In the morning, I drove through South West Rocks love.

The rugged coastline of the East reminds me a lot of the East Coast of Tasmania. I love it because I can get the same feeling in somewhere with a nicer climate.

It was the perfect morning to watch beachgoers enjoying the water.

It started clouding over and cooling off, so I followed directive of the sticker on my car and headed south.

I’ve been really lucky to follow the coast – rather than the highway – and I’ve come across some really cool country/coastal towns. The cooler weather set in and it was actually cold in the car. I was thinking about putting the heater on but it seems illegal so I grabbed a jumper. I’m really not used to being cold in the car and no I’m not going to wind the window up.

The drivers on the highway in New South Wales are much more forgiving than in Queensland. The road wasn’t super busy and everyone kept their distance. The Jim was actually sitting at around 90km/h-100km/h with ease which was impressive.

Why does everyone say Queensland is the chill state?! I am getting the feeling NSW actually is, with all the coastal towns… Queensland has such hype that everyone who wants to chill out has migrated there and the communal stress as surged.

Port Macquarie was a sweet town. When I first drove in I thought it was pretty small and cute and I was ready to find the exit, but I drove on and found the town centre.. there was much more to see.

I came across a health food store and was stoked to see they stocked Cacao!

I haven’t had Cacao for about 10 days and have been fruitless in finding it. I accepted it -it’s a luxury after all- but I’d definitely been feeling a void from not having it.

There was an observatory in town, but to my dismay it’s only open after 5pm over the weekend. Dammit! I’ll have to find a planetarium in Sydney.

I evaded Google maps’ prompts to get me back on the highway and drove along Ocean Drive. (Siri – play Duke Dumont).

I stopped in Lake Cathie for lunch. There was a health food store, a mystic store and and holistic health store in this small town shop strip. This is my kind of place.

I was excited to drive to Forster – one of my fabourite musicians is from there.. These NSW towns remind me of Blue Water High.. really chill, surfy, spread out but still established towns (in terms of shops). That was idyllic when I was growing up and I’m still surprised to see it’s real.

I was a bit confused by Forster because it was kind of split in two and I was getting tired and just wanted to find a place to call home.

I continued on down the coast to Seal Rocks.

I wasn’t looking at the maps and didn’t have context for where I was, but there were so many national parks with camping. I stopped at one place but there were only two campers and it didn’t feel quite right… I kept going, getting a bit anxious because it would take too long to get back onto the highway and try to make it to Newcastle.

I came across a place called Camp Treachery.

I had no idea what I was in for.

It’s like a school camp destination. National Park vibes but with established facilities and cabins.

And it was only $22 a night. Stoked! The other camp site I stopped at was a similar fee – camping permit & park fee – but I felt safer here, as it was secure and staffed.

It’s funny because when I was living in Townsville, I would jump at the opportunity to park up in a national al park. No wuckas if there were people around or not. Now, I’m a bit skeptical.

This was an awesome place to stay. It reminded me of school camp.

I spent the afternoon down at the beach – and as I was right there – stayed until sunset.

It looks like the beach was right next to the campsite, but it was quite a walk to get there.

I had the whole vast beach to myself. Incredible.

This beach was alcoved by two cliffs. It reminded me of West Head in Tasmania.

In other news, the other day I lost my crochet hook and decided to attempt finger crochet. The result is different to anything I’ve made before- I have a tight tension with a hook and have never had yarn thick enough to try the finger method. I ended up finding the hook, but I’m happy with the product thus far and will continue. The contrast between the original WIP and the new one is an example of me learning to relax.

There was actually a school group a bit up from where I was parked and when I was settling in to sleep, they ran past playing some game and making noise children make. Some people are trying to sleep here. I remember thinking I might not get to sleep but next thing I knew it was morning.

I enjoy listening to music to help me get to sleep, then seeing which song the sleep timer ended on.. most of the time I don’t recall the song playing.

I really enjoyed my time at Camp Treachery – it was the perfect retreat before hitting the big smoke for Halloweeen festivities this weekend.

There are many places I want to share with others, but at the moment there is no one I would choose to share them with. Just me. Which is exciting, liberating and reassuring.

But next year, oh next year I’ll be dragging my loved ones over.