Day 18 Tuesday 1/7/2025 Wooli (Grafton), sunny 19

Woody is due for another blood test today, so we set out for a day in the ‘big smoke’ of Grafton, 50Kms inland. Grafton is the nearest major town to Wooli and has a population of around 20,000. Before the highway was straightened, we rushed through here far too many times. Today is a good chance to have a proper look around. Grafton is famous for its Jacaranda Festival that has been running since 1935. I’m always remarking on how trees really make a town and Grafton is a perfect example. Wide tree-lined streets with many roundabout gardens continuing the theme with palm trees and beds of flowers. The footpaths are generous and there are more hotels than I bother to count. Around the 1880’s there must have been a rush to get some permanence. While Woody visits the vampires I stroll about the streets having a good old nose. Victoria Street has an array of solid sandstone civic buildings. The sheriff’s office dates back to1861, the rather attractive post office was built in1874 and the courthouse in1880. Around the corner I can’t miss the red brick Anglican Church of Christ Cathedral which was also constructed in 1884.

Wandering down the main shopping street, Prince Street, with Woody (who has survived the blood-letting), and just past a chap who is singing hymns on the footpath, we find Prince Bakery Banh Mi and we’re lured in. The shop is busy and offers tempting delights. We take our bags of roast pork and coriander and warm, dripping juicy goodness to See Park, a pretty swathe of greenery with jacaranda trees that sprout staghorn ferns from their limbs. We’re defeated by lunch, the first time we’ve ever failed to finish a Banh Mi. Oh God, they are good.

It’s time to head back over the Clarence River’s Bendy Bridge and return to camp. It really is called the Bendy Bridge and this big old, roughly U-shaped lift-up bridge was constructed in 1915 and is still handling traffic.

Back in Wooli, Woody walks into town and I take a beach walk. The surf is magnificent after the bad weather and there are lots of small sponges washed up. Chatting to a local chap I learn that some hoons lost their cars in the sand yesterday. Silly buggers.

After the big Banh Mi Blowout, dinner is a small omelette.

Accom: $29.00