Above: Firefly Creek at the rear of the property
June 18-July21
Well, we have been here for a month and our house owners, Milton and Sue Williams, have just returned from their boat journey to Airlie Beach. Their boat (a Riviera 41) is at the marina and they are heading back in about 2 weeks to do some more island hopping while it is there, then returning here for 2 weeks before going back to bring it home to Port Stephens. On the basis of that we will be here until late September.
This is a very peaceful spot, tucked away off the main Taree/Nabiac to Gloucester route on a side road that heads up a parallel small valley. They all used to be dairy farms, like this one was, but now has only a few left and the rest are owned by semi/retirees who run a few head of cattle (47 here) or horses etc.
Most properties are 100-200 acres. This one is one of the better ones as it is on the flats and the grass is much greener now than the surrounding hills where all is brown.
Closest supplies for essentials is Krambach, about 7km, where you can get fuel, basic groceries only and has a Post Office and Hotel. We had dinner at the hotel last Thursday with two friends, Rod and Sue, very pleasant night out although it was bitterly cold when we came outside. Any greater level of shopping is in Nabiac (15km) which has a Foodworks, cafes, doctors, pharmacy, roadhouse etc.
Major shopping is a choice of Taree (44km) or Forster (42km). Taree is the easiest as most of it is via the Pacific motorway whereas Forster is 50% built up area and apparently a place to avoid in Summer holiday season!
We have so far been to Taree 3 times and Forster once, both have all 3 major supermarkets and Bunnings but Taree has a Spotlight (for Frances knitting wool !).
For the next week we are looking after a neighbour’s house and pets (2 horses – Max and Coco, dog – Little Bear, and cat-cat). This is diagonally opposite so we’ll do anther post as the week progresses.
