Another excursion from our base in Port Macquarie. This was from 11th July! I had better get this out there now as Dani’s next school holidays start this coming Friday. There’ll be more to write about…

Dolphin River Cruise

Dani chose this trip. It was about time we let him choose. It kept him quiet and it was cheap so what the heck. A small ship cruising up the Hastings river estuary with dolphin spotting. Sounds great eh? Well it was different. Not the greatest expedition you can go on in this part of the world, but the cheerful jocular guide was good for a laugh – for the adults at least. The kids on board couldn’t care less. They got to see some dolphins following the boat and that was enough for them.

Dolphins

We did see a few dolphins. They come rally close to the bow of the ship – that’s the front for those non-nautical amongst you.  Once they take a liking to  boat they seem to lead it rather than follow it. Staying just in front using their amazing swimming skills. It makes it hard work to get a decent photograph however.

There were also plenty of pelicans on this river. Massive birds but fantastic gliders. With so many pelicans there must also be plenty of fish…

The rest of the cruise was a good excuse to go gawping at the expensive properties built in the canals linked to the river. All interesting enough and certainly different from other things we had done. They even arranged to meet a Domino’s Pizza guy further inland who delivered a load of pizza for our lunchtime meal. All included in the tour price of course.

This was the first day of the holidays that we had been hit by rain. Even then it was not bad, but the sky remained cloudy until mid-afternoon – which around this time of year meant about an hour before it goes dark.

It’s fair to say I like this area. But this was the final night staying in a hotel or caravan. The next day (Sunday) we headed back to Sydney – as did lots of other people. Naturally, as we got closer to the city that meant traffic jams. Lovely…Not!