Page 5 of Trabern Travel Blog Posts


Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » South West Rocks January 4th 2024

Eat, sleep, repeat! Today was pretty much the same as yesterday! We didn’t need anything from the supermarket, so the truck didn’t get to go out today. Otherwise, we walked again in the morning and swam in the afternoon. Walking back from our swim we spotted a sizeable water dragon sunning itself on a rock beside Saltwater Creek. While we were relaxing during the afternoon it was to news that there is rain in Victoria and rain has delayed play in the Third Test in Sydney. It is hard to imagine as the weather is glorious again today in South West Rocks! Lucky us. Tonight, we went to the Thai restaurant, Thai on the Rocks, for dinner before returning to Chillati Gelato for dessert. We had to find a new walking route back to the motel ... read more
An ultralight aircraft over Trial Bay
Storm clouds over Trial Bay
Fire Wheel Tree

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » South West Rocks January 3rd 2024

This morning a friend tagged us with the NSW Health advice that they are advising people who have been in Sydney CBD area in the past 10 days to be on alert for symptoms of Legionnaire’s disease after seven people who have developed the disease spent time in the area in the last three weeks. Oh well, wait and see, I guess. At least it is not contagious person to person so we don’t have to isolate because we may have been exposed!! So, South West Rocks, why South West Rocks? We really enjoyed Sawtell when we visited last year and we could have returned to Sawtell. However, when we were in NSW in 2019 the staff member at the Visitor Information Centre in Muswellbrook extolled the virtues of South West Rocks so we decided when ... read more
Trial Bay Front Beach
Back Creek at twilight
Looking towards the mouth of Back Creek

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » South West Rocks January 2nd 2024

This morning, we woke to the news that there have been a number of cases of Legionnaires Disease linked to Sydney CBD. Yup, pretty much in the zone where we have been wandering around the last two days. So, we heard this on the news and then Bernie’s father rang us to make sure we knew about the Legionnaire’s outbreak in Sydney CBD. Ah well, now if we end up developing respiratory symptoms it will be a toss-up as to whether we have COVID or Legionnaire’s Disease! Hopefully we will succumb to neither. After breakfast downstairs in the dining room, it was time to pack up again and get all of our luggage back into the car … with no luggage trolley in sight to facilitate this! We manhandled our bags back downstairs where Bernie left ... read more

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Darling Harbour January 1st 2024

After our very late night/early morning we had a very lazy day today! We ventured back into the city heading for Kathmandu. We found that their toilet bags were on special again so purchased another toilet bag for Tracey … for the overflow toiletries. It’s handy to have a second toilet bag to organize the toiletries, etc that aren’t in use every day! After checking out the Christmas tree in Martin Place, we found our way into H&M where Bernie found some short-sleeved casual shirts that he liked. He really wanted another pair of shorts from Fjällräven so he asked Syri to guide us there. Unfortunately, they did not have a sale on BUT they did have the shorts Bernie really likes in a different colour. Sometimes if you really like something it is worth paying ... read more
Christmas Tree, Martin Place
Martin Place
Queen Victoria Building

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney December 31st 2023

Having been to Sydney before we had decided that there really wasn’t anything in particular that we wanted to see on this trip. We opted instead to catch the light rail/tram thingy into the CBD and browse the Boxing Day/Near Year sales. We shopped in Myer and Tracey purchased a few tops and a dress at 40% off. Bernie found convenient seats to sit on while he played on his mobile phone. He definitely finds that shopping is less of a chore these days with his mobile phone to entertain him while he waits, ha, ha. Bernie received a news update on his phone about 11.00am to say that the Opera House forecourt was already full of NYE sightseers and that no more people would be admitted. WTF, it’s still 13 hours until the fireworks!! We ... read more
Waiting to set sail.
Leaving Darling Harbour
Sydney Harbour Bridge from Barangaroo

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Darling Harbour December 30th 2023

We received an email yesterday from friends we met on our South American holiday thanking us for the Christmas card we sent. Yin and Gabriel live in northern Sydney, so we emailed back to let them know that we are going to be in Sydney for the NYE fireworks before heading further up the coast on the 2ndof January. After a couple of emails back and forth yesterday we confirmed this morning that we will meet them for lunch on Tuesday before we drive up to South West Rocks. We packed the car and drove over to the blowhole for a quick look. This morning, we were there about an hour before high tide and have to say that there was no appreciable difference in the spout! The sky was blue however as opposed to overcast ... read more
Cathedral Rocks, Kiama.
Minnamurra Rainforest Walk
Minnamurra Falls

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Kiama December 29th 2023

This morning, we visited the Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre before we left Cooma behind us. We were just in time for the day’s first introductory talk and ‘virtual flyover’ experience in the theatrette. It was interesting to hear some details about the Snowy Scheme’s history before learning about Snowy 2.0 and to appreciate the sheer size of the project on the 14-metre-wide screen and floor projections. The Centre’s displays include a three-metre model of the tunnel boring machine which was fascinating BUT no-one could tell us how many people it takes to operate it?! Bernie had decided on the scenic route to Kiama on the minor roads via Braidwood. He checked this route on Google Maps AND Apple Maps and neither of these sources indicated that we would encounter any difficulties. Just out of Cooma we ... read more
Tianjara Falls
Tianjara Valley
Kiama Post Office


Today we drove across to Thredbo from Cooma. But first it was an early morning trip over the road to Tyrepower to see about the screw in the tyre. Fortunately, the screw seemed to be plugging the hole it had made and the tyre had not gone flat overnight. Bernie had it over to Tyrepower just after 8.00am … and wasn’t the first person in with a puncture!! What is with the state of NSW roads?? Unless it’d been in the tyre since Melbourne … Drouin … Marlo?? Who knows?! The tyre guy told Bernie he could have it fixed in half an hour, so Bernie headed back across the road to eat breakfast while the plug was being done. Whoa, barely fifteen minutes later and Bernie had the call to say the tyre was fixed. ... read more
Selfie with Australia’s tallest peak behind us
Mount Kosciuszko Walk
Mount Kosciuszko Walk

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Cooma December 27th 2023

This morning we woke to the news that a woman drowned in flash flooding that swept through the caravan park at Buchan yesterday afternoon. The weather was bad in Marlo last night but up in the ranges it was much, much worse. It was terrible to hear news of a fatality not far from where we were. It was much finer this morning, and it was hard to reconcile it with the severity of the weather event that occurred last night. I think out on the coast we caught only the edge of the storm front(s) that swept through yesterday afternoon and evening. We made ourselves a self-catered breakfast which we were able to enjoy on our verandah before re-packing the truck to head north over the Great Dividing Range. Before heading north, though, we drove ... read more
The mouth of the Snowy River, Marlo, Victoria
Orbost Visitor Centre
Cape Conran

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Gippsland December 26th 2023

Today it was Christmas Take 2 with us heading off for Boxing Day lunch at the Club Hotel in Warragul with Bernie’s parents, Helen and Ian, Bernie’s brother, Michael and my sister, Kerry. Ate too much AGAIN! I ordered the pulled pork burger that had coleslaw on the inside and coleslaw and chips on the side. So much coleslaw! I don’t really understand serving it as a side when it is already in the ‘burger’?? I should have ordered from the Senior’s menu to try to ensure a smaller meal because I have so much guilt about not finishing what’s on my plate BUT … I know it’s not good for me to overeat either. After lunch we commenced our road trip in earnest. Despite very threatening black clouds we only experienced a brief shower between ... read more




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