New South Wales 19 January to 4 February 2011

---

Well we have finally decided that we cannot get to Queensland at the moment because of the terrible flooding. We have therefore decided that we will head South from Sydney to Melbourne and have hired a car for a month so that we can take our time and relax a little on the journey. We intend to follow the Pacific Highway along the coastal road stopping where we fancy and staying if we want to. Before we set off we enjoyed another couple of days at the Citigate Hotel which was located near to Darling Harbour, a lovely part of Sydney which Paul particular liked because of all those ‘boats’. I remember Christine Ward saying that Peter liked this area when they were here a few years ago and now I see why! We did a little more sightseeing and had a couple of meals overlooking the lovely harbour area with the street performers keeping us entertained for free. We have got to know Sydney quite well having stayed in three different locations but I think we will not be returning again, well not on this trip anyway! We had planned to leave a bag of things we will not need in Oz at our friends in Brisbane but as we are now not going that way until later in the year we have decided to pack up a parcel and send it home. This was quite easy to organize at the Post Office and have sent it ‘by sea’ as this is cheaper but it will take 3 months but that is no problem, it is great that we have lightened our load for the rest of our journey (hopefully it will arrive). We also thought that we would purchase a Satnav to help us around Oz (mainly for the cities) as most hire cars do not have them and we found one so useful in NZ. The concierge at the hotel directed us to the best shop nearby and we had no trouble getting one which indeed proved useful just getting us out of Sydney! As soon as we left the city we were almost immediately in one of the numerous National Parks (NSW has 820 protected areas). Within minutes of the centre of Sydney you find harbour side native bushland parks and aquatic reserves. We traveled along the Pacific Highway for miles with nothing but forest on each side of the road until we finally pulled into a small settlement called Berry named in 1890 in honour of Shoalhaven’s first European settler Alexander Berry. The picturesque settlement had cafes, a museum, craft shops, galleries and antiques shop as well as people!! They did not however have a Information Centre so after coffee and cake we continued to Nowra a little further on down the coast. This has a large Information Centre and we made enquiries about accommodation in the area. We did not want to stop in motels but find self catering accommodation and they said that there were a few but as it was January and the busiest period lots were fully booked. However they had just had a cottage come on their books and gave us the telephone number of ‘Paradise Cottage’ which was located in Sanctuary Point near Jervis Bay Marine National Park. We called the owners and they said that it was available and we agreed to take it for five days but they asked us not to arrive until 4ish as they needed to get it ready! We finally arrived at the cottage which was in an ideal location overlooked a lake in Saint George’s Basin. It had large gardens and verandahs at both the front and back of the cottage. The verandah at the back of the house had steps down into a tree lined green which led down to the lake a truly lovely setting. Inside there were two bedrooms, bathroom and a large living area including kitchen and separate dining room. Indeed lots of space inside but the whole house and furniture was so out of date (around the 1950’s) and needed a complete refurbish. The cottage had a musty smell and looked like no-one had lived in it for quite a while, but the owners had said that tenants had just left and had been in it for a year!! We decided to stay but had to wash all the dishes before we could use them; the bed linen was fine though which was the main thing and we did not have to resort to the travel silk liners we had bought with us just in case.. It was quite strange having a whole cottage to ourselves but we soon got used to all the space. With the windows open wide (which we could do because they all had mesh to keep out the insects) the cottage aired out quickly. We also picked lavender and herbs from the garden which we placed in all the rooms and my sister Frances said to sprinkle Obas Oil around, which we did and this soon made the cottage smell fresher. The owners brought around a bottle of local wine and said that if we wanted to ‘sail’ we could use their boat at the bottom of the garden. It was a shame he did not have a ‘motor boat’ as we would have taken him up on his offer (Paul would need Bob’s help to sail)! That evening we sat on the back verandah with a glass of wine/beer and had a gentle stroll down to the lake – pure heaven. The verandah of the cottage next door was covered in Australian flags as ‘Australia Day’ was approaching at the end of the month which is a national holiday here. Everyone seems to join in with the celebrations and many houses and cars were decked with flags and special events were taking place in the towns with lots of organized barbecue