Port Macquarie - The Flying-boat Era

Back in the late 1940s and into the 1950s, a flying-boat service operated between Port Macquarie and Sydney (Rose Bay).
My mother travelled at least once on this service to Sydney, which departed from the stretch of the Hastings River just south of where the vehicular-ferry service joined the Pacific Highway on each side of the river.
At that time the section of the Pacific Highway between Newcastle and the Queensland border followed a different route to that used today.
The road (Buckett's Way) north of Newcastle was dirt and went inland from Raymond Terrace, passing through Stroud and Krambach before reaching Taree.

So the thought of doing a weekend drive from Sydney to the mid-north coast was out of the question and vice-versa. Thus the reason behind Dulhunty's introduction of the twice daily flights between the two locations.

The stretch of river on which the flying-boats alighted and took-off is shown as it is today in the two photos below - which bear little resemblance to the area sixty years ago! There were very few, if any homes located here and the man-made canals were un-thought of back then.

The first photo looks towards Hibbard and the location of the vehicular ferry over the Hastings, near the Whalebone Wharf  restaurant. The terminal for the flying-boat service was located just a short way along this section, on the left-hand side, past where the pleasure craft are seen.

 

 

The second photo, below, swings 180 degrees to the right and takes in the rest of the alighting area used by the 'boats.

 

The overall length of the stretch used is about 1.5 kilometres and is orientated south-west to north-east.

 

I can remember very clearly watching the flying boat take off when my mother flew to Sydney in the early 1950s.
In fact, I think most of Port Macquarie would come down and take in the spectacle of the large four-engine aircraft roaring along the river, spray flying and then gently lifting into the air and turning southward.

Yamba - Continuing the holiday photos.

Arguably the best view in town is that seen from the vantage point of the bar in the Pacific Hotel.

At dusk on a sunny day, summer or winter, to sit with a drink or two and watch the prawn trawlers ease out of the Clarence River or to gaze down towards the south end of Main Beach, with the setting sun's last rays tinting the eastern sky pink, is one of life's pleasant experiences.

Not far from Yamba is Angourie (the surf-beach starred in the 1970s cult film, "Morning Of The Earth") and a cool eatery that prides itself on serving "slow food".

A top place to have a casual breakfast, sit in the shade (or in the sun on a cool day) and read the morning paper.



Angourie was the site of the quarry used to mine the rocks for the Clarence River break-wall at Yamba. A light railway line was constructed to transport the rock and signs of the line can still be seen in some places.

The view from the rock shelf across to Yamba is shown below.

Many stretches of beach on the NSW north coast were subject to sand mining back in the 1950s.

We used to refer to it as "rutile mining" and it seemed to occur where the sand was black in many places.

This is the sort of thing I'm talking about - my footprint in some sand-minerals on Whiting Beach, Yamba.

The boat harbour at Yamba is home to not only prawn trawlers but also pleasure craft and three particular work-boats: the pilot boat, the police launch and a small tug.

These three work-mates share a secure wharf near the caravan park.

The following photos show the harbour areas of Yamba port.



Yamba - A holiday experience and more.

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My wife and I have recently returned from 10 days in the north-coast town of Yamba, situated on the mouth of the Clarence River.
This isn't the first time that I have visited the town; my sister has lived there since 2006 and I've stayed there several times over the past six years. But this was the longest stay and also the first for my wife.
There was an ulterior motive to spending a week or two in beautiful Yamba and that was to suss the place out with a view to moving there after 30 years in Canberra.
I fell in love with Yamba on my first visit but as my wife had never been there it was essential that she feel happy with the place too.

Our children have grown up, our grandchildren are growing up (7 and 11 right now) and we are looking at spending the final phase of our lives in a more relaxed environment and without the long cold Canberra winters.
Everything is a compromise, of course, and the trade-off is higher humidity in summer, but an air-conditioned home compensates for that.

The decision has been made and it is now a matter of organising ourselves into a plan of action, starting with a humungous garage sale (or two!) and then listing the house with an agent.
As soon as the sale is confirmed then what we need to keep will be put into storage (until we are settled) and we will head off  north.
That's the plan and as the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray!

Here is a selection of photographs taken during our holiday. It will be added to as I get the time to upload and edit this entry.

Immediately below is a view of Main Beach and beyond, the two break-walls forming the mouth of the Clarence River.
The lighthouse on the bluff is not the original. It is, however, an operating and important light because Yamba is home to the largest off-shore fishing fleet in New South Wales.

The town centre features many cafes and coffee shops, clothing stores, two general stores, a post office, medical services, estate agents and professional services (solicitors and accountants).
There are also two service stations and a large - and very popular - backpacker's hostel.

A bowling club, golf club, police station and industrial businesses are located away from the town centre and, best news of all, the only fast-food outlet - McDonald's - is about 5 km out of town, on the road coming into Yamba. The council decided that was as close as they could get to local food businesses. Well done, local councillors!

The country around Yamba is a prime sugarcane-producing area and there is a large mill just over the river at Harwood, between Yamba on the coast and Maclean further up-river.

I had never seen the cane being harvested so was pleased to come across a harvesting exercise underway not far from Harwood itself and less than a hundred metres from the bridge over the Clarence River.

Between Grafton and Maclean, on the banks of the Clarence River, sits the little village of Ulmarra, once an important river-port.

Ulmarra featured in the Australian TV series from the 1980s entitled "Fields Of Fire", a story about the sugarcane industry set in the late 1940s.

We visited Ulmarra one morning and enjoyed a drink and lunch at the hotel, which has a nice shady garden at the back, leading to the river bank and which features a glorious Jacaranda tree and several Camphor Laurels.