Before I share the trip details, let me tell you a fun fact about India and Australia - it’s 26th Jan, when we Indians celebrate Republic day and Australians celebrate Australia day, as an Indian living in Australia we get to celebrate both, and it’s quite fun. I feel a greater part of the world, not just one country and it gives me a true sense of World citizenship.
We have a long weekend every year in Jan end, for Australia day. In the scorching heat of Australian summers when Sun is at its peak and you are already suffering from tan all over, the Australian day weekend arrives.
Well this blog post is not about the great trip or the picturesque destinations, which Port Macquarie truly is, but its mainly about the wonderful experience we had at an AIRBNB, in the scorching heat of January,. The extreme weather proved to be a blessing in disguise, since we enjoyed our accommodation to the fullest. This was a rustic cottage locates in acres of land created as open sculpture museum by the owner, decorated exquisitely, like in movies, cherry on the cake is we got to know our hosts who were a wonderful couple with youthful spirits.
Glen and Jackie our hosts, Glen is an artist and has created the whole farm space in to one sculpture paradise, Jackie was very humble and accommodating, both were super hosts in true sense.
I couldn’t stop praising them while returning from our trip. There are many great luxury accommodations with may be world class hospitality but, a true host is who makes you feel at home and these people are amazing in all that respect.
We felt like we are home away from home, with all the organic vegetables and eggs provided from Jackie’s nursery and kitchen garden.
Everything was simply awesome, starting from their -
morning schedule of feeding chickens and Alpacas,
beautiful seating arrangements across the farm area,
the view of stars in the night sky while floating in the pool decorated with beautiful little things and
a beautiful world of great sculpture art all at doorstep.
Here is what we did in 3 days keeping in mind our limitations due to hot weather.
Day 1 Sydney to Port Macquarie – 484 kms – approx. 06 hours
Well we started early, at least we tried and left around 08:30 from Sydney to Port Macquarie the sun was already sucking the energy off our heads. And it was a pretty long drive we took few short breaks at some water bodies but I never got a chance to dip, I swear I was longing for it.
After reaching the AIRBNB around 09PM, we were delighted to see the place we were going to stay in. It was a complete open-air museum in itself, a wonderland hidden remotely. The hosts were so welcoming they allowed us to use pool even when it was late in night. My whole day desire of getting a dip was finally fulfilled.
Day 2
Here is the link to property : ELYSIAN FIELDS RETREAT -
I started in the morning and while everyone else was sleeping I roamed around to admire the property we were living in, Jackie was very welcoming and showed me around her organic eggs and plants.
Also there was a group of Alpacas not Llamas as told by owner, some wallabies peeping around the property.
After this she gave us a morning walk around the property, and it was much bigger than what we imagined.
It was spread out in acres, adorned with art pieces made from junk by Glen, he truly is an artist.
We had more fun around here than going out, considering the temperature was unbearable.
We spent afternoon enjoying the cottage and swimming in pool.
We left for Port Macquarie and other beaches in the evening.
I tried using my drone around the area, I practiced it before but as happens with me always, bad luck follows my gadgets specially around water.
Drone was working fine, however suddenly due to increase in wind pressure and speed, it went out of control and wasn’t able to land at the home location until the battery ran out. We kept running towards the creek where it was seen last, some locals enjoying the swim in the creek told us about its last moments over water struggling to remain in air before finally giving up and sinking in to it. After a long search and rescue mission, involving all those who saw it, it was found under feet of a women, while we were returning in no hope. I knew it was beyond repair but yet I carried the dead body to mourn, our evening was spoiled. Neither we swam in the water, nor we could shoot the video, I regretted taking it out. We spent the evening again in pool floating and doing a drone memorial.
Day 3
Last day, we bid farewell to our amazing hosts, they gave us freshly hatched, organic farm eggs and some farm grown capsicum which was more than our expectations, but they have been great host all along. We were so grateful to have met such lovely people.
We explored few more places around in the heat before leaving for Sydney.
Other memories:
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