breakfasts. The next day we set off to explore Booderee National Park where we were told that the forest, bays and beaches were great for swimming, bushwalking and bird watching. We had already noticed the colourful parrots in the area; you could not miss them actually as they made quite a noise. On reaching the National Park we had to pay a small entrance fee which was valid for 48 hours and we proceeded into the park which ‘surprise surprise’ had sealed roads. We headed for Green Patch Beach where we were hoping to see kangaroos which frequent the area and also the brilliant coloured Rosellas and Rainbow Lorikeets. We saw both of the latter but did not see any kangaroos - they were probably all asleep sheltering from the heat. The bay was idyllic, crystal clear waters with a river running into one end of the bay which was also clear blue and the forest behind the river. Most of the beaches in the park have picnic areas under the trees with free electric barbecues and camping just a short walk from the beach, a lovely way to spend the day. We snorkeled off the end of the beach but although there was a variety of fish and a couple of jellyfish there was not much else to see. However we stayed in the water for ages and were lucky enough to see a couple of dolphins swimming a little further out to sea but they did not come closer to shore. Apparently these resident dolphins are a frequent sight in the Jervis Bay Marine National Park. As we were leaving the beach we noticed the river had started to turn a very vivid red colour (no we had not had a drink) which was really strange. We asked a local chap and he said that this was due to the tannin from the leaves that were dropping into the creek further up stream, this was a quite natural and did not affect the water at all, a bit strange swimming in red water though!. Where the creek water met the sea that also started to change to red along the shore line, not something we had ever seen before. A local said that it sometimes covered the whole of the edge of the sea right across the length of the bay. The next day we decided to return to the National Park and visit Murray Beach a little further along the coast from Green Patch (these National Parks are extremely large and cover huge areas). The beach here was just as lovely and we spent the day swimming and relaxing and not doing much else. It was so easy to get to the beaches located within this National Park, you just had to park the car in the parks provided and walk through a small forested area before you got a glimpse of the beach down the track with most of the beaches edged by forest and shrub. Whilst in the area we also visited Hyams Beach which boasts the whitest sand in the world and it truly was very white. We also visited Vincentia and Huskisson the latter being the gateway town for exploring Jervis Bay and had a relaxed seaside atmosphere and a pretty little harbour. In the evenings we would sit on the verandah of our cottage with a glass or two, watch locals fishing in the lake below and listen to the ever present cicadas as the sun set over the lake. Colourful birds were everywhere and every now and then we would be visited by a couple of noisy Kookaburras who were not afraid of you and let you get quite close. The last time we had seen these birds was in Marwell Zoo near Winchester, it was a real treat to see them in the wild. We could have stayed in this area forever but it was time to move on again………… We paid the owners and they gave us a small refund because of the ‘state’ of the cottage but that being said you could not have wished for a better location. We packed our bags and headed south passing through the Conjola National Park, again each side of the road was just forest and nothing much else, apart from a few ‘dead’ kangaroos. We planned to stop at a place called Pebbly Beach, where on hot days’ live’ kangaroos would bound along the beach and take a cooling dip in the surf. Looking at the map I thought we had to go along Pebbly Beach Road but as soon as Paul turned off the Pacific Highway the road turned into an unsealed road which got very narrow and we could not turn around…. We travelled along this track with huge potholes for ages and were getting quite despondent as we were not supposed to take the hire car ‘off road’ so we were hoping that we did not get a puncture or breakdown. We saw a huge lizard cross the track and the forest was closing in fast but still the road still went on……………... Paul then decided to take the map off me and said that the road was a ‘forest road’ which was even worse than an unsealed road…….my mistake!!!!!!! We were still ‘just’ speaking when we eventually met ‘tarmac’ but never did get to Pebbly Beach which was a shame. We continued on and stopped at the town of Bodalla for coffee and cake, which had a quaint main street graced with century-old buildings including the All Saints Church designed in 1880 by Edmund Blacket which was quite interesting. We continued on to Narooma and called into the Information Centre to see what accommodation was available in the area. They directed us to Horizon Apartments which were quite newly built and we booked in for five nights. The apartments were large, light and modern and although ours did