We left Yamba at sunrise today (Thursday) - a last minute decision based on ever changing weather forecasts. We had previously decided to stick out the coming southerlies in Yamba rather than Coffs Harbour (or meeting the Southerly on route if we went through to Port Macquarie). We like Yamba, had a great time here on the way up and could amuse ourselves easily - and we figured, we still would have time to get back to Sydney. But it now seems the Southerly weather is going to stay around for longer, the forecasts are becoming changeable, the weather more extreme and well - today it is still Northerlies for the most part - so off we decided to go.
In the two days we spent at Yamba, we enjoyed the town and its surrounds. They really do have some nice cafes and shops - a new discovery being a lovely cafe('Beachwood') owned by Sevtap Yuce, a Turkish food writer and chef. She has just released her second book, so we bought a copy - maybe we'll make Christmas Turkish meze style this year!
On Wednesday we hired a car and meandered to Grafton along the Clarence River foreshores. It is pretty and green helped by the number of sugar crops along the road. We took the route that required us to go on the car ferry to cross to the other side of the river - all part of the fun. Grafton itself seems like the typical country town, with a pub on each corner (almost) and in various stages of appeal. Some of the building architecture is lovely - but I have to say, Grafton is pretty much a non event. It's a pity we just missed the jacarandas in full bloom - its known as the jacaranda town - it may have softened our view and made the less salubrious surrounds of South Grafton and suburbs not as detracting. We decided to drive the 30 minutes or so to Nymboida for lunch, suggested to us by the marina staff. The countryside to here was quite contrasting to the river valley - dry wooded areas and starting to get that typical Australian country inland drive look... The 'village' ended up being a house or two and an old 'coach stop' tavern/restaurant /accommodation centre (once also a museum) with a nice river outlook. We had lunch and a bit of an explore along the banks of the river, found a jacaranda flowering and watched with interest another thunderstorm and cloud mass brewing in the West... We have been belted with these storms and masses of rain every afternoon in this area (in a way confirming our decision to stay in port and not be caught up in it at sea where they can be quite violent and dangerous).
The drive back to Yamba was along the other side of the river and we stopped at the cute village and pub at Ulmarra. We even considered staying overnight at a cute B & B - but our stay was abandoned as we saw the storm from the West gather pace and another one from the sea start to come up the river - locals looking out to check if it looked like hail again (they got hail the other day). Apparently hail and rental cars mean our problem/our liability! so we decided to outrun the weather back to Yamba. We enjoyed the afternoon obligatory drink at the Pacific Beach Hotel -well we have had one here every time we have set foot in Yamba, and it does have the greatest view of the ocean - in the calm before the storm, then it was back to the boat for an early night (we are having trouble adjusting to daylight saving (!) - losing an hour on the same day we got 3-4 hours sleep before our am departure from Southport takes its toll....).
Its a shame we had to leave Yamba - we had decent exercise, long walks, another cafe and exploring on the agenda for today... but if we didn't take this weather opportunity, there's a good chance we won't be back before December!