The Worlds Biggest, Rarest, Highest, Only .... (in Australia)

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17th April 2008 - 1st May 2008

Coolangatta - Byron Bay - Coffs Harbour - Dorrigo - Port MacQuarie - Hunter Valley - Sydney - Blue Mountains - Kiama - Pebbly Beach - Canberra

Standing at the state border of New South Wales and Queensland on Boundary Road, Coolangatta, we took a photo of the oversized marker and enjoyed what was to be our last bit of sunshine for sometime before moving on to rain soaked Byron Bay.

First thing we did in this 'hippie hideout' town was drive up to its iconic lighthouse. The lighthouse is the most easterly point in Australia and just as we reached the furthermost point from our van the sky turned grey and we were caught offguard without raincoat or umbrella and were drenched from head to foot. This was to set the scene for the next few days as the rain barely ceased. Camping is not so much fun in the rain and the sound of raindrops on the van roof soon changes from being soothing and relaxing to downright noisy and frequently woke us up.

After two days of torrential rain we had done all the shopping and internet we could so there was little point in staying as the bad weather was only due to continue. We moved on to Coffs Harbour where a brief window of sunshine allowed us to visit the 'Big Banana'. Even before we reached Coffs (as the Aussies call it) we stopped in Grafton to look at the 'Big Shrimp' (above a seafood shop). You may be beginning to realise that the 'Big' theme is quite, well... big here! The shrimp was very big but you couldn't climb it which is always a fun thing to do. The Big Banana I think was one of the original 'Big' things and was built in the 1960s. The reason for it is that it is sited on a banana plantation although rides, ice-skating and a cinema seem to have overtaken in importance. You couldn't exactly climb the banana but we did walk through it. Its not just big things that Australia boasts about, they have the rarest plants, highest lighthouses, the only beach highway in the world, the list is endless!!

After we left Coffs it started to rain again so we thought it logical to head for Dorrigo and visit a rainforest. They have a skywalk over the rainforest which on a good day you can see for miles, it wasn't a good day. We did walk through the base of the rainforest though which was great, we really felt as though we were in the middle of the Amazon and not on a walking path minutes from the main road. Before reaching our rest stop we had a cuppa at a 'Driver Reviver' and visited a 'Honey Place' to discover that Claire hates honey - we felt a little bad about that. Once at the rest stop I took my shoes and socks off and was confused to see so much blood! A tiny little leach had died while having a massive final feast!

The sun was shining when we woke up the next morning so we got ready quickly and drove to Port MacQuarie. We visited the small museum that explained its' history of a convict settlement and had various props of times gone by. It was quite interesting and well done but the upstairs nursey display was very disturbing and had a baby on the bed that would have looked right at home in either the Exorcist or Chuckie films! We had a walk around town and then went to a Koala sanctuary. We learnt that koalas have two thumbs and three fingers and are prone to 'wet bottom' and conjunctavitis as well as speeding traffic. There were quite a few permanent residents and others just there for treatment. Before leaving Port MacQuarie we had a walk along the esplanade where the rocks by the edge of the sea have been painted by various individuals which looked great and some were quite amusing. We left early afternoon to drive through horrendous rainstorms to our destination the Hunter Valley. On the way we came across 'Ayers Rock Roadhouse'. It is a service station with a huge Ayers Rock on its' roof - it was awesome! We couldn't climb it though, I think it was closed for maintenance.

The Hunter Valley is famous for its' wine and has over 120 wineries where you can sample them from and our aim was to sample as many as possible in just two days! Claire drove the first day and I quaffed several glasses of wine at several vineyards until long after my palate failed to distinguish one from another. I drove the following day and Claire picked up from where I left off. Although there does appear to be some snobbery remaining at certain vineyards, most were relaxed and casual, in particular Petersons Champagne House and Wright Family Wines where there was no pressure to buy. Two days of basically getting pissed and stocking up the van (we did buy some wine) and we headed off to Sydney, stopping twice at different Driver Revivers - you can't drive by if they are open is the new rule!

