Chasing the sunshine
G'day.
The lack of updates this past week is due to the fact that we've been racing up the coast and living the cheap life. Funds are low so we're trying to get to Brisbane relatively quickly so that we can find work.
We left Narooma and headed a couple of hours up the coast to Jervis Bay. We'd heard about a hostel from Wendy and Chris and so rang them and booked a room. When we arrived it turns out that it's basically a house with just two rooms for travellers. There are no signs or any clues at all that it's a hostel, and they leave the keys in a not-so-secret hiding place for guests, since the owners work full time.
We had a couple of nights there and spent some time in Jervis Bay which is very nice. The beaches there feature the whitest sand in the world according to the Guiness Book of Records, and they also squeak when you walk on them which is very odd. We were joined on the first night by a French father and son and so we had a few glasses of wine with them and complained about the number of adverts on Aussie TV.
The following day we jumped on a cruise boat to see some of the 60-70 resident dolphins in the bay. They say there is a 95% chance of seeing dolphins, so after a 2.5 hour trip round the bay we discovered we're in the lucky 5%. We briefly spotted the back of one but the little sods just disappeared after that but they were kind enough to give us a free return trip.
Although we're on a super-cheap trip, our new love of Thai food forced us to test the Thai restaurant out in Huskisson. A worthy expense, we felt.
The next day we took advantage of our free dolphin cruise and jumped back on the boat, this time with some success (although we had all but given up hope after 1.5 hours). The captain tracked them down and they came over to swim along the bow of the boat for a while which was great.
That afternoon we explored the numerous beaches of the bay and that evening we were joined by a lovely Irish couple who had replaced the Frenchies in our hostel/house. We all got drunk and complained about the adverts on Aussie TV.
Oh, and we insisted they all visit Narooma, by the way.
We left Jervis Bay after that but not before checking out the north side of the bay which is mostly national park area, as well as a navy testing zone, which restricted our movements somewhat. We set off up the highway towards Sydney, stopping off at an incredible lookout which overlooked Kangaroo Valley, although we didn't see any (kangaroos that is, there was a valley).
The plan was to stop somewhere south of Sydney to give us a good base to head north from but that plan didn't work too well, since it seems there are no hotels, motels, backpackers or campsites south of Sydney. By 8pm that evening we'd ended up at Bondi Beach where we knew we'd be able to find a bed for the night.
We thought about stopping in Sydney for a bit but we realised we had to get moving, so after a big old fry up at Bondi, it was back on the road again. Our next stop turned out to be the Hunter Valley - wine country. There are something like 140 wineries in the area so we hopped on one of the wine tours to see how many we could test. You can probably imagine how horrible it is to be driven round a dozen wineries, sampling some of the best the area has to offer. Yes, it was as horrible as that.
Our next stop was an unusual little place off the highway called Hawks Nest. We were back to camping by this point, as the weather's getting warmer the more north we get, although it's not without the odd torrential downpour. There wasn't much to do there but it was a nice place to relax. So after a wet night there it was back in the van to head up to our next stop; Port Macquarie. This was a seaside town more akin to Skeggy than much else we've seen here. The weather was a bit miserable which may have tainted our experience a little, but we felt that it was just your average family seaside resort that you can see all over Europe, so we weren't tempted to hang around.
A few hours up the coast brought us to our current location, Coffs Harbour. It's a bit nicer here but during a sudden downpour last night the van started leaking, so Charlotte spent most of the evening holding bowls to catch the water while Kev was outside trying to plug the seals up with cardboard. Eventually Charlotte suggested we use plastic bags which worked much better, and then the rain stopped for the night. Hopefully it was just the sheer volume of rain that overloaded the seals but, knowing this van, it's probably something else that we'll have to fix.
We've already done well over 1,000km this week but we're off again now. No chance of photos here unfortunately but we'll get some on as soon as we can. There are lots.
The lack of updates this past week is due to the fact that we've been racing up the coast and living the cheap life. Funds are low so we're trying to get to Brisbane relatively quickly so that we can find work.
We left Narooma and headed a couple of hours up the coast to Jervis Bay. We'd heard about a hostel from Wendy and Chris and so rang them and booked a room. When we arrived it turns out that it's basically a house with just two rooms for travellers. There are no signs or any clues at all that it's a hostel, and they leave the keys in a not-so-secret hiding place for guests, since the owners work full time.
