AUSTRALIA – PORT MACQUARIE – An Old Lady with a Backpack

OCTOBER 5 – 7, 2025

We were not really planning on spending time in Port Macquarie, it was just going to be a break while driving to Byron Bay. However, a stop at Flagstaff Hill and a picnic on the beach with humpback whales frolicking just off the beach soon changed our minds.

We found WAUCHOOPE CAMPGROUND was not too far from Port Macquarie, so we rented a space there and called it home for the next 2 nights. I need to mention that we had rented an SUV in Sydney. We folded down the back seats, bought $100 worth of camping gear at K-Mart and proceeded to sleep in the back of the vehicle. $30 a night camping beats $150+ rooms.

The facilities were very nice, with hot showers, starlit skies and cicadas serenading us to sleep.

Not too far down the road was the KOALA CONSERVATION HOSPITAL. They have been rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing wild koalas for over 50 years. They were the very first hospital for koalas in Australia. They rescue koalas any time of the day or night, bringing them to the facility to be rehabilitated then returned to the wild. Some are never able to leave due to severe injury.

Shrinking habitat means less genetic diversity and resilience. Diseases are more easily spread between koalas, with Chlamydia being a major source of koala illness and death. Road strikes and dog attacks are the leading causes of koala injury and death. Koalas searching for food and shelter are forced to cross busy roads and backyards with dogs.

They also capture wild koalas, check their health and breed them. The mother and baby are then returned to the wild. Only the healthiest are kept for breeding. This facility attempts to introduce only the healthiest of koalas back into the mix, in an attempt to reverse the health and decline in general population.

We had to remain on a viewing platform where we could watch the keepers bringing food to 9 koalas in separate enclosures. Did you know that koalas sleep 20 hours a day? The Eucalyptus leaves that they eat are very toxic and they have special livers that break down the toxins. This is why medicine cannot be used on koalas in order to help with their medical issues. The liver breaks down the medicine before it has a chance to do anything.

Our guide was very informative. He had a small pelt of koala fur. It is very dense and feels fake.

After the koala tour we went into town and checked out the PORT MACQUARIE LIGHTHOUSE. Built in 1879, Tacking Point Lighthouse is the thirteenth oldest lighthouse in Australia. We saw more whales from the view point.

PORT MACQUARIE MUSEUM was a small but informative museum that had stories and artifacts about Port Macquarie, from its early days as a British penal settlement to the community it is today.

We had seen enough HUMPBACK WHALES from the beach to warrant a boat tour to get up closer to them. Did we ever get a show! There were whales breaching, head banging, and fin smacking. We found a pod of about 6 that were coming up for air simultaneously, blowing spray into the air as they took another breath. Singing as they zipped along at 5 knots (9 kph). It was magical!