The Power's Trip 2013: Nambucca Heads

Its raining! How dare it, it's market day today! We got up and got ready, yes even on market day they insist on a hot breakfast, don't they realise I'm in a hurry? Microwaved leftover tea, I have stuck to my "only microwave" rule and am looking forward to my only cereal, fruit and yogurt rule kicking in when we get home. We headed towards Coffs only to have the rain get heavier :( We got to a market that was in an underground car park, sounds a bit seedy but it was ok, the boys stayed in the car and Mack and I had a look, more of a trash and treasure but at least we were out and about. We headed to the beachside markets that looked fantastic but as it was now pouring rain they were mostly packed up and I didn't even want to get out of the car to have a look. We had a drive around Coffs and then headed towards The Clog Barn. This is the most amazing place, it is family owned and run and it is exactly as it says, they make and sell clogs. We watched a demonstration of him making a pair of clogs, the old and the new way, the old taking at least 1 and a half hours to scoop out the wood for your foot to go in, the new only taking 1 minute. They run the caravan park which has the only clog shaped pool in Australia and the sunbeds are clogs, looks so good. The son makes the clogs and the father makes the miniature village on display. He makes every piece by hand and it is not from a kit. The village is really worth the visit to see and is free to get in to, so much time and energy has gone into it, the windmills are all working, the bridges raise and lower for boats and the train runs around stopping at the station. There is also Big Omas restaurant. Oma is now in a nursing home, and Opa visits her at lunchtime and takes in lunch for them to have together and he goes back at 5pm to have dinner together, everyday. The other times he is in his shed making parts for the village and works there until 8.30-9pm every night, he is in his 80's and a lovely man. Big Oma's is a great place to eat, we went there when the kids were little and sat and watched lizards, birds and eels in the creek that runs right outside the restaurant window. We got 2 different pancakes today which were as great as we remembered and the view, although it was raining was just as beautiful, maybe even more so with the rain on the creek. We went for a drive into Sawtell which has the most amazing main street, the Moreton Bay fig trees dividing the road and the plants and lawn are probably one of the best I have seen. There is a beautiful shop, like our INCK living in Beaconsfield there I wanted to visit but being 3pm on a Sunday all the shops were shut except the cafes and bars, it is such a trendy little strip of shops, if we get time we will pop back before we leave. We went to Valla beach for a look but as it was still a pretty yuck day we stayed in the car, Dan is loving that we cant get out and drag sand back through the car. I have made a promise to myself I will get the kids to the beach more often in the nice weather when we get home, I will of course do this while he is at work! The kids got the Lego out and Mackenzie made the most amazing dance hall with a DJ and all the equipment and Fletcher - Mr Lego- made an exact replica by memory of a windmill he saw today, fully working with all the mechanisms in behind it. As much as I curse Lego, especially when I stand on it or the dog is eating a piece, it is amazing for the kids. We had some tea and some schoolwork, who's laughing today, its Sunday and school holidays! We do a thing at dinner each night called "best bit worst bit", we do it at home and have done it on the trip, its pretty self explanatory, you get to say the best bit of your day and the worst bit of your day, it opens up some very interesting conversations, so tonight we had finished best bit worst bit and Fletcher out of the blue says if he had a wish it would be that mum lost the eyes in the back of her head! I have never said that statement to him before so I'm not sure where he has heard it or what I "saw" him do with my spare eyes but he was adamant he wants them gone.