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Published: June 15th 2009
Stunning
This was one of our favorite stops along the way - One Mile Beach. The funny thing is that it was one of the most random stops too!With our second wedding anniversary fast approaching at the beginning of May, Sidd and I tossed around several ideas on how to make it a memorable occasion. As luck would have it, Sidd randomly had a week off of work and I was also able to take a week off from my part-time position. Yes, I did work for 2 months in Brisbane, but must confess that of those 2 months, I was able to take 2 weeks off for holidays! What a life!
After much ‘googling’, flipping through the Lonely Planet and canvassing of our friends and colleagues, we settled on a road trip from Brisbane to Sydney. Given that it is only 982 km between the cities, less than the distance from Calgary to Vancouver, the drive can easily be completed in a day. However, we decided that there were a few places and activities that wanted to make sure to include: (1) a good beach for surfing/boogie boarding; (2) Hunter Valley for more wine (yes, more!); and (3) Blue Mountains for fantastic hiking. With this loose plan in mind, we decided not to bother booking anything in advance apart from our last night in Sydney and our
The Big Prawn!!!
Sidd refused to participate in the BIG Queenland items. I find them quite amusing - there's a big bull somewhere out the too (and anatomically correct!) flight home. Setting off in our little red Ford Focus packed to the roof with camping equipment, boogie boards, groceries and our blue Esky (cooler), we were in full road-trip mode and ready to go with the flow, stopping where we wanted and pitching our tent when we got tired. The one essential element of road trips that we did forget, however, was a map! Navigating via the tiny maps in the Lonely Planet proved to be somewhat of a challenge, and resulted in a few lengthy detours!
Our first stop on our road trip was WB World. For some reason, there are 6 theme parks along the Gold Coast, all within a 15 km radius of each other. We haven’t quite figured out the need for quite so many amusement parks! Unfortunately, our afternoon stop at WB World meant that we got stuck in Friday traffic and we did not get particularly far from Brisbane that day. More unfortunate was the rain, which started to come down heavily just as we were pulling into Ballina, a small town just south of Byron Bay. Deciding not to camp was an easy decision and we instead spent the night curled
Views of the River
The clouds were so interesting looking. in bed with takeout Chinese, watching “Mr. Bean goes on Vacation.” Quite amusing, really!
The next morning dawned very cloudy but as we drove further south, past sugar cane fields and pretty rivers, we left the grey weather behind. Seeking a nice beach, we decided to stop in Coff’s Harbour, about 2 hours south from Ballina. Despite some warnings from the locals that “winter” was fast approaching (it was still over 20 degrees!), we picnicked on the beach and then grabbed our boogie boards. Yikes! The water was decidedly cold and it became apparent why the surf school was closed! Cranking the heat in the car, we soon warmed up and continued on our journey. Our goal was to get as far south as possible, so that we could then turn west towards Hunter Wine Valley the next day.
One of the only issues I have with Australia (at least in and around Brisbane) is that the days are quite short, regardless of the season. At that time, dusk was at about 5:30 p.m. and it was be pitch black by 6:00 p.m. The darkness made it difficult to see signs to Nelson Bay, where we wanted to
Big Banana!
Another strange big sculpture! stop for the night. This difficulty was further compounded as there were no signs for Nelson Bay and as mentioned, we had no detailed map! By sheer luck, we spotted the only sign for Nelson Bay… about 3 seconds after we passed it! However, after some tricky reversing down the shoulder of the highway (yes, we know it is dangerous), we soon pitched our tent at One Mile Beach Caravan Park. Although we did go for a moonlit walk along the beach, we did not fully appreciate the beauty of our location until the morning. The name says it all - one mile of the most stunning beach we have ever seen. However, I must confess that the real reason we headed to Nelson Bay was not for the beach, but because as I was randomly flipping through the Lonely Planet book, I came across a feature on the “Pie Wars of New South Wales.” This region in north NSW is known for fantastic pies and one of the most famous shops, Red Neds, is located in Nelson Bay. Finding One Mile Beach was an added bonus to the heavenly barramundi, prawn and lobster pie from Red Neds!
