After leaving Port Macquarie and our car troubles behind us and driving along the very scenic Lakes Way we arrived in Tiona yesterday afternoon just a few kilometres North of Booti Booti National Park. It appeared that we had also left the weather behind us as well, as the rain had stopped for a while and we were greeted by a local Kookaburra that perched itself on the car door and watched us with a beady eye while we got our tent all set up! As has been typical of the last few days though, as soon as we had the tent set up and we were beginning to decide what to do, the clouds came back and the rain began again!

Now we can both appreciate that they are having a severe drought out here and they welcome every drop of rain that they get, but as this was now our fourth day in a row of grey clouds and s***ty drizzle, we were getting a little sick of it. Nevertheless, we prevailed in our little tent until there was a decent break in the rain and at this point we jumped in the car and headed up to Cape Hawke lookout, just before the nearest town of Forster.

It was a steep old climb to the car park (we're talking first gear in old Fergal for most of the way) and when we got to the start of the walking track we saw that it wasn't about to get any easier on foot either! However, it was only a kilometre of so up the hill so we trundled on and were soon at the lookout spot. Then all we had to do was climb up a few flights of stairs that wound their way around a rickety old lookout platform some twenty odd metres up!

Once at the top though it was worth the effort as we were presented with 360 degree views across the many lakes we had driven along, the surrounding farmlands and towns, back along seven mile beach, the foothills of the National Park and out across the ocean. We could see where our little camp was, perched between seven mile beach on one side and Lake Wilson on the other, and now that the sun was out we could see just how nice the location was. We could also see the rain coming down on either side, almost as if it were being channelled between two imaginary tubes such was the definition of where it started and where it stopped, and we were just hoping that that is where it would stay for the rest of the day!

After some time we made our way back to the car and back to camp and were pleased to see that it still wasn't raining out this way. However, we soon discovered that it had rained fairly substantially while we were away and although our tarp had done its best to act like a big bowl and capture it all, it had eventually been overcome and had collapsed over our tent flooding the table, the gas stove, the two chairs and all the brochures that we had left out in our haste to leave! We had also left out our other tent in the hope that it would dry off in the sun - an idea that seemed perfect at the time and now looked a little foolish - and this was now saturated as well. Somehow the tent we were staying in had managed to remain relatively unscathed and we could at least sit in the dry while we sulked about our misfortune!!

Last night we went to bed with the rain still coming down, cursing the weather for its fickle ways, so we were more than a little surprised when we awoke this morning to glorious blue skies and the sun shining down on us! It was like Christmas morning as a little kid as we jumped out of bed and quickly put everything into the sun to dry it off. This time however, we were not going to make the mistake of leaving it all outside while we went off to explore so we sat in the tent watching the steam come off of the chairs like the local Kookaburra's waiting for the ants to come out of their holes (others might describe it as like watching paint dry but we like our metaphor* better!)

The sun had obviously missed being on display because it shone with such an intensity that everything was dry within an hour and we could be on our merry way to see what was about. Rather predictably our first stop was the beach just fifty metres from out tent as we walked along the sand to the southern end of the stretch. We had the whole place completely to ourselves (or at least as far as we could see, it is seven miles long after all) and sat on the rocks soaking up some much needed sun with the waves lapping at our feet for quite some time until we forced ourselves to get up and see what else there was to offer.

Our next stop was at the Green Cathedral just over the road from our camp. We had seen a few advertisements for the "World Famous Green Cathedral" and the women at the park reception had told us how great it was but we still had no idea what it really was at we had not seen any pictures. We had assumed it was just another walk through some forests but we decided to check it anyway to see what all the fuss was about and when we got there we found that it was like nothing else we had seen.

It really was like a cathedral by the lake. There were pews lined up either side of a main walkway and at the far end just a couple of metres in from the edge of the lake there was a lectern. There were also speakers up in the trees and a couple of spotlights, as well as a big wooden welcome board at the entrance. Every Sunday they have morning worship by the lake here and they also have baptisms and weddings here as well (they had a wedding yesterday which must have sucked in the rain!) It was a really nice setting and extremely peaceful so we spent a little time here just taking it all in and enjoying the quiet before moving along again.

We had been told of a little café by the lake that we thought might provide us with some liquid refreshment, so we headed up the road and after navigating the dirt track and potholes that were now full of muddy water, we found what we were looking for. It really was right on the lake and we sat on the balcony enjoying our drinks while we watched a couple of people leaning to kite board out on the water. There were also a few peddle boats along the shore that looked ever so tempting but we passed this one up as we knew that we would get so far out and then neither of us would have the energy to peddle us back in again!

We headed back to camp after spending most of the afternoon just sitting by the lake watching the world go by for some dinner, before one last trip to the beach while the sun went down behind us and then retiring for the evening, contented with the day's activities.

Tomorrow we are moving on once again as we head to Nelson's Bay, about an hour and a half North of Sydney.

*don't anyone even bother telling me that it's a simile - I really couldn't give two hoots!!