not have a view they were conveniently located to the main surf beach and the town centre. Later we walked down to the beach where Paul had a swim in the surf whilst I watched as I am not too keen on surf beaches; across the ocean you could see Montague Island a nature reserve with historic lighthouse such a lovely location. Lifeguards patrol most of these surf beaches and you have to swim between the flags which most people do although you do get some…….. We spent a pleasant few days in the area exploring Narooma which had calm coves, waterways and clear turquoise waters. We walked along the Mill Bay Boardwalk and saw stingrays swimming directly underneath. Locals were fishing from the side of the boardwalk whilst others were heading out to sea for bigger fish. Narooma is close to the continental shelf, where game fish abound and the town offered many game fishing charters. The town had plenty of shops selling local seafood at waterfront restaurants and takeaways which only served locally caught fish that was delicious. We also travelled inland to visit Central Tilba and Tilba Tilba a National Trust classified historic village with Mount Dromedary towering behind. Central Tilba preserves 19th Century weatherboard architecture with tree lined streets full of shops and cafes. In the afternoon we visited Mystery Bay one of our favourite beaches so far, very similar to Cornish beaches with cliffs, rock pools and golden soft sand. We were hoping to see the Weedy Sea Dragons that live in seagrass meadows which flourish in clear water in this area but they are so well camouflaged with lobes of skin that resemble seaweed and all we found was seaweed or so we thought! We had been lucky to see a couple in the Aquarium in Darling Harbour, Sydney and they are quite spectacular, very similar looking to sea horses, quite unique. That reminds me, I do not think I mentioned in a previous blog that we had also managed to seen a couple of dugongs at the Sydney Aquarium, we had always wanted to see these in the wild particularly when we visited Belize in 2009 - but after spending a day in a boat on a river looking for them gave up! Back to Oz - on our last day in Eden we travelled to Bermagui and spent a pleasant time walking to Camel Rock, along the harbour and lazing on the beach. We had a delightful chat to a lady who said she was from the UK but the last time she was there was when Princess Margaret got married!! We left Narooma and continued our journey heading down the tourist coastal route travelling through the Mimosa Rocks National Park and passing through Tathra, Merimbula and Pambula but not finding anywhere we wanted to stay. We continued on to a place called Eden which looked nice and called into the Information Centre where they gave us details of three self catering properties. We went to the first one which had a very surly lady who gave us the costs which were quite high for the location so we continued to the next one which was called Eagle Heights where we met Lisa who with her husband Dan managed the ten properties on the site. She said that a few guests had left that day so she had three empty units and said she would show us around. Eagle Heights was in a quiet location with incredible views, perched on the cliff overlooking Twofold Bay you probably could not find a better location. All the units were two bedrooms with views of varying degree overlooking the bay and ocean. Well the first one she showed us had a view to die for from every room with a balcony which also overlooked the swimming pool and cliff top gazebo barbecue area – guess which one I wanted. She gave us a good rate for a 5 night stay and so we took this unit and quickly settled in. Later in the day Lisa and Dan brought their children, Charley 4 and Kyle 2 down to the pool for a swimming lesson, they were lovely children and experts in the water. Charley reminded us of Maisie a few years ago (same confidence and never ending chatter!) Lisa mentioned that she forgot to tell us that our rooms also came with a dog but we said we had already met her. Rani, was a 7 year old golden Labrador and she came up to our balcony often, particularly when we were having a barbecue, she seemed to be able to smell food wherever she was in the huge grounds. One day we went out for a walk and she followed us along the cliff top and would not go back. However we were horrified when she disappeared over the cliff top, we called and called but she did not come back. We wondered up and sat on some seats at the top and waited for about 15 minutes when she finally turned up, very wet indeed, she had somehow managed to reach the ocean on the rocks below. Not sure how though as it was a steep cliff face, she followed us back to Eagle Heights and trotted off looking for a drink. Later when we spoke to Lisa she said she wondered how she managed to get wet before and thought she had just gone down to the wharf, but obviously had found a way down the cliff face instead. We would often get up late in this lovely location and eat breakfast overlooking the ocean watching eagles flying along the cliff top right in front of us whilst boats bobbed in the deep harbour below – bliss. Eagle Heights was in such an ideal location, overlooking Eden which