia.

Irish Bar

We’ve been in Port since early March. Fortunately, we found a great place to spent St. Paddy’s Day, the Irish bar Finnian’s. With Guinness and Kilkenny on tap, proximity to the marina, and good live bands, we’ve been to Finnian’s a couple of times.

Festivals

Our location at the edge of the marina has been especially convenient because of its proximity to a popular park. In the six weeks we’ve been in Port so far, Westport Park has hosted an oyster and prawn fest and a music festival. The first fest was free to enter, we watched some oyster shucking contests, and sampled the local shellfish. Port oysters are pretty good, not Tasmanian oysters, but nothing is.

The big music festival was sold out, but we could hear most of the action from our boat, so we had a mini party with a couple friends. We didn’t know any of the bands, but they are pretty well known Australians, and Australia has a great music scene.

Port Macquarie Beaches

In addition to the koalas, Port is known for bodyboarding. In fact, it’s the bodyboarding capital of Australia. Like the rest of New South Wales and Queensland, the Port Macquarie area is home to stunningly beautiful coastline. Tall cliffs overlook swathes of white sand beaches for miles.

We could be stuck somewhere much worse. Every beach has a different vibe and different visitors. Some are good for swimming, others surfing, and more bodyboarding. You may also see pods of dolphins and/or need to watch out for blue bottles.

Coastal Walk

As in many parts of Australia, Port has a walk along the coast. With lots of stairs up and down to every beach, the views are lovely. We’ve done the full walk twice, once each way. The best way is to take the bus to the lighthouse, and walk back to town. Bring some snacks and lots of water, and maybe pack a swimsuit and towel for when it’s hot. There’s an unauthorized nude beach along the way, and one beach with a busy café.

If you’re in Port from May to September, which we probably will still be, you can spot the humpback whales migrating north from these viewpoints and beaches.

Restaurants

Since we still don’t have a stove, oven or even a barbecue, we’ve dined out more than normal in Port Macquarie. Fortunately, it’s not all fish and chips and parmies, typical Australian cuisine. In fact, we’ve found some gems of a few different cuisines. Port has good Indian, pizza, Japanese, and seafood restaurants.

We’re still waiting on our insurance approvals before we can start rebuilding Go. Which means a lot more time in Port Macquarie. Wish us luck!