North Brother Mountain

My friends Jeremiah and Kristy are currently enroute to Townsville from Sydney – where Kristy recently celebrated her birthday in Newtown.

For the past couple of days they’ve been in Port Macquarie, taking a break from their journey northward. Late yesterday afternoon I took them to the little coastal town of Laurieton, 42 km south of Port Macquarie. Here we shared a meal and went to the movies. We saw The Day the Earth Stood Still.



Yet before either the meal or the movie, we drove the 5 km of winding road that is Laurieton's Captain Cook Bicentenary Road, to the summit of North Brother Mountain, almost 500 metres above sea level.

It was quite foggy when we reached the summit yet, almost on cue, once we stepped out of the car the clouds moved off the rainforest-covered mountain and we were treated to a spectacular view of the coastline, the town of Laurieton, and the lakes and mouth of the Camden Haven River.

It’s reputedly one of Australia’s most impressive coastal panoramas – and, hey, you’ll get no argument from me!

Klaatu, are you out there?

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia about Laurieton: A Catalina seaplane carrying entertainer Bob Hope was forced to make an emergency landing on the Camden Haven River adjacent to Laurieton on August 14, 1944. Hope was returning to Sydney after entertaining troops in Guam. The local postmaster lent him money for his hotel bills after the luggage was jettisoned. An impromptu party was held, and the next day Hope and his entourage travelled by road to Newcastle and flew from there to Sydney. Bob Hope maintained contact with the residents of Laurieton for decades afterwards.


For more images of North Brother Mountain, see the 2006 Wild Reed post:
Afternoon