Crangan Bay Lake Macquarie 1st October

We are back in Bellbird territory. Their beautiful bell songs are ringing out in the forest over the bay. Yesterday we left Chain Valley Bay in the morning and motored around to Crangan Bay which is in the south east corner of Lake Macquarie. We found a sheltered, quiet little bay right down the southern end and are tucked in out of the strong winds from the north and west that we have had today. Gwandalan is the town nearby and has a small shopping centre with IGA, butcher, baker chemist and most importantly a bottle shop. The Gwandalan Bowling Club welcomes guests for meals, but we have not partaken.

Vales Point Power House - not all pretty bush around here!

There are walking tracks in the bush and access to the lake via the parkland in front of the houses, which extends for a couple of kms to the north of us. Very pleasant walking. This morning we discovered, listening to the ABC Morning Show, that the weather was going to be unpleasant. Strong winds, hot and gusting up to 40kns, thunder storms were forecast and a total fire ban in place, so we decided that walking in the bush around here would not be a good idea. The atmosphere was already thick with smoke from several bush fires in the vicinity. Instead we walked around the village of Gwandalan. There is a row of houses in the bay near us that back onto a patch of thick forest. Behind the back fences a wide strip of mown grass extends from the fences and some people have landscaped this area. It is lovely to walk along and admire their work. We got talking to a friendly man who told us that much of this area was earmarked for over 600 new houses. A pity really, but I suppose people have to live somewhere.

Tomorrow we are going back to Toronto as we will be Twilight Racing with Carol and Roger on their yacht.

Coffee break!