The weather is much cooler with intermittent sunshine. Winter seems to be arriving early this year. Northampton is a charming National Trust-classified town established in 1848 which is about as old at it gets in this part of the world. There is some splendid architecture here – grand stone buildings with wide verandas and olde worlde stores with corrugated tin awnings seem incongruous in this country of the prefab. The Old Convent, now a provider of budget accommodation and the pretty ‘gothic’ style Catholic St Mary’s Church next door are wonderful examples of the 20th century designs of Monsignor Hawes, a English-born Catholic priest who spent 27 years of his life in Australia and left his mark in several towns around the mid-west. The interior of the church is more like a chapel but for the images of Christ on the cross and St John holding the baby Jesus, which dominate its small interior. But it is a bank holiday and only the visitors centre – housed in the old Police Station – and a couple of petrol stations are open, so we decide to come back tomorrow for a more thorough look around.
On to Horrocks, a little, slightly untidy, seaside village with a smelly, seaweed-strewn beach and a reef just offshore. It’s rather overcast as we take a short stroll along the beach. On the way back to the car park we discover a covered picnic area with sink, tables and – unbelievably – two working electric sockets. It seems rude to pass up this golden opportunity to charge up the laptops and camera and brew up in the meantime.
We return to last night’s camp ground collecting some firewood along the way.