Participants:

Bev Fort  – Prado                                                                                                                             Brian Payne – Landcruiser 100 series                                                                                           Tony Clark and Faye Goodman – “Big Bill”                                                                             Elizabeth Rudd and Mark Furness- Troopy

The Manning Valley is a beautiful part of the World – and very underrated in my opinion.  On recent club trips we have been close to its headwaters up in the Barringtons and swum in its rapids at Woko.  But when it gets close to the coast, the Manning really gets serious about scenic beauty.  Farquhar Inlet is situated at the estuary of one of two branches of the Manning and its serenity is enhanced by the fact that it is only accessible by boat or four wheel drive along the beach.  It is inhabited by many seabirds including rare Little Terns, Pied Oystercatchers, Pelicans and as you will read later – giant bream.

So begins my story.   Bright and early on Saturday morning, fortified with coffee from our meeting point at the South Taree Maccas,  Bev, Brian, TC and I took the short trip to Manning Point, the entry point to the beach.   Manning Point is a quiet seaside hamlet with a small shop and caravan park where you can purchase your beach driving permits.  Here we were joined by Mark and Liz who had travelled up separately.

The stretch of beach between Manning Point and Farquhar Inlet can be very changeable, with soft sand, ridges and stony patches and this time it was quite undulating, requiring  a bit of concentration on the part of the driver.

The campground itself nestles amongst tea-trees and rainforest remnants on the banks of the river. (and also has a magnificent two storey composting toilet building)  On this occasion there were quite a lot of other campers but we managed to find a great spot where we could all camp together.

After a quick setup some opted for a sneaky “nanna nap” and others ventured out to fish or swim.   TC spent some time feeding the fish off the beach before relocating to the river, where he pulled in a four metre bream which was later able to cater for the whole population of Taree.

It was an early happy hour, whilst we amused ourselves watching the antics of a group of young blokes who managed to ruin both a Quintrex boat and the gearbox of their Colorado over the course of the weekend.   A very expensive weekend indeed!  Some friendly locals joined us for a drink or three and may have even contributed to the feast of fish that ensued.

Peeking out from our tent on Sunday morning we could see a stunning pink sunrise that heralded another beautiful day.   Breakfast was leisurely before a bask in the sun and a reluctant pack-up  and then we headed north along the beach to Manning Point.

TC had some reccy plans in his head, so he abandoned me and set off in a northerly direction with Bev.  Luckily Brian had taken pity on me and we had a most enjoyable chat all the way back to the Central Coast.

Thank you Aunty Bev, for all your planning,  tide watching and leadership.  Thank you to everyone else for your great company.  If you haven’t been to Farquhar Inlet, I’d suggest you get yourself, your 4by and your fishing rod there very soon!

Faye Goodman