New South Wales II

Thursday 18^th December 2008

The Pines Camp Ground, Blowering Reservoir, 35 26 89 S, 148 17 03 E, (346 Km).  Before we left this morning we were talking to a lady who emigrated from Scotland 26 years ago, she had cousins stay with her from Scotland and was embarrassed to have to go with them to buy warm clothing, the weather was wetter in Melbourne than when they had left Scotland!  It was great today to visit Pat and Keith in their wonderful home in Wagga Wagga, we eventually found it at the end of a gravel road, which we had already been along and had decided we were in the incorrect place and we had returned to the main road, a phone call to Pat soon aimed us in the right direction and Keith met us at the boundary of their property of 50 acres which has the Murray River less than an 100 meters from their house.  We enjoyed a superb lunch on their veranda before a storm brewed up, we must have bought the weather with us, they had not seen hailstones for a very long time, in an area which has seen a lot of drought the heavy rain was also very welcome.  We chatted all afternoon, I had transferred some photographs from our Cape York Safari that included both of them, which Pat was able to transfer to her laptop and we reminisced about the great time we had with “Billy Tea Safaris” in June.  We left early evening to begin our drive to Kosciuszko National Park and stopped shortly before our night camp site at Tumut and bought a KFC, it saved me Jenny cooking when we arrived at the camping ground, it was the first KFC since the one we had in Page, Arizona in February, (it was that big we have only just finished it) and it was a welcome change from Jen’s cooking (I’m now writing the rest of this with a sore nose).  This is the most wonderful spot for free camping, on the shore of the reservoir, Kangaroos, Emu and Rabbits in abundance and a fantastic sunset over the water a perfect end to a great day.  Thank you, Pat and Keith.  

Friday 19^th December 2008

Tom Groggin Camp Ground, Kosciuszko National Park (The Snowy Mountains), 36 32 52 S, 148 07 72 E, (211 Km).  A good start to the day, the sun was shining and before we moved off we walked down to the waters edge and took some photographs.  The first stop, which was not scheduled was at a creek, the creeks name seemed familiar not at all like the boring names we have seen, i.e. Dead Horse Creek, Lunchbox Creek, the one we stopped at was MORRIS CREEK and I’ve got the photo to prove it!  I spotted an old steam engine in the next rest area called Yarrangobilly (the rest area not the steam engine), we only intended for a quick stop but the place had quite an interesting history and we read most of the interpretive information in the shelter, furthermore we were talking to 2 workmen who were having their break there from weed spraying on the highway verges, we chatted for ages, telling them about our travels and they told us about the place’s of interest in the park, they also gave me a copy of the latest weather information for the area which was very kind of them.  We turned off the “Snowy Highway” to drive the much longer tourist route (120 kilometres longer) over the steep and very windy mountain road, Jenny was a bit worried about the steep drops on her side of the road, I wasn’t worried at all, from the drivers seat I couldn’t see them! We had lunch at a rest area called Bradleys and O’Briens Hut , the old hut is a storm shelter for people that require shelter from the weather, it was also the first place we had seen a wild stallion (definitely a stallion) Tonight we are at another fantastic campground, a flat meadow, the sound of the Murray River less than 20 metres from the camper van, a family of Kangaroos,  a Kookaburra sitting in the tree close by, a big hole in the bank near us from which we no not what will emerge, not forgetting the picturesque scene of our washing drying on a line between 2 trees!

Saturday 20^th December 2008

Twofold Bay, Near Eden, 37 05 86 S, 149 52 39 E, (348 Km).  Watched out the rear window of the motorhome till after dark, nothing came out of the big hole in the bank, we will never know what sort of creature lurked in there, perhaps as well!  We thought we would risk a second night without power, alas, the leisure battery was flat this morning so no shower, fortunately we always keep our Sigg water bottles full, so at least we could have a cuppa.  We didn’t bother with breakfast thinking that the battery would recharge as we travelled along, (it is usually OK after about 80 kilometres) this was not the case today it would still not pump the water after  150 kilometres, so after a belated breakfast in a picnic area we still couldn’t have a wash, I knew we should have skinny-dipped in the Murray River before we left the camp ground.  Driving off the mountain (not literally) was difficult this morning as the sun (yippee, at least it was shining) was so low in the sky, Polaroid’s and a cap pulled well down helped as we went from the dark of the forest into the light, I even managed to avoid a very large tree branch that had fallen in the night as well as the suicidal kangaroos, one of which came across in front and cleared the Armco railing by at least a meter.  After leaving Kosciuszko National Park we stopped in Cooma to purchase some fresh fruit then drove onto Eden, again travelling on a tourist route through the forests we stopped for about an hour at lunch time and only 1 vehicle came past.  We reached the camp site mid-afternoon the first site we had the power lead wouldn’t reach the power box so we had to move, about an hour later some German tourist arrived to use our original site, their lead wouldn’t reach either, surprise, surprise, they had to move as well, why didn’t the lady in reception take heed of what we had told her?  After all our diversions and changes to our  itinerary we have managed to book the Big4 Holiday Park in , (actually near) Bateman’s Bay, our  original place to spend Christmas, I love it when a plan comes together!

