A Tuppence Worth Traditional Cache

The Story

You used to “Feed the Birds” for tuppence in a 1964 film called “Mary Poppins”, however tuppence in Port Macquarie has quite a different connotation as the locals immediately think of Tuppenny Road at Flynns Beach.

You see Tuppenny Road is a small road with a big story.  It all started when a fella named Bob Stanfield, publican of the Royal Hotel and President of the Port Macquarie Surf Club, wanted to honour men of the Surf Club who served during World War II, for their great deeds and valour - 72 of 74 active members of the Surf Club had enlisted and he wanted to show them that the Port Macquarie community had not been inactive whilst they were away.  Thus the road was dedicated to these men.

Money for a road and later the surf clubhouse, was not readily available during the war years, so Bob Stanfield came up with an idea of fund raising for the projects by charging 1 shilling instead of 10 pence for a packet of cigarettes, with the two pence change going into collection boxes at the Royal Hotel. There were also many donations far exceeding two pence and in total some £1200 was donated.

With enough money raised, work on the road commenced in December 1944 with a bulldozer cutting the roadway from one end of Flynn’s Beach to the other through virgin scrub.  Apart from serving the necessary purpose of a drive down to the beach, the new road was described as a ‘scenic wonder’.

So next time you drive down Tuppenny Road please give a thought to those who served in World War II and how a humble start was made with tuppence from the sale of cigarettes which led to the building and naming of Tuppenny Road.

The Cache

A Mighty Mega Bison has been hidden at the top of a protruding rocky outcrop. The best access to the cache is by stepping down to the beach from the given Trailhead WPT, then heading to the left climbing around the rocks of the headland. You will see a narrow path once around the rocks going down and then steeply up the cliff. Be careful here as the rocks are slippery when wet, the grassy slope is also slippery with even just a little bit of moisture on it and the smaller rocks and dirt give way at any time. I have cleared the track up the cliff of encroaching vegetation with my trusty machete, but I'm sure it will quickly grow back, so trim it as you go up to keep it under control.