On the Road Again – Day 9 We’ve gone to the dogs!

Day 9 Tuesday 16/6/2026, Wauchope to Grafton, 13 – 21

We pull into an old servo at the bottom end of town, and the chap comes running out. What good old-fashioned service, he wants to fill our car for us, I guess he’ll be cleaning the windscreen next. Ah, no. We’ve only just made it under his annexe with centimetres to spare. I guess we nearly lost our air conditioner too.

Picking up the Pacific Highway again, the roads are good and bordered by thick forests. We’re now in the Northern Rivers region, home to magnificent broad rivers that demand respect. The Hastings, Wilson, Macleay and so on.

It’s still a crawl through Coffs Harbour but the bypass is nearing completion.

Leaving the highway we roll into Grafton and through the shady Jacaranda lined streets to the Grafton Greyhound Racing Club which runs a caravan park in its spacious grounds. We really don’t know what to expect, but what a surprise. The amenities block has individual full bathrooms, Each with toilet, shower and basin. We are offered the chance to attend this afternoon’s race meeting and never having been to one I am a tad excited.

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, we pop over to the course, sit in the stands and wonder where everyone else is. The lure does a lap of the course and Woody keeps on insisting that it’s the thing with a rabbit’s tail on it. Out come the dogs and their trainers and then they’re off. They zoom past us in a blur, and it’s over 20 seconds. What a letdown and the punters, where are they? Downstairs in the bar watching the races on TV! The receptionist had told us not to miss the roast dinner which is supplied by a nearby pub. Obviously meals go as fast as the races, because by 4:30 the locals are tucking into roast pork and the caterer is cleaning up. Blimey, these country folk eat early.

Dinner for us is a chook in a bag.