A bit about our stay at Corindi Beach

We've been a bit slack since Christmas and although we are now at Iluka, I'd like to tell you a little about our stay at Corindi Beach.

The weather was nice for the first few days until 30 Dec. but then the high winds, rain and big seas moved in. Corindi Beach has a long, long beach which we accessed from to the south end of the caravan park. At low tide you can walk right around the rocks, below the headland, to another little beach which seemed to be popular with fishermen. Dogs are allowed on both beaches but not beyond the end of the beach to the north as it is then National Park land.

We did a bit of exploring around the area, visiting Woolgoolga which is the closest town with supermarket, chemist, etc. On the day we were there the big seas were creating a spectacular view from the headland - pity I didn't have a camera with me. On the way to Woolgoolga we called in at a little coastal town called Mullaway to visit the Skee Kayak Centre. It's run from the backyard of a home but the owners are avid kayakers who seem to really know their kayaks. We were looking at a 2 man kayak plus roof racks but this was going to set us back $2,000 so we decided to think about it.

A few days later with Angel in doggy daycare, we had another day out together. We had been saving up things that we wanted to do before leaving the area as a little celebration for our birthdays. The day started out great. We bought ourselves an inflatable 2 man canoe. It suits us perfectly as it's light weight, packs up to transport easily without roof racks and it was under $1,000. Next stop was morning tea at The Clog Barn (or I should say Oma's Coffee House) who make those little dutch pancakes that I can't spell. Then it was off to the Coffs Jetty for some seafood from the Fisherman's Co-Op and finally we drove down to Sawtell to see The Golden Compass at their historic cinema. Sawtell is a lovely little town with a beautiful shady main street.

For New Years Eve, our neighbours invited us over for a drink so we popped next door at 8pm with a bottle of bubbly, dip and biccies that we were going to have to celebrate the NY. They were a first time camping family who had just turned up the previous day when the rain and wind started. So they had a good indoctrination to camping holidays. They quickly found out what we found out years ago - putting up a tent makes it rain. I feel the government should have issued tents for everyone living in the drought affected areas as I'm sure that rain would definitely follow.

Anyway, while we were enjoying a drink with our neighbours, Angel was roaming around us off leash enjoying all the pats from the kids. Someone in a neighbouring site then decided it was time to set off some fireworks. Mind you it was no where near midnight. Well, all I saw of Angel was her darting off into the dark towards the amenities block. Her dislike of fireworks is even more than her dislike of thunderstorms. Stephen and I headed grabbed our walkie talkies to go in search of her knowing that she could be hiding absolutely anywhere, under a car or a caravan. Unbeknown to us, our neighbours and their kids had also split up to look for Angel. Sometimes people are just in the right place at the right time...the 2 girls had been in the amenities block discussing which direction Angel would have gone, when the lady next to them asked if they were looking for a little white dog. What was the chance of that? Angel had run into the annex of their caravan at the other end of the caravan park to us. The girls brought her back just as I got back to the caravan to see if she had turned up. What a relief!!! So, an angel must have been looking after Angel that night.

Well, they are the highlights of our stay at Corindi Beach - the 8 days just flew by. Next stop Iluka which I'll let Stephen tell you about.