It was a slow and sad farewell to Mum and Dad as we prepared to pull out of the driveway. The two kids had different emotions; Jade not wanting to go and Henry eager to get in his seat and get Honky started.
WE HEAD SOUTH
Our plan was to head south along the coast road, all the way into Melbourne. We had to be there in just under two weeks, as we’d booked to go on the ferry to Tassie. Although that was plenty of time, we did want to take it slower and enjoy some of the country as we travelled.
Our first stop was Kiama. We opted for a caravan park, right on the river with a short bike-ride to the beach. We also caught up with our friends from Mudgee. It was great to be out of the big smoke.
Kiama and the surrounding areas are absolutely stunning with green, rolling hills right down to the ocean. We made the most of our time there, visiting all the tourist spots including the Blow Hole, Gerringong and Berry.
We parted company with our friends at Berry and headed south. We pushed on; Nowra then Ulladulla and finally decided to stay at Batemans Bay. We keep learning the hard way; the trip was far too long for the kids, they both had a meltdown, needing food and a bath urgently, so it was a car park for us that night. Being rushed, however, and in the dark, we didn’t look too closely at where we were. The local pool is probably the busiest place in town at 6.30am in the morning, with all the swimmers arriving for training and we had parked right amongst it all. A bit hard to look inconspicuous in a bus! We decided not to stay for breakfast and took off in quite a hurry.
We then pushed on to a great little town called Bodalla.
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The same little place where where the famous Bodalla cheese started off about 100 years ago. It was only a tiny, little town but, set in the most picturesque valley, as you come out of the mountains. It was so green and lush. Narooma was another great little town, as was Bermagui.
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The south coast of NSW turned out to be an amazing find; full of hidden treasures that are rarely talked about. At Bermagui we headed to the local rock pool. A huge pool carved into the rocks, right on the water’s edge and filled with salt water. Jade was amazed, instantly proclaiming this was the best place we have been to so far!
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(It’s a great feeling to see their faces light up when they see something special.) The water in the pool was freezing and the wind was blowing hard, fast and bitterly cold but, both of them were in that water without hesitation. They lasted a while too, having a great time picking the sea snails off the pool wall. When they finally got out, they spent ages climbing all over the rocks exploring the sea creatures and rock formations.
When we arrived in Central Tilba, for something different, we hit the markets. I don’t know what caused it, the thin air or the salt water but, something came over me and I bought my fist pair of Hippy pants. What is happening to me???!!!!
The final leg of our Southern NSW trip was to Eden. On the way we passed through a small town called Tathra, a very nice looking, little town right on the beach; but the road out of town was quite a challenge.
Leading up to this trip, I had been concerned about the road up the range to Dorrigo. Then I was concerned about the road up and down from Lithgow to Sydney. But, compared with the road out of Tathra, the other ‘concerns’ I’d had, were as nothing! This road was probably the steepest and most winding to date; with the added “bonus” of a very tight, hair-pin bend. We were very lucky that there was no oncoming traffic.
From Tathra, we headed into Merimbula and there, experienced the eerie falling of a ‘white-out’. Michelle was looking out into the distance and saw, what looked like, smoke. All of a sudden, there appeared a very thick, white-looking cloud covering the whole area.
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It was engulfing everything in its path, and was so thick you could no longer see the river. We could not see more than 20 metres or so in front of us. Apparently it was a Sea Fog, not seen here for years, but this was the second one in a week!
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From here we pushed on to Eden; very, very quiet. Apparently, the buzz is all around Merimbula and people tend to forget about Eden. It was an amazing place and we camped right near the beach at Boydtown, we had million dollar views for $15 a night.
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will be coming back to read more.