far'n'wide travel

We left the pier where we had landed at Tea Gardens, to walk across the bridge and discover Hawkes Nest. The fishermen were cleaning their catch on the edge of the lake. The dreadful racket of the pelicans waiting for a free feed attracted my attention. They were coming in  from all directions, dive bombing into land. Hitting the water and gliding to a stop a few feet away from a free feed. Screeching and squawking as they fought with each other over the scraps from the fishermen cleaning their catch.

Tea Gardens panorama taken from the bridge linking Hawkes Nest. Tea Gardens sits on the Myall River flowing into Myall Lake and  surrounded by Myall National Park, the Myall River emptying into Port Stephens.

Myall Lakes is a magnificent body of water on the Central Coast of New South Wales. We caught the ferry, a quaint, old fashioned boat, from Nelson Bay, after missing the first trip by ten minutes, we had to wait for the next schedule. We could hear the chugging before we saw the boat.

We all looked at each other with apprehension, as the boat pulled into the pier, we were a little concerned that we wouldn’t make the trip. It was a fantastic way to view the Lake. It was a nice sunny day and as the boat slowly chugged its way up the lake, we passed a yacht with its sails catching the wind and canoeists enjoying the peace and solitude.What a story could this old girl tell? Is it home to an old fisherman who can’t leave the water, an intinerant who gathered all his treasures together, or an academic completing his studies in peace????

As we boarded the boat to leave Tea Gardens later in the afternoon, and made our way under the bridge, we could see the pelicans still squabbling with each other over the fishermens scraps.