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Published: April 2nd 2006
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After a couple weekends of catching up on house cleaning, yard work and marking, we ventured south to join other exchange teachers from around the world in the
Shoalhaven area of NSW.
Our weekend began with us heading south toward Sydney at 4:00 on Friday afternoon. We were in for traffic and we knew it! Unfortunately, the main freeway from Gosford to Sydney turns into city streets in the northern suburbs. We were stuck in stop-and-go traffic for nearly an hour before spotting our way out... the M7 toll highway, which took us the opposite direction from where we wanted to go but got us out of the city! Colleagues at school had recommended this as the most reasonable route since it would take us away from the traffic and around the city instead of through it. They were right - it was great to finally be moving.
Overall, it took us a total of four and a half hours to find our way to the University of Canberra Field Station, Jervis Bay where we were staying. The last hour or so was through very narrow, winding roads... we felt like we were back in France. Unfortunately, because we
Baby Beardie!
Our first sighting of bearded dragons in the wild. This one was only 6-8 weeks old, but quite tame. first headed west, we spent most of the trip inland rather than enjoying the ocean views.
Once we arrived, we were greeted by many people we had met at past gatherings. Everyone was in good spirits - another week complete and a weekend to see a new area of the country. Tom and I headed to our bunk-beds quite early... the drive was exhausting!
Up early the next morning - we shared a kitchen with all the other couples and families along for the weekend. After a hearty breakfast we were taken on a short trek to Murray's Beach in Booderee National Park. The beach was beautiful. I felt sorry for the people who were at the beach to enjoy a quiet morning - our large group of teachers invading their privacy!
The remainder of the afternoon was ours to explore. We headed to the nearby town of Huskisson (Husky) - a small fishing village - for some lunch and Tom's coffee fix. We then went back into the park and picked out a bush walk that we thought would be a good afternoon's walk - off to Steamer's Beach. The walk along the headland was fine...
but then it was a healthy drop-off down to the beach. We made it down to find the beach absolutely covered in washed-up blue bottle jellyfish! Millions of them... all along the top wave line. So much for snorkelling! We got to see live bluebottles for the first time... just floating on top of the water. We realized... we're never going swimming in the ocean again! Unfortunately, since we went down to the beach, we needed to go back up to the trail. We took our time, and made it... I think we're definitely more fit than we were when we arrived! We continued around the track to Brook's lookout and enjoyed a 180 degree view of the headlands and bays of the national park. At one point, we were keeping our eyes open for animals and saw some small lizards scurry... after closer investigation, we found our first wild bearded dragons! They were babies and were well camouflaged in the undergrowth! It was fun to watch them in the wild. They were very tame, but wouldn't let us touch them.
The evening consisted of dinner and some casual conversation with the other exchange teachers around a roaring fire.
We were supposed to have an aboriginal elder join us for some story-telling and history, but unfortunatley, he didn't show up :..(
On Sunday, we decided to forego the group walk and take our time making our way north on the way home. Before leaving the national park, we stopped at cave beach... if we were into surfing, we probably would have stayed the whole day! Some great waves and a very quiet beach. Before leaving we hand-fed some parrots and lorikeets. We then drove north through several small towns and then took a detour inland. We were on our way to Kangaroo Valley - a very picturesque area - and got distracted by a possible lookout up a mountain. The driving was scary - hairpin turns, blind corners and shear drop-offs. We made it to the top of the Cambewarra lookout... an absolutely incredible view out to the ocean and the bay where we had spent the weekend!
Back on the road and out the the highway on the coast (back down the mountain through the hairpin turns, of course!). We continued north and stopped for another nice beach walk and lunch in Kiama. Finally... it was
getting late and we needed to teach on Monday, so we thought we had better just keep driving. We took the "highway" straight through Sydney. We ended up driving UNDER the runway at the airport, and OVER the Harbour Bridge. Boy were we glad we found a street directory of Sydney in the car!
Only three more teaching weeks until our big vacation to South Australia and Victoria... we'll keep you all updated!
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Shawna!
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Rabid Kangaroos!
Croikey!Rabid KANGAROOS!RUN!!Remember to keep all hands and feet in the vehicle at all times!:P Women and children first! (sorry Uncle Tom!)