We had a couple of nights there and spent some time in Jervis Bay which is very nice. The beaches there feature the whitest sand in the world according to the Guiness Book of Records, and they also squeak when you walk on them which is very odd. We were joined on the first night by a French father and son and so we had a few glasses of wine with them and complained about the number of adverts on Aussie TV.
The following day we jumped on a cruise boat to see some of the 60-70 resident dolphins in the bay. They say there is a 95% chance of seeing dolphins, so after a 2.5 hour trip round the bay we discovered we're in the lucky 5%. We briefly spotted the back of one but the little sods just disappeared after that but they were kind enough to give us a free return trip.
Although we're on a super-cheap trip, our new love of Thai food forced us to test the Thai restaurant out in Huskisson. A worthy expense, we felt.
The next day we took advantage of our free dolphin cruise and jumped back on the boat, this time with some success (although we had all but given up hope after 1.5 hours). The captain tracked them down and they came over to swim along the bow of the boat for a while which was great.
That afternoon we explored the numerous beaches of the bay and that evening we were joined by a lovely Irish couple who had replaced the Frenchies in our hostel/house. We all got drunk and complained about the adverts on Aussie TV.
Oh, and we insisted they all visit Narooma, by the way.
We left Jervis Bay after that but not before checking out the north side of the bay which is mostly national park area, as well as a navy testing zone, which restricted our movements somewhat. We set off up the highway towards Sydney, stopping off at an incredible lookout which overlooked Kangaroo Valley, although we didn't see any (kangaroos that is, there was a valley).
The plan was to stop somewhere south of Sydney to give us a good base to head north from but that plan didn't work too well, since it seems there are no hotels, motels, backpackers or campsites south of Sydney. By 8pm that evening we'd ended up at Bondi Beach where we knew we'd be able to find a bed for the night.
We thought about stopping in Sydney for a bit but we realised we had to get moving, so after a big old fry up at Bondi, it was back on the road again. Our next stop turned out to be the Hunter Valley - wine country. There are something like 140 wineries in the area so we hopped on one of the wine tours to see how many we could test. You can probably imagine how horrible it is to be driven round a dozen wineries, sampling some of the best the area has to offer. Yes, it was as horrible as that.
Our next stop was an unusual little place off the highway called Hawks Nest. We were back to camping by this point, as the weather's getting warmer the more north we get, although it's not without the odd torrential downpour. There wasn't much to do there but it was a nice place to relax. So after a wet night there it was back in the van to head up to our next stop; Port Macquarie. This was a seaside town more akin to Skeggy than much else we've seen here. The weather was a bit miserable which may have tainted our experience a little, but we felt that it was just your average family seaside resort that you can see all over Europe, so we weren't tempted to hang around.
A few hours up the coast brought us to our current location, Coffs Harbour. It's a bit nicer here but during a sudden downpour last night the van started leaking, so Charlotte spent most of the evening holding bowls to catch the water while Kev was outside trying to plug the seals up with cardboard. Eventually Charlotte suggested we use plastic bags which worked much better, and then the rain stopped for the night. Hopefully it was just the sheer volume of rain that overloaded the seals but, knowing this van, it's probably something else that we'll have to fix.
We've already done well over 1,000km this week but we're off again now. No chance of photos here unfortunately but we'll get some on as soon as we can. There are lots.
posted by Kev & Charlotte at
5:31 PM
3 Comments:
Whilst you both are larking about with all that travelling mallarky, I read your comments and look at the photos every day at work, when i'm gazing out my window at work, looking over a beautiful power-station, taking in the misty grey sky....what more could a man ask for !!!
Keep up the comments and photo's - its the only thing that gets me through my "fantastic" day job.
By
Rich & Zoe's Blog, at 1:37 PM
Misty grey sky? In Stoke on Trent? Never. Surely palm trees and clear blue skies?
By
Steve and Sam, at 9:37 AM
We found Milla Milla on the map Rich. When we get up there we'll get you a picture to bring back those wonderful memories...
By
Anonymous, at 6:04 PM
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