QI Tour - Days 1-4 North Haven

Apsley Falls

 Our QI Tour got underway in a somewhat strange way, with a four night jaunt to North Haven, just below Port Macquarie and a common destination for us when we want a spell from home and some coastal experiences. Strange in that we would be returning to Tamworth for some other business before getting the tour truly started but after so many disappointments and delays, we just needed to get our rig rolling.

The descent of the range via the Oxley Highway was its usual slow and bend-ridden one but the scenery is stunning and besides, who wants to be in a hurry. Before then, we had stopped in Walcha for coffee at CaféGraze in Walcha, for the customary excellent brew and then on to Apsley Falls for lunch. The Falls were stunning – probably as good as we have seen them flowing, with water running over the entire surface of the falls, from the main energetic flow to the sparkling trickles that persisted over the lesser used sections of the rock face.

We reached North Haven in plenty of time for a leisurely set up at Reflections North Haven, a favourite of ours.

The following day started, as it always does in this spot, with a visit to the Beach Break Café, located in the downstairs of the North Haven Surf Lifesaving Club. It must have one of the best outlooks of any café in Australia, with a long expanse of beach stretching from Grant’s Head at Bonny Hills in the north to Perpendicular Point in the south, separated only by the incursion of the Camden Haven River which flows between two long break walls only two hundred metres from where you sip your coffee. The clientele are the usual collection of surf-dazed board riders still wet from their early start and dreaming up their excuses for being late for work, white haired tourists and aged locals, protecting their usual spot. The coffee was good but a tad on the expensive side. Still, super friendly and quick service considering the crowd and what a view!

The Boatshed Cafe

As is often the case when we visit North Haven, the afternoon spot was around to the other side of the river and the delightful Dunbogan Boatshed Café. It’s a simple spot, projected from the southern bank, out over the river but the coffee is good, the proprietors up for a chat and the bucolic view is all that you could possibly expect if you were dreaming of the ideal spot. One of the particular joys of the spot are a resident few hundred yellow bream who are fed fish food which can be purchased in the café. It’s such a small cost involved for surfeit of pleasure it brings visitors, particularly the ones under a metre tall. Sue had an added treat when the proprietor gave her a handful of stale bread with which to create frenzy. This almost turned into a lesson about the food chain when a pelican swooped in for an easy catch but the bream went to the bottom and waited for it to depart!

The rest of the day was one long soaking up of the serenity.

Our second day was dominated by an adventure with a Masked Lapwing family which started early. Sue had observed the Lapwing parents moving about on the roof of the extensive camp kitchen and had not long pointed out the appearance of one or more fluffy chicks when the parents left the roof and started calling with something that seemed insistence, to their young. To our horror, one by one, the little chicks jumped from the roof, falling 4 metres to the asphalt roadway below, right at the busiest intersection in the caravan park. Three recovered from the daze their contact with roadway created, after rolling about like footballers in need of a HIA. One never made it past that state and was left behind to expire.

In urban landscapes, the choice of a flat roof structure is common for Lapwings (known commonly as Plovers although there is a difference). It has been an adaptation from their preferred nest made in any slight depression in a grassy surface, bought about by the need to avoid Mrs McGillacuddy’s pet pussy cat predators. The resultant fall when leaving the nest accounts for about 50% of the chicks.

While the parents fussed over the first two chicks, who quickly started exploring, chick three struggled to get underway whilst his sibling was slowly dying beside him. By the time he was on wobbly feet, Mum and Dad were well away, their attention full keeping the first two off the busy roadway. At that point, I intervened – making sure there was good distance between the parents and I, having “enjoyed” a Lapwing’s attention in the past – and carried the chick in my cap to where the parents were. My efforts were not immediately appreciated but at least chick three was where it needed to be.

Off and on, through the rest of the day, we watched as one parent roamed with the first two chicks and the other stayed put nursing the third.

In a very strange moment, late in the afternoon while we were observing them from our campsite, people came past with dogs, scattering the little family and sending the parents into a frenzy. When at their most vulnerable, one of the parents suddenly left the action, running twenty metres across the road to me, head down and screeching loudly. To both of us, it seemed she/he was appealing to me to assist. We read later that Lapwings have a strong emotional memory. Did she remember my assistance in the morning? It was amazing.

Wherever Mum and Dad had intended getting to on that first day ex-nest, they ended setting up camp in a grassy hollow beside the vacant cement pad adjacent to our van. One settled down for the night with the three chicks nestled securely under its wings, whilst the other stayed on point duty, screeching warnings and moving some distance away, appearing to create a diversion so the now silent partner sat protecting their young.

The view at
Perpendicular Point

It was a fascinating day which also included ice creams at the Boatshed and a lively chat about the shortfalls of politicians and their failure to deliver for local communities, with a semi-retired Dunbogan local who still acts as a radio announcer at Wauchope. We love the local colour which this sort of travel affords. Very late in the piece, we walked along the beach as the sun disappeared.

Our third day – Father’s Day – it was a lazy succession of treats for me. Pancakes and a call from out eldest provided the start, followed later in the morning by a return treat at the Boatshed and messages from our daughter. Afterwards, we climbed the short bush track to the lookout at Perpendicular Point for splendid views and a delightful conversation with our youngest and two of our wonderful grandchildren. There is nothing which injects more spark into your spirit than making them laugh and having them share their important stories with you.

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for this post.

A cuppa and some sinful chocolates followed back at the van, before Sue returned to the beach to watch whales playing and I settled into the task of recording events.

A very laidback start.