This beautiful old quilt was in one of the recreated log cabins. I fell in love with the colors. I need to do some more quilting.

Most of the Timbertown employees seemed to be off for the holidays, but there were still a couple people around. The guy who drove the horse and wagon also offered rides on this genuine pennyfarthing. (Snookums and I were not game enough to try it.)

The BEST part of the day was the demonstration of a working bullock team by a real bullocky. His name was Ned, and he explained to us how the teams used to haul the logs out of the forest.

After the demonstration, we got a chance to pat the smallest of the bullocks. (I asked a guy what the difference is between a bull and a bullock. The former has testicles; the latter doesn’t. And now you know.)

Snookums and the bullock.

We also had a chance to try cracking a whip. Snookums nearly took his own head off, but once bullocky Ned gave him some instruction, he was doing it like a pro! (I’m not in the video, but I managed to get it to crack afterwards as well.)

There’s a massive log out in front of Timbertown, and we couldn’t resist posing before we left.

Snookums’s turn.

After Timbertown, we headed over to Port Macquarie to have a look around town. We stopped at a chippie and got lunch to have on a bench near the water. I had a fantastic burger, complete with grilled onions, pickled beetroot, and grated carrot. YUM.

On another day, we headed north towards Coffs Harbour. We stopped along the way in Urunga at The Honey Place for a coffee and a look around.

I ordered a “honey of a latte” off the menu, and this is what I got: a bit of chocolate on the very bottom of the glass, then a layer of honey, then an espresso shot, then steamed milk. I was instructed to stir them all together before drinking. It was sooooo good!

Then it was on to Coffs Harbour and the famous Pet Porpoise Pool! Apparently it’s one of only a few places in the country with captive dolphins, and they pride themselves on being incredibly “interactive”. You’re invited to put your hands in the dolphin pool so they can swim past and touch you. (They explained that when it started in the 70’s, “porpoise” was used as a catchall for both dolphins and porpoises. Now we distinguish between them, but they decided to keep the name anyway.)

A couple of times a day, guests are invited to queue up to receive a kiss from a seal and a dolphin. They take your photo and you can buy it when you leave (for an exorbitant $15!). We decided to try to film it instead.

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