We were on the road about 9:30 am heading for our first night's stay at Yarralen Retreat at Yarrahappini (near Kempsey). We were meeting up with travelling companions Arthur and Margaret along the way and were also spending the night with Mullumbimby friends Sunita and Greg who were on their way home from travels in South Australia.
Lunch was at the tavern at Mooney Beach which was a convenient spot to get off the highway and also where we met up with A&M. A bonus was that it was not crowded and the food quite good - Prawn Poke Bowl for Jill & Calamari for Alex. This was our first drive on the newly opened stretch of the Pacific Highway which now stretches from Mullumbimby to Coffs Harbour without passing through a town. It certainly takes some time off the trip.
Yarralen Retreat is a fairly rustic campground and the road in would be a challenge in wet weather but the camping was more than adequate for a night's stay - a nice lagoon at the bottom of the hill, a very good camp kitchen and some tarraces for camping on an otherwise fairly sloping site.
Was lovely to catch up with Sunita and Greg.
