For the last couple of weeks, we have been staying in Port Macquarie about four hours north of Sydney. There are several reasons for picking this place to stay for a while. For once, it’s not far from Sydney and in the same state. So, if or rather when we go to the airport to fly out and most likely return home, we won’t have to cross any interstate borders and there is even a train running into Sydney. On the other hand, it’s far enough away from Sydney, which is the main Covid hotspot. There are also supermarkets and shops to get everything we need. And a large hospital. You never know, right?
But the absolutely best things are that we can see the Pacific Ocean from the living room and the bedroom – the beach is a three-minute walk away – and the animals we can see from our balcony. Our host has a little feeding station set up for birds which attracts different kinds of birds. There are many Rainbow Lorikeets (German: Regenbogenloris), that visit us every day, sometimes there are ten or more of them at a time. Especially in the morning around sunrise they can make quite some noise but being woken up by exotic birds is not the worst way to wake up. Of cause, they are quite used to humans and we had to defend our breakfast to them and have lost an apple slice to them.
While the birds are basically our constant neighbors, there is one guest that is rarer and more exclusive: Kevin the Koala. The trees in front of our balcony are eucalyptus and he visits from time to time and he eats, climbs slowly in the tree and mostly naps. The first time we spotted him in the tree we spent hours just watching him.
So overall, having to stay in one place could be much worse and we appreciate how privileged we are. We don’t have to leave the apartment to see so much and if that gets too tough, we go to the beach to swim or walk in the sand.