Sunday 21^st December 2008

Eden, 37 03 01 S, 149 54 89 E, (205 Km).  We are only 6 Kilometres from were we started this morning despite driving 205 Kilometres, when we decided last week to drive up to the Alpine Park we missed a National Park in Victoria that we wanted to visit, so today we have “back-tracked” back across the state border into Victoria, we should have disposed of any fruit before we went but there is no quarantine control, so we didn’t bother, who tells the Fruit Fly he cannot fly across anyway?  Is there a type of Parasitic Wasp patrol at the border waiting to scramble to shoot them down as they buzz over?  Croajingolong National Park was our destination, specifically the small township of Mallacoota which is the most accessible point of entry for us, the rest being along gravel roads. We have often written about  the rest areas we have stopped at and compared them to a U.K lay by, pictured is the Wallagaraugh River Rest Area were we stopped for smoko this morning a delightful stop on the main Princes Highway just before the border, with clean toilets, barbeque area, picnic tables and benches, I think you will agree there is no comparison.  We arrived in Mallacoota and walked  along the banks of the Mallacoota Inlet, there is a town council run campsite right on the river bank and as well as the pitches for caravans and tents there were moorings for boats, it was obviously a very popular place for people who wish to camp and fish, the local Australian Pelicans also found it popular, they had a free feed from the fisherman as they gutted the fish and discarded the innards.  Lunch was at Betka Beach, overlooking the river estuary, sand dunes, and ocean, we were very reluctant to move sitting in our chairs relaxing for a lot longer than we intended, before eventually driving on.  Our last stop was at Gypsy Point on the Genoa River another great place where we sat for our afternoon coffee and fruit cake, at a picnic bench watching people canoe, fish and as Harry Belafonte used to sing “Messing about on the River”

Monday 22^nd December 2008

Narooma, 36 12 91 S, 150 07 63 E, (170 Km).  “What time is it” asked Jenny, “7:40” I replied, we had our usual cup of tea in bed, showered, dressed, prepared breakfast and did a hundred other things, I looked at my watch at breakfast, 8:05, impossible!  I asked Jenny the time, “8:05” she confirmed, I must either a) learn to tell the time, b) put my glasses on before I look at my watch, or c) tell Jenny to check the time herself, we had actually woken at 6:40!  With the aid of 2 Cartoscope Touring maps (free from the Information Office) we had a casual drive up the coast, following the “Tourist Trails” visiting the picturesque bays, lakes, inlets and townships which were for the most off the main Princes Highway, We did deviate to go into the larger country town of Bega and have  hopefully bought all our requirements for Christmas (note: Rhiain and Michael, I have bought my own Toblerone, but will still expect one from each of you when we arrive back).  We stopped for lunch at Mogareeka Inlet and afternoon coffee at Cuttagee Picnic Area, although the sun was out the high wind prevented us eating out, the sea and surf though looked spectacular, wouldn’t like to be out in a rubber dingy today.  Tonight the wind seems to be abating although still very rough, the camp site people have thoughtfully put us on a more sheltered site so we should have a good nights sleep, hope we get up at the correct time tomorrow!