After
Coff's Harbour
Stopping for a quick bite of Red Rooster. devouring another two pies and enjoying the beautiful beaches and marinas in the Nelson Bay area, we set off for Hunter Valley, known for its full-bodied Shiraz and zesty Semillon. Although we had only heard of Hunter Valley in passing, it is one of the largest wine producing regions in Australia and is home to Lindeman and Rosemount, along with some fantastic organic boutique wineries. Prior to setting up our campsite on a rather boggy piece of land, I managed to persuade Sidd to agree to a tandem bike. This has been a dream of mine, as I was very excited to sit on the back of the bike and let Sidd do all the work! However, after a mere 10 seconds on the tandem, it became very apparent that the tandem bike was a very bad idea. Not only was it extremely disconcerting to not be able to see where we were headed (view of Sidd’s back = no fun) but the bike was temperamental and we had one gear - hard. Literally 150 meters from our campsite, we called the bike company and asked them to take back the tandem and give us two normal bikes. Ahhh -
Beach at Coff's harbour
We decided to take a break from the driving and go boogie boarding here. The water was quite cold! I never thought I would be so glad to be biking up the steep hills on my own! Sidd still hasn’t let me live down the tandem bike experience…
We were now half-way through our road trip and had managed to check two things off our list. The last item was the Blue Mountains, a summer destination for Sydneyers, as it is much cooler at the higher elevation. While it is only 1 hour from Sydney, the Blue Mountains is almost 5 hours from Hunter Valley, along a very windy undivided “highway”. Arriving in Katoomba, a small town in the Blue Mountains, quite late due to an unexpected detour, we again decided to forego camping and stay at a historic hostel that was operating as a guest house back in the early 1900s. It was noticeably cooler and we were glad for the warmth of the heat lamp in the hostel.
The main reason we headed to the Blue Mountains was the $1.35 stamp. On this stamp, there is a fantastic picture of Hanging Rock, steep rock outcrop gazing out over a green valley. I was hooked - I had to see this rock! Stopping by the visitor
Fredo's Pies
The pie war - who has the best pie in NSW? The minted, honey lamb one here was pretty tasty. centre, we got directions for the starting point of the hike to Grose Valley, home to this rock. Laden with peanut butter sandwiches and water, we started on the hike, which was through a really rather boring forest. Along the way, we encountered only one other pair of hikers, who assured us that we were in for some spectacular views at the end of the hike. Finally, after about 1 hour, the forest ended and we entered a clearing, which abruptly ended at sheer vertical drop over 300 meters down. Yikes! It was absolutely spectacular. We ate our sandwiches at the edge of the escarpment, surrounded by multicoloured sandstone faces and lush greenery below in the valley.
But where was the Hanging Rock, the picture in the $1.35 stamp? After eating, we scanned the area, searching for the distinctive outcrop to no avail. At that point, I was thinking that the lady at the tourist centre must be wrong and the rock was not at this location! Just as I was about to give up, I hiked down very carefully (seriously, one wrong move and you would be flying) and found that we had been staring at the top
Sunset
We stopped on the highway bridge to get this shot! of the rock! Yeah! It was just as beautiful as in the stamp - a narrow ledge jutting out over the steep gorge. I tried to convince Sidd to climb onto the rock so I could take pictures, but he refused. Declaring him a wimp, I set out to climb the rock. Then I saw the gap between the main cliff and the rock - about 2 feet wide, and 300 meters down. Although it would be a simple step across, I could not bring myself to do it and even now the thought gives me chills. Agreeing we were both afraid of heights (and wimps to boot) we left the beautiful valley behind and headed on to our ultimate destination, Sydney.
As it was our anniversary, we decided to splurge and booked a 5 star hotel for our last night. After all, Sidd was starting to complain (I emphasize that it was Sidd!) about camping and hostels and how it was extremely inconvenient to get ready for a nice night out. I remember one particular complaint as we were heading out for a dinner in Hunter Valley: I was dressed in stilettos that were rapidly sinking into the
One Mile Beach
After driving around the Nelson Bay area in the dark for over half an hour, we finally found a caravan park that was open and not full! ground and attempting to read the guide book with my headlamp. Although I again called him a wimp at the time, I confess that I did agree. So for our time in Sydney, we started off at a 4 star hotel, and then moved to the 5 star. Being quite inexperienced with such luxuries, I did not expect much of a difference between the two hotels. But even though we were upgraded to a suite in the 4 star and had only a corner room in the 5 star, there was a huge difference between the two! Maybe it was because we were in Sydney, or maybe it was because it was our anniversary, or maybe it was simply because we were having a magical time, but the 5 star Amora Hotel was fantastic. What bliss! I could definitely get used to that!
I know that all road trips must come to an end but after a day in Sydney sampling more fantastic food (including a fancy dinner with a 6 course degustation menu) and exploring the city, I was a little sad for our adventure to end. It was a week full of all of our favorite activities
Tinfoil bowl
Using Margaret's advice, we managed to boil our pasta on the bbq in tinfoil! and was truly a memorable way to spend our 2nd wedding anniversary!
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mark
non-member comment
road trip
hi there, me and 3 other mates are going to australia and going to do the same road trip as you did. How did you know where the campervan sights were? or did you just go with the flow and hoped to find one somewhere? and what was the average price of the camp sights? Thanks alot mark