After leaving Samurai Beach, we headed south again to visit our friends — Dani, Greg, and little Elo. What should have been a simple two‑hour drive to Shelly Beach on the Central Coast stretched into five, thanks to a detour through Newcastle and its maze of roadworks. But the delay turned out to be a gift. We stopped at Fort Scratchley for a coffee break, wandering around the well‑preserved WWII gunnery that once guarded the harbour. The views from the headland were spectacular, the coastline sweeping out in long, bright arcs.
Back on the road, we continued south along the coast and stopped for lunch at The Entrance. As we ate, a flock of pelicans gathered nearby, watching us with the slow, deliberate curiosity only pelicans can manage.
While staying with our friends, we couldn’t resist a swim at their local beach — and that’s where we came across a blue‑tongue lizard sunning itself on the path, completely unbothered by our presence. Dani and Greg had brought some of our tools over from New Zealand when they moved a few months earlier, so we loaded them into the Ranger, did our laundry, stocked up on food, and set off once more.