Wednesday 31^st December 2008

As we are very comfortable at this camp site we have decided to stay for a extra day and be here for New Years Eve, we therefore didn’t rush (not that we do anyway) off and by the time Jenny had done some washing and we had performed a few other chore’s it was almost lunch time when we left the camp site.  I didn’t help matters when we stopped for some fresh bread in the town as we had a long walk to the bakers, still it did us good.  Mount Panorama Racing Circuit and the museum is only 2 kilometres out of the town, or so the sign posts kept telling me, every direction sign that we saw said 2 kilometres, whether we were 5 kilometres  or 100 metres from it in the end I had no idea.  It was a good job the mountain had it’s name on it (like the Hollywood sign but in the earth) otherwise we could have been on the wrong mountain,  I didn’t have that trouble yesterday when Jenny was directing me, today I was following my nose (with a nose like mine, not a good idea).  Great, only $5.50 each for pensioners and seniors and the couple of hours or so we were there was worth the money, some great memories of an earlier (1960’s/70’s) era of motor racing and a time when my interest (and memory) was very strong. Jenny was also interested in the motorbikes which were of the type her brother used to race.  We had a late lunch after driving up the race track to the picnic area and park at the highest point of the track, the view was magnificent, what a venue for a motor race.  After spending some time at The Lookout (the name of that particular part of the track, not particularly a “lookout” as such), we drove back into the town to buy some food, we had seen a “farm” type shop this morning advertising cherry’s (which are in season now) for $6 a kilogram so we also stopped there, we bought some fresh fruit including Cherries and a box of Nectarines which were only $5. We then spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening at the swimming pool, relaxing, reading and cooling off in the pool, the weather has certainly changed, it is very warm and we have a clear blue sky, we hope it will continue for the rest of our stay.

Thursday 1^st January 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Katoomba, 33 43 32 S, 150 18 09 E, (154 Km).  It was great this morning to be able to speak with both our children and also Michael’s fiancée Sharon, at Rhiain’s home in Weston Super Mare, even more pleasing because they had tried ringing us at 12:00 midnight Australia time with no success, and we managed to contact them before leaving the camp site in Bathurst.  We didn’t think (wrongly as it transpired) that we would have a signal where we were driving to Jenolan Caves this was our destination and as the brochure so rightly said “Magic happens here…and has done for 340 million years”.  It was almost midway between Bathurst and Katoomba and the road for the last 8 kilometres was extremely narrow, windy and hilly, there were even some 15 kilometre hairpin bends which were a bit “hairy”, one being so steep and sharp that the rear step touched the road, but as usual there didn’t seem to be any other vehicles, which made life a lot easier.  Jenolan has 10 different show caves, the one we chose, (only because it was the next tour that wasn’t full) was the “Lucas Cave”, graded as strenuous (which it wasn’t) 860 metres with 910 steps, taking 1½ hours.  Before we went on that however, we did the self-guided tour of “The Devils Coach House” and “Nettle Cave”, we used an Acoustiguide audio guide, which is like a telephone and gives interesting commentary as you enter a number listed on posts placed along the route.  Jenny was put in charge of that, while I took photographs, she just picked out important and interesting information from it to tell me.  We really enjoyed “Lucas Cave” which contains some of the highest and largest chambers in the cave system, at “Cathedral Chamber” the guide switched off the lights, then played a piece of music as the lights were switched back on, the acoustics and the lighting were magnificent, the only downside to the tour was that tripods were not allowed which made photographing in such low light quite difficult, I also thought that there were too many people in the group, I did try pushing children down some pot holes along the path, but their parents managed to rescue them, I might have got some Japanese tourists lost though, they asked me the way out, I pointed in the opposite direction!  Third stay now at Katoomba Falls Caravan Park, it was nice to see Ken And Val the managers of the park, (they remember us because of an incident in 2005 when Jenny found a German lady collapsed in the amenities block late one night, Jenny in her normal cool way helped and organised everything including raising Ken and Val from their beds to get an ambulance, thankfully, we know that the lady, who had suffered a stroke, made a complete recovery).  It was a good job we rang Ken yesterday to book a site, as we arrived they had just turned a motorhome away as they were full, tomorrow we will visit other places in the Blue Mountains we have not seen before, but I am sure we shall still want to see some old favourites from our last 2 visits.

