Southern NSW

So since you last heard from us, we have ventured further south to Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. We’ve had a couple of scary moments both driving and camping, I saw my first seal in the wild, Jack teased an octopus, cursed a bit driving through Sydney in peak hour with no brakes, we became tourist attractions for a group of Japanese, caught up with more family, played dominoes with some old ladies, had a surf and a fish, went for a bike ride and ate lots of yummy food.

Hungry Head National Park

Now for the blow-by-blow description of our week:

Surfers at Crescent Head

After we left Coffs, we checked out Scott’s Point, Stuarts head, South West Rocks, and Hat head. Had a scary moment in the car with an unsigned gnarly down hill gravelly S bend. We found a quaint little spot for the night in Hungry Head national park (near hat head).

We stopped in at Crescent head and watched the surfers, in which we did a lot of cringing with all the near misses from the rocky cliffs.

Jack and 2.5 Kg of Vegemite at Newcastle

Thursday - We stopped off at Newcastle, beautiful town with gorgeous cliff views. Also stopped off at Avoca beach and watched the surfers and the rock fisherman.

It was very funny watching a Japanese man see his rod being pulled by a fish and he bolted out of his chair and ran like a water dragon to the cliff edge yelling ‘yao yao yao’ and then when he lost the fish said ‘ooh bugger’ (you have to imagine it in a strong Japanese accent).

We made it through Sydney (just - we had no left brakes). Lets just say if I were to write our transcript down, it would contain a lot of ‘*#&@%’ characters. We then looked for a place to bunk for the night and found ourselves in a gorgeous little town called Kiama.

We were parked next to Kiama’s lighthouse and blowhole, eating brekky and washing the dishes, when a busload of Japanese tourists arrived. They were more excited at seeing us and our car than the actual attractions. Three different groups came up and asked for photos with us! It was hilarious. A couple of men asked ‘you live?’ and ‘how long?’

Jack and Jean at Mollymook

We met up with Jack’s mum’s cousin Jean who is an awesome lady, great company! We shared a few beers, nibbles and fish & chips by the Mollymook beach and enjoyed a homely apartment all to ourselves. We went with Jean to Bateman’s bay to visit her gorgeous old mother, Ollie, and played a few games of dominoes with the other old ladies. We went for a walk on the rocks at Casey’s beach where Jack spotted an octopus! And then at Forsters Bay the next day, I spotted a seal, and we saw it poo!

For our first night in Victoria, we stayed at Lakes Entrance. In the middle of the night someone ripped open our canvas. I thought it was Jack and started asking ‘Jack, what are you doing?’ Jack starts nudging me to shut up, but I keep asking ‘What are you doing? Jack? What are you doing?’ Jack whispers that someone is outside. So we’re both lying there trying not to breathe and listening for footsteps. Jack later said he heard a scream, then some thuds, a car door shut and then a car drove off. Very scary stuff.

Eating Nan's nectarines at Portsea

Yesterday we arrived in Blairgowrie, where we jumped in the pool as soon as we arrived. Today we borrowed a couple of mountain bikes and rode all along the Mornington Penninsula, along Blairgowrie, Sorrento and Portsea.

Cam and Ang (Jack's Uncle and Aunt) will be here later tonight and Emily and Jodie will be here for Aus day tomorrow!!

Until next time...

Down time.

Friday was a bit of a lazy day for me. Jack spent the day rearranging and tinkering with the car. I slept.

Yesterday we went off up the range. It was slow going (as in 2^nd and 3^rd gear all the way) and we had quite the line of cars behind us. We thought the constant ascent would never end and even at some points it was a one way road where you had to give way to those going down the mountain… and then we finally arrived (after using half a tank of fuel) at Dorrigo National Park where we wandered for 6kms through the rainforest. It was a delightful walk, well the first half was. That was all down hill. For the last 3 kms we felt a bit like the lux, sluggish and struggling on in 2^nd gear.

On the way home we bought some succulent plums and I got my fingers nibbled by Sam the cockatoo who, the old lady informed us was over 50 years old!

We stopped off at an estuary in Sawtell where I got bitten by some unknown little creature which Jack suggested may have been a funnel web spider. The next few minutes were spent in both panic and denial. After 3 minutes when I could still breathe ok, we decided it must have just been a particularly mean ant. I still googled the spider bite symptoms though, just in case.

And to top off another great day, Jack’s nan & pop took us out to a delicious pizza place in Sawtell.

Today we had another delicious feast of bacon and eggs before heading off to explore the city of coffs.  We wandered through the markets, walked along the rock wall and checked out all the cool cats moored in the marina. Then the rains came and we’re quite thankful to be staying at a house.

Tomorrow we are packing up ready to head off to South West Rocks the day after, and hopefully Jack might also get in a surf. I may get to enjoy another few chapters of my book and another few choccies from our little stash.

Sarah

Onwards!

Lennox Heads

The first of many!

So we have managed to crawl our way down the coast a bit further (at a leisurely 80km/h). As I write this I am snuggled up in bed perched on Wilsons headland overlooking a wild ocean that strong winds whipped up over night.

Yamba was great, nothing much has changed which is good. The surf was fun as always and the people are super friendly. We decided we should get out of there though as I was surfing the days away and Sarah’s tan (a bright shade of red) was coming on all too quick. Plus we could see ourselves never leaving, even though the crowd was a bit much at times.

Wooli

And I’m glad we did. Wooli Head was our next stop (we are basically looking on a map and picking at random). Upon arrival I spotted a nice break up the beach so off we went to discover a fun peeling beachie - Sarah even braved the slightly chilly waters to get her first 2 waves of the trip. Yeeww!!!

Yesterday morning we wandered along the cliffs of Yuraygir National Park until we could go no further (from both heat and steep cliffs). We packed up and headed off to coffs, where a clean toilet and shower, and one of Jack’s nan’s super tasty meals awaited us.

Yuraygir National Park

Lake Hiawatha, Yuraygir National Park

Jack with his Nan & Pop in Sawtell

It begins...

Why hello there, welcome to le' blog!

Yes you did hear correct, we have finally left and we are currently residing in Yamba. We have had two busy days, which have consisted of driving, surfing, eating and sleeping with a bit of sweat (well, lots). Air con and Fan added to the must get list!

Curried sausages on the menu for tonight so must get cooking!

Will try and update this with photos and tales whenever we stumble across free wi-fi.

Bye =)