Mid North coast of NSW

I hope that the title of my blog today is in fact correct. My geographical knowledge of New South Wales is not what it could be, that is, it could be a lot better. Mind you, it is getting better every day and from here, we will explore the North coast and Northern Rivers, so there!!
 Been nice here at Forster. We knew it would be, after all of the people we have spoken to over the years who had been before us. Intriguing community here as well. We have the usual shopping strip over the way with several coffee places, a plethora of hairdressers that accommodates both men and women.A large shopping centre has opened about a kilometre away from the traditional centre and as usual, the strip has suffered. Stockland seems to be expanding fairly quickly if Queensland is an indicator, and so, the demise of several different businesses from the strip is the price these people have paid. Vacant shops of various sizes makes you wonder if anyone is game enough to attempt to have a go here. Time will tell.
Exploring has been good as well. We had been told how good seal rocks was. A trip of about 30klms south and we were there. Another beautiful beach, a community that seems to be based on fishing, with small boats and nets in abundance. First time we have seen a warning sign about "hauling cable across road"....Seal rocks leads to the Sugarloaf lighthouse, now a b&b. The walk to the light was worth every step. The walk from the buildings to the light itself, a steep gradient, was 160 steps and tiring in the short term but the view was exceptional. Taking in about 270 degrees covering the lighthouse beach, cliffs, blowhole and all the way around to seal rocks, spectacular. Caretaker, Terry, suggested we might like to take a look at one of the restored light keepers cottages, and we did, lovely. Terry had also mentioned that several whales had been seen offshore and can be seen, with patience. We chilled for a while staring out to sea ever hopeful of seeing the leap, the splash or the spout and there it was, a splash, and then another. So we knew that we weren't seeing things. A quick look for confirmation through the binoculars and all was ok. The walk, the steps, the splash, all worth it.
We returned via Bulahdelah and Nabiac just in time to get inside as the sun had set and the breeze was  up.
Yesterday we had a look around the other part of the area, seperated by a bridge. The Western town is Tuncurry and has a good business area and a nice new Woolworths which suited our shopping needs. Fishermens co-operative are worth supporting , like village butchers and bakers, and the Tuncurry co-op was no exception. Fresh,local fish, reasonably priced, local prawns and oysters, they've got the lot. On our departure we were met by a rather large pelican, looking for a feed. I spent a couple of hours attempting to catch anything longer than about 5" but to no avail.
Today we had a bit more of an explore locally. We left the van on foot and walked to the shopping strip. The usual Op shops are always great and finding the local post office, we picked up our mail that had been forwarded on. A couple of more hours fishing, or feeding the tiddlers was nice.Tomorrow we move on towards Port Macquarie .