Friday 2^nd January 2009

We have decided to go to Wentworth Falls today, only about 20 minutes away from Katoomba along the main highway and a place we haven’t been to before.  First we need a few bits of groceries so we went into Katoomba town, managing to get parked only a five minute walk from the Coles Supermarket, we started off only wanting bananas and apples but still managed to find extra things we needed (we also forgot some other bits and went back later).  When we came to Katoomba in May we found a fantastic teashop “Mountain Memories” which we went to twice, we couldn’t therefore be in the town again without stopping for a pot of tea and a Muffin, a lovely café where you can really relax and enjoy your food and drink.  After a browse along the main street, in which you would never starve or go thirsty as there are so many café’s and restaurants, (in fact I counted 6 in a line) we remembered “The Hattery”  a specialist hatters who sell Akubra’s, my Akubra which we bought in Cairns in 1999 has got a little battered over the last few months, so we went in to have a bit of TLC done to it,  The way the lady looked at me in the shop, I expected her to clip me across the ear, you would have thought that I had ill-treated a puppy and not a hat, the good news is that we can collect it tomorrow, hopefully it will be as good as new, must remember not to put ii in the overhead locker in the aircraft.  We arrived at Wentworth Falls just before lunch, unfortunately at the same time as half the population of Sydney, we could not find a space to park in the picnic area car park and instead parked along the road to the falls and walked to the lookouts. Perhaps we should have come here in May, there would have been less people and more water going over the falls, we had the exact opposite more people and less water!  Still, the view over the Jameson Valley and the Blue Mountains were very impressive and we walked to each of the 3 lookouts, Princes Lookout, Eagles Nest Lookout and another whose name escapes us.  Time for lunch and we attempted to find another picnic area that was listed in the “Blue Mountain Tourist Newspaper”, we couldn’t find it, we think that the road we should have taken was closed because of road works, we did find a nice spot in the end though, a place called Central Park, parked the motorhome right next to a seat and enjoyed French bread, Cheese, Cherries and Nectarines.  Laura Village was our last stop of the day, the mall along the main street contains a variety of gourmet shops, gift shops, coffee house and restaurants, we went into “The Candy Store” an old-time lolly (UK = sweet) shop with over 1000 jars of sweets, no we didn’t count them or buy any.  We returned to the caravan park and we were  hoping to see the sunset over the mountains but the weather has changed  we have had a lovely day with hardly a cloud in the sky, tonight it is cold and drizzling of rain so we have abandoned the idea, instead we shall relax and read before continuing tomorrow along the North side of the Blue Mountains, passing near towns with authentic Australian names like Penrith, Richmond and Windsor

Saturday 3^rd January 2009

Mill Creek Camping Ground, Dharug National Park, 33 26 o3 S, 151 02 35 E, (171 Km).  This morning in fact even part of this afternoon I went back to my childhood.  Mount Victoria was the place we were driving to, Trains, Planes and Automobiles was our destination there, said to have one of the largest stocks of antique toys in the world,  Meccano, Matchbox,  Dinky and Hornby being the most popular.  I had one particular die-cast model in mind, the one I owned and remember most vividly from the early 1950’s, I won’t bore you with the details, there was one in stock, but, a big but, it was $353, (approx £175).  We didn’t purchase it, but it was great being able to see one again.  Talk about nostalgia, there was so much in the show cabinets that both Jenny and I could remember and we had a wonderful browse, we would suggest that we were looking at millions of dollars of old treasures.  We then drove about 40 kilometres to another Australian treasure, “The Great Lithgow Zig Zag Railway, it would take too long to tell you all about it, suffice it to say we had a wonderful ride in old coaches pulled by a steam engine (got soot in my eye to prove it) down a very steep gradient through 2 tunnels over 3 viaducts and numerous cuttings and bends to the station at the bottom, time for a cup of coffee and our own sandwiches before we returned to the top station at Clarence, with those steam engine special sounds and smells as it worked hard back up a steep gradient.  Time to leave the Blue Mountains and descend (we were at 3658 feet at Clarence Station) along the “Bell Line of Road” (don’t ask cos’ I don’t know) towards Richmond and our overnight stop near Wiseman’s Ferry, stopping along the way to photograph some old rusty vehicles abandoned in a field.  Well the intention was to stop at Wiseman’s Ferry but then we noticed that Dharug National Park was not that far away, (it was one of our intended stops in 2005 but we went a different route),  we therefore crossed the mighty Hawkesbury River, courtesy of the free ferry (classed as a public road) and have found the camping ground in the National Park.  A great day, it could have been better if I could have justified spending $353 on a Talbot Lago Dinky racing car (which probably cost 5 shilling originally, equivalent to 25pence) and if we had gone to the Zig Zag Railway in a few days time, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends were going to be there.  Good News, got my Akubra back this morning from the hatters and it is a far better shape, only cost $2 and that was for a new feather!!

