Is it possible - more beautiful coastline... and goannas!

There is a beautiful walk here in Port Macquarie called the Coastal Walk, and that is what I did today.  It is about 8-9 kms, taking in 8 beaches, and along the way there are stunning scenic views of dramatic coastline and beautiful beaches!!
And along the way I met up with some truly prehistoric creatures!!

The first beach was Town Beach.  Town Beach, as the name suggests is closest to Port Macquarie's centre of town, located near the breakwater at the mouth of the Hastings River.  Although there is still lots of debris on the beach (due to the recent rains) this beach is usually very popular for body boarding.

Next along is Oxley Beach which is named after Surveyor General John Oxley, the founder of Port Macquarie.  The headland area at this beach is called Windmill Hill, named for a windmill built there in the mid-1800s.

Continuing south, secluded Rocky Beach is a good place for fishing and scrambling over rocks.

On the headland at Rocky Beach I saw my first goanna today.  This "little" guy was about a metre long including his tail.

You can see his tail curled around on the left.

Flynn's Beach was the next one south.  Flynn's Beach is probably the most popular swimming and surfing beach in the area.

Nobby's Beach is the next one along, a popular beach for dog-owners.

From Nobby's Headland you look south to Shelly Beach which has a wonderful, protected swimming area.

At Shelly's Beach there is a memorial to a local gentleman named Harry who, during his life, lived at/on the beach and became the unofficial beach caretaker, looking after the beach and environs for many years.

It was here at Shelly Beach that I saw my second and third goannas.  These two guys were a bit longer than the first one I saw, probably about 1.5 metres, with much thicker bodies!

(Nice tongue)

Look on the tree trunk to see the power claws.

Still continuing south and the next beach is Miners Beach.  This secluded beach, with its rainforest backdrop, is Port Macquarie's unofficial nudist beach.

(Look closely - can you see 'all' of the person in this photo?)

For some reason I just loved the combination of the sand, the land, the blue sky and the clouds...

Looking north back up the coast, back to where I had just been walking.

The beach in the foreground on the left is Tacking Point Beach, and in the background (on the right) you can just see Lighthouse Beach.  Tacking Point headland was named by Matthew Flinders in 1802 while he was sailing and tacking his way up the coast while circumnavigating Australia.  Tacking Point Lighthouse, which you can see on the headland, is Australia's third oldest lighthouse. It was built in 1879 by Shepherd and Mortley, to a design by the New South Wales Colonial Architect, James Barnet.  In 1919, the light was converted from wick oil light to automatic acetylene operation, and was de-manned in 1920.  The lighthouse is classified by the National Trust of Australia (NSW).

Here is Lighthouse Beach again, and as you can see, it is also one of the more popular beaches.  At the south end of Lighthouse Beach there are camel rides, and then south again the beach stretches for the next 6 kms down to Lake Cathie.

After the walk my friends and I had a picnic lunch back at Oxley Beach, and this young magpie desperately wanted to be a part of our group.

Sitting there eating and this was what I was looking out onto...

Afterwards we went back into the town centre for a little while.  The site of Port Macquarie was first visited by Europeans in 1818 when John Oxley reached the Pacific Ocean from the interior, after his journey to explore inland New South Wales.  He named the location after the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie.   In 1821, Port Macquarie was founded as a penal settlement for convicts that had committed secondary crimes.  Port Macquarie, with its thick bush, tough terrain and local aborigines who were keen to return escaping prisoners in return for tobacco and blankets, provided large amounts of both isolation and hard labour to keep the criminals in control.  Port Macquarie remained a convict "place of banishment" until 1847, but was opened to free settlers in 1830.  The convicts made roads, cut timber, made bricks, built building, grew food and with the farmers and shopkeepers they made the town of Port Macquarie.

Near the wharf at Port Macquarie there is a life-size bronze sculpture of Australia's first Prime Minister (who was also the member for the Port Macquarie community) in 1898-1899, Sir Edmund Barton.

And on the wharf, an important message for the local fishermen: