Just for a second though I want to back track to last night and somewhere else we drove by in the Manning Valley. Along the Manning River is Wingham Brush Nature Reserve, an area of native bush including Moreton Bay Fig trees and home to a colony of flying foxes. For many years the flying foxes were considered pests and various initiatives were taken to remove them. It seems these efforts were ineffective however and, in more recent years, moves have been taken to protect the flying foxes, which have become a tourist attraction. Unfortunately, due to the flooding, the road into the reserve and the river was closed so we couldn't get close to the flying foxes, but even driving around the outside of the area you could still see the flying foxes hanging upside down in the trees.
Now back to today, which started with a beautiful rainbow after a sun-shower we had first thing.
My friend must have taken an 'extended lunch' today and this afternoon he drove me down the coast to Forster to do some exploring. Forster is a larger coastal town, located in an area known as the Great Lakes Council LGA. It is immediately adjacent to its twin town, Tuncurry, which is the smaller of the two towns. The usual local pronunciation of the name is 'Foster' (even though yes, it does have an 'r' in it).
Being a coastal town it's not surprising to find that there are some lovely walks, up on the cliffs and down on the beaches, and this is where I spent my afternoon. Thankfully my friend dropped me off at the top - at one of the lookouts - and so my thoroughly enjoyable afternoon was spent walking predominantly downhill!
This was the view from the top of the first lookout, looking south,
and looking north up the coast.
I thought this rock was neat. You can see there's a hole in it
and then frequently a big wave would come along and fill it in.
One Mile Beach, with an absolutely amazing sand dune (which I'm standing on) at one end.
Back walking along the cliff tops again...
getting a bit lower (and you can see where the path is going to take me, walking along at the shoreline),
and then finally right down on the beach.
This beach is called Pebbly Beach and is popular with surfers.
I just about stepped on this little guy while I was walking, and although he wasn't too happy with me he did at least stick around long enough for me to take his photo. I'm not 100% positive but I think he is a blotched blue-tongue lizard.
Forster's Main Beach is a pretty lovely place - and the tidal rock-pool at the end is a great place for swimming.
Breakwalls mark the entrance to Wallis Lake. Historically this area was well known in the early days for its timber cutting and sawmills. Timber was collected from the lakes and rivers by the log punts and then floated out to the ocean for transport.
This is the bridge that links Tuncurry and Forster. This bridge was built in 1959 and replaced a punt service that had operated here since 1890.
My friends who live in Old Bar have actually just bought a new place in a little coastal community called Red Head, just a little bit south from where they are now. I'm definitely going to have to come and visit them again though, as this is the view from their place.
As we were leaving this colourful lorikeet was having dinner in the tree right outside their new place.
And this is Red Head Beach - less than a 5 minute walk from their place.
About one kilometre away is another, slightly larger, community called Black Head. Black Head also has a beautiful beach, as well as an ocean pool.
As you can see, this is a pretty beautiful part of the world.
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