had many beaches, one for surfing, one for swimming as well as numerous other small coves. It also was a large Port, home to one of the largest fishing fleets in NSW renowned for its excellent deep sea fishing with a fleet of fishing trawlers operating daily from Snug Cove. It was the hub for vessels to call into when they enter the crystal clear waters of Twofold Bay, one of the deepest natural harbours in the world. We often wandered down to the wharf and watched the fishermen unloading their catch for dispatch to Sydney and Melbourne. We bought some local kingfish and prawns which we barbecued later on the cliff top gazebo barbecue overlooking the ocean and it was delicious. One morning we met one of the Pilots who worked on the wharf and chatted to him for ages, he had just dragged up an old anchor and one of the other fisherman asked him what he was going to do with it and he said that he was going to ‘do it up for his own yacht’ (only joking though - it was so rusty it would take forever). He showed us his 40ft yacht in the harbour which he had purchased for a bargain price of $8000 and had spent time doing it up, it was his pride and joy and we could see why. We spent lazy days not doing much as the weather was still really hot and you could not stay on the beach long so we decided that we would purchase a sunshade like a small tent which is Factor 50 and we could keep this with us whilst we travelled around as it folded up quite small. We found this to be extremely useful not only to keep out of the sun but also the wind. We mainly stayed in Eden but one day we drove out to Boydtown nearby which was the site of Ben Boyd’s 1840 whaling town. Since 1843, the Scottish entrepreneur’s legacies to Eden lie in the ruins of his incomplete church, tower and Seahorse Inn, a landmark right on the shores and which had just undergone a complete refurbish. We wandered around and hardly saw anyone apart from some grey and pink parrots which I think were called Galah on the lawn in front of the Inn. Such grand building seemed quite out of place in this deserted area. The day before we were due to leave Lisa said that we may have to stay longer as the Pacific Highway was closed due to a huge bush fire and this was the main route into Victoria. What next we thought, although, we were now so glad that we had not gone to Queensland as Hurricane Yasi had devastated the area, the largest cyclone in living history. The news channels were showing the damage to properties, boats and crops throughout the region, it would take a long time for the people to recover from this. Banana and Sugar plantations had been completely destroyed which will cause shortages throughout Australia. Julia Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister and Anna Bligh the Queensland Premier kept repeating that the Queenslanders were made of strong stuff; they are going to have to be to cope with such a horrific disaster. The Australian’s are really suffering with many natural disasters this year throughout the country. Indeed the weather pattern in both NZ and Oz was very unpredictable this year - wild weather everywhere. We had just seen on the news more flooding in New Zealand, Mount Maunganui where we had parked our motorhome a month ago was completely under water. On our last day in Eden we went for a walk around Curalo Lagoon and even though it was overcast we enjoyed this boardwalk around the lake but did not see anyone the whole way around. We then drove to one end of Asling Beach a long surf beach and walked the whole length which was quite hard on the soft sand and took a good 40 minutes one way (good for the thigh muscles!). Finally we arrived at the end where the river merged into the sea and were lucky to see some dolphins playing in the surf we had still not hardly seen another person though! Paul said that he read that there are about 22 million people in Australia and comparing this with 17 million in Holland it is no wonder that you can go for miles without seeing anyone in this vast country. Later Lisa popped in to see us to say that the bushfire in Victoria was finally under control and the road was now opened so we could move on – shame! On our last night a couple of fishermen who were staying with their families in the next unit brought us some fish they had caught which they said was Benito and tasted like Tuna, it looked good. We did not have the heart to say that we had just eaten a fish supper and that we could not take it with us in the car. We put it in the freezer and it reminded us of the time we spent in Portugal with Sharon, Geoff, Kerry and Cliff many years ago before Maisie was born. The ‘boys’ had gone out to get fish for us to barbecue and had come back with enough fish to feed us 10 times over so we popped some of that in the freezer and left it there when we left………. We loved our stay in Eden, it was truly one of the best places we had stayed and yet again it was sad to move on. We said goodbye to Lisa, Dan, Rani (the dog) Charley and Kyle, the latter two just going off to school. It was Lisa birthday that day and we presented her with a ‘frozen fish’ and set off into new territory as we were going to leave New South Wales and head into the State of Victoria – see you

---