After leaving Port Macquarrie, we settled on camping in Hat Head National Park at Smoky Cape. (The spelling kills me!) This was an interesting adventure because we were low on gas with not much around and it was getting dark… fast. When we pulled into the camping area it was so dark we could barely make out the camp sites. There was only one other group there and I’m not going to lie, it was a bit creepy. I was happy to eat dinner as quickly as possible and to not leave the tent until the sun came up. Mike, of course, had other ideas. He was keen for us to explore the pathway to the beach with only my small headlamp. Um, I think I made it 10 meters before shutting that plan down. One doesn’t explore after dark in Australia’s deadly nature.
The next morning we woke up to a very welcome and very Australian sight: Kangaroos! Right outside our tent. It was definitely one of those moments that reminded me that I truly am worlds away on a different continent. The kangaroos were pretty relaxed and seemed used to humans being around. Still, we kept our distance. They are very strong animals.
After delighting in our kangaroo visitors we went back to that scary beach path and tried again in the daylight. Turns out, there was a giant spider and spider web across the walkway. I was really glad we didn’t carry on the night before. The beach itself was pretty amazing and undisturbed. We only saw a few other people while we were out.
Later in the day we checked out the light house at Smoky Cape and read that Captain Cook spotted and named this land in 1770.
I’ve learned that the light houses here all mostly look the same. That makes it a bit less exciting to visit them… but they are very striking nonetheless.
xo, jill
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