Absolutely chucking it on arrival as it had been the whole time in the Hunter Valley, however, the forecast was good for the next couple of days. The next day was a public holiday (ANZAC Day) and there was a game of rugby at the nearby Sydney Olympic Stadium between the 'Dragons' and the 'Roosters'. We decided to go but visited Palm Beach first in the morning. Palm Beach is better known as Summer Bay from Home and Away. We posed for lots of photos near the Summer Bay Surf Club and were probably a little too excited to see 'A.Stewarts' name above the door! The rugby was ok, only 20,000 there to fill 80,000 seats so the atmosphere was a little flat. The next day we got a bus and then a train into central Sydney from our campsite and hit as many sights as we could in one very full day. It was an exhausting day but the weather was perfect, as though it had been waiting for our arrival. Anyway, the day went something like this: Luna Park (iconic old fashioned theme park with wooden rollercoaster and funny mirrors), Harbour Bridge (most impressive of all the sights), Opera House (including performance of 'Swoon' outside on the steps), The Rocks (oldest part of Sydney now the trendy area), ferry to Manly Beach (including fish and chips), ferry back to Circular Quays, walk through the botanical gardens to Mrs MacQuaries Chair (good spot for sunset pictures of the Bridge and Opera House here), Kings Cross (big Coca Cola sign and strip joints), Darling Harbour (old docks now restaurants and bars), home to campsite, cuppa tea and bed - phew! Slept well.

Had a little lie in and awoke to sunshine for the second day running. Our legs not up to another day traipsing around Sydney so we decided to pack Chubby up and drive an hour to the Blue Mountains. We visited the touristy 'Three Sisters' first, three rocks jutting out from the side of the mountain amidst a huge forrested gully, just in time to take a few photos before the weather took a sharp turn for the worse. It was raining pretty bad by the time we got back to our rather shabby council run campsite with a very poor kitchen that felt like we were cooking in public toilets! We had purchased some beanies in Sydney as we knew it was going to be cold but we weren't expecting to be wearing them in bed! Had a walk around the main town of Katoomba the next day and visited a few other lookouts before stopping at Leura for cream teas on the way out of the Blue Mountains.

The drive south took us along the Grand Pacific Drive which hugs the coastline and at one section a 'cliff edge bridge' has been erected where we did a u-turn so we could drive it again. Next stop was Kiama which is a pleasant town in its' own right but is famous for its' blowhole. There is a hole in the rocks by the lighthouse where the sea regularly pounds causing a vertical surge of sea spray. The sun was out so we continued to Seven Mile Beach where we had a cup of tea and relaxed in our chairs for an hour or so relishing being warm again. Late afternoon we turned off the main highway and bumped along an unsealed road for several kms to Pebbly Beach where the beach has no pebbles! It does have lots of kangaroos and wallabies though! They seem quite used to human presence and it was amazing to be able to get so close observing them in their natural habitat, which being a beach made for awesome photos! After enjoying the warmth for the day that night we freezed our arses off! The temperature dropped to -2 and wearing t-shirts, beanies, thick socks (another recent purchase) and wrapping ourselves in both sleeping bags didn't stop us from feeling the bitter cold - we even had ice on the back window!

Our route took us inland after here as we wanted to visit the capital Canberra. First thing we did there, apart from get lost as it's like driving around Milton Keynes, was go to the War Memorial. The memorial lists all the Australian soldiers who have died in various conflicts over the last 100 years or so. As it had recently been ANZAC Day there were hundreds of poppies attached next to the names on the walls. Next to the memorial is the very impressive War Museum which until recently had focused on the 1st and 2nd World Wars but has now been extended to cover conflicts post 1945 including Afghanistan and Iraq. We arrived at 1pm and were ushered out at 5pm as it was closing but we still hadn't seen everything. On the way back to the campsite we decided to visit the old Parliament building and the 'Aboriginal Parliament' opposite. The Aboriginals have set up camp here and have been protesting for 36 years (the longest protest in the world!!). We went to the Australia Museum the next day and spent an enjoyable and interactive three hours learning lots of Australian stuff like the fact that the word 'POM' is definitely not an acronym of 'Prisoner of Mother England'! We could have stayed longer but we wanted to get back to the War Memorial to finish off the bits we missed. That was it for Canberra really, there was loads more we could have done and we left liking the place but we had to keep moving as a certain Mr Ned Kelly was waiting for us in Victoria!

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Photos

Dorrigo skywalk
What a view!

Comments

[Boon]

OMG!
You're wearing your West Ham shirt I bought you! Yay! (easily amused) What's with the possum in the frying pan dude?!