Hand me down that Camphorwood

It seemed to rain on and off most of the night.  Certainly there was much precipitation going on when we awoke in the morning. 

After some fiddling around unpacking stuff and other small chores the downpour seemed to have abated so we headed off for a walk. This time we went basically South, discovering that the land fronting the sea is Coffs Regional Park.  We walked along a couple of headlands and an excellent rainforest gully.  The banksias here were attracting a lot of White-cheeked honeyeaters: always a good bird.  The sighting of the day (at least thus far) was a Figbird sitting on powerlines next to an Olive-backed Oriole.

On the beach Frances found many treasures to be drawn including a very large cowrie shell.  Given the hours we spent searching for these in Tanzania this was a major victory.

Shortly after our return the downpour started again.  There is a reason that the streets in Mullaway have large drains!

To foreshadow what is to come, that drain was overflowing at times in the next few days.

I used the time to fire up the car and head for beautiful downtown Woolgoolga.  We had stayed there in the past but the nice caravan park is not pet friendly so they dipped this time.  The pub provided what I wanted (ie a slab of beer) and also some information about local culture.  It appears that Australia’s top rap band (I’m reasonably sure there are several oxymorons embedded in those four words) are doing their stuff at the Coffs Showgrounds in the afternoon and the rain.  2,500 punters have handed over cash for this, so are likely to turn up.  We are very glad it is no closer to Mullaway!

I decided that the rain had paused for a while so I would go for a short walk on my own.  I added about 6 species of birds to the trip list and found a nice patch of what is normally heath.  In the current alleged climate it is more like ‘bog’.   This is some nearby Melaleucas (paperbarks), both showing the swamp and a detail.

My shoes and socks were thoroughly soaked by the time I returned.  When I took the right sock off I found that invertebrate wars had started, with the leech team scoring an early goal. 

As is usually the case with holiday houses there are a range of notes posted here and there identifying quirks of the building.  My favourite for this place is a suggestion that the laundry door and windows are kept shut when the lawn is being mown or else the smoke alarm will react to the fumes!   If anyone tries mowing the lawn in this weather they had better employ the technology I saw in Lao for underwater chainsaws!

Somewhat later in the trip I checked the Bureau of Meteorology site for rainfall recorded at Woolgoolga.  Today’s offering ‘was 28.4 mm.