Weekend Vacation Part 6: Valley of the Mist

The next morning we were up early with the sunrise. We were heading to the highlight of the trip.
Mum and I had come across the Valley of the Mist farm in my latest Australian Permaculture magazine.

Valley of the Mist is a farm run by a couple (Dennis and Marilyn) in Macksville. They grow Australian bush food for market; Lemon Myrtle, Lilli Pillis, Davidson Plums, Finger Limes and a dozen others.
Not only that, though, their property includes this incredible wetland ecosystem with a wealth of unique plants and animals; including the largest nesting colony of black swans in this part of Australia.

Dennis was kind enough to paddle us around in his canoe. There are no words for this experience. It was simply amazing.



I'll let my photographs do the talking for me.
















































Really... There are no words.
Thank you, Dennis and Marilyn, for sharing with us your remarkable corner of the world.
Also to introducing me to Davidson Plums and Finger Limes! I'm a huge fan now!

Weekend Vacation Part 5: Ricardo's Farm and Macksville

Our last outing for the day was at Ricardo's Farm. Mum had learned about this little gem near Port Macquarie through one of the Sydney Weekender-type shows. Ricardo's is a hydroponics farm specialising in strawberries, tomatos and lettuce. For visitors they offer a pick-your own area for lettuces and strawberries.






It's beautifully set up. And oh my god. The strawberries.









We had a whole lot of fun walking along with our little scissors; picking out the best looking berries. It's so easy! No bending over!



After we had picked our fill we drove up to Macksville where we would be spending the night. We stayed at the pub hotel which wasn't anything fancy but sure had a very pretty location right along the river.



It was the perfect location to sit with a glass of wine or two and a bag full of strawberries and watch the sun go down (until the mosquitoes drove us away, that is!)

Before the mozzies overcame us we noticed a spectacular event happening!



You see all those dots? Click on it to see it in full size to see just how many there actually are; those are bats! There were SO many of them! They flew past in this amount continuously for several minutes straight. I have certainly seen large colonies of bats before, but never in this amount.