Sunday 4^th January 2009

Lake Munmorah, 23  (121 Km).  I was woken up at 4:15 am by movement of the van, a Wombat was using it as a scratching post, before continuing on his way around the camp site munching the grass, Jenny had thought it was me fidgeting causing the van to move before I put her right!  We did have a wonderful night in the forest, with only the sounds of insects, birds and animals for company.  We made our way to Lake Munmorah to visit our friends from our “Billy Tea Safari” trip to Cape York, Ian and Grace, it was great to see them both again.  After morning tea and lunch, they kindly took us on a tour of some of the local places of interest, visiting beaches, headlands, lakes and a national park, close to their home.  On our return we met Ian’s son, Scott and his girlfriend Bex who are staying with Ian and Grace until they sell their home in Queensland, we then all enjoyed a BBQ in the garden, which Scott cooked, the meal was delicious.  Jenny and I, with Ian and Grace then sat down and watched the DVD that they had filmed on the Cape York trip, Grace had made a superb job of editing, adding additional photographs, plus music to it and we took pleasure in remembering  and reminiscing on the terrific trip we had to “The Top” with some wonderful people.  We said our goodbye’s to Ian as he was off early in the morning to have some modifications done to their 4WD to assist with the towing of their caravan.  We settled down for the night, “free camping” on their front lawn Ian had rigged up an electric cable so we could have power to the motorhome, and stay instead of having to find a camp site.

Thank you Ian & Grace for your Hospitality, It was great to see you both again, Happy Travelling XX

Monday 5^th January 2009.

North Haven, 31 38 03 S, 152 49 86 E, (305 Km).  We said goodbye to Grace this morning, not before having “a nose” inside their caravan, (to see what tips we could pick up before we purchase our own motorhome) it looked very comfortable, especially with a bed that didn’t have to be made up every night!  We had a stop before we left their road, I reversed into 2 Dustbins left out by their neighbour, which were waiting collection by the refuse lorry, they had both fallen over and rubbish was strewn over the road, I was very lucky with the one I refilled, it was mainly bottles and cardboard,  Jenny wasn’t so lucky, she chose to refill the “smelly one”, I did let her sit back in her seat after she had washed her hands, three times, her fault anyway, she should have looked where I was driving!  We have decided to drive up the Pacific Highway and where possible take the “Tourist Routes” down to the coast, we did stop on the main highway for smoko and a young man came and sat at the same picnic table as us, he was from Kidderminster, he was joined by his wife and little girl and he was telling us about living here since he left the UK 5 years ago, we had a nice chat before they went on their way.  We had lunch overlooking a lake, then 5 minutes later stopped again for a coffee at another picnic area, because the view overlooking the lake with low mountains beyond looked better.  We headed for Port Macquarie

but as we are now in the peak holiday period we thought we would call in campsites that we passed on the way, we managed to get the last site at the second one we called at, unfortunately without wireless internet, we have been off for a few days now, it would be nice to catch up with, emails, banking and an update of the web site, perhaps tomorrow as we continue up the NSW coast.

Tuesday 6^th January 2009

Nambucca Heads, 30 38 20 S, 153  00 82 E, (219 Km).  Contrast this, Sunday morning we woke up to Insect and Bird sounds.  This morning? Bugle (newspaper van), ships horn (milk van) and finally car horn (bakery van), all within the space of 20 minutes, is it any wonder we prefer camping in the bush?  Our first stop this morning was at the small village of Lake Cathie, big enough however. to have a Woolworth’s and because it was quiet we managed to stock up on our food requirements in a short space of time.  We made a mistake today assuming that a Big4 caravan park away from the main highway would have a vacancy, they had been fully booked for the last 2 months, we should have phoned first as we went 62 kilometres out of our way.  We are now camped at a  pleasant campsite, which if not for a cancellation would have been full, luckily we got the cancelled site and will stop for 2 days, unfortunately we have neither internet nor a swimming pool, but from the caravan site (“The Headlands”) we do have a commanding view from the top of the cliffs, hence the camp site name, to the beach and ocean below which stretch for many miles.  We have managed to book a further night on the 8^th at the Big4  close by, with internet and a pool but almost twice the price, the problem at the moment is that these 2 weeks after Christmas are the main holiday weeks although the schools do not return until close to the end of January.

Wednesday 7^th January 2009

A busy morning we gave the motorhome a spring clean inside and out, we also went through all the accumulated paperwork and information brochures etc, that we now longer want.  I tend to keep them for any information that I need to “backtrack” on for the website, then never manage to get rid of them.  We also, because of the problem of finding a camp site, pre-booked our next one, even that one we have only managed a one night stay instead of three, but a least after tomorrow we will have a site for Friday.  This afternoon we thought we would walk to the town, first a steep descent along the footpath to the beach, then a walk along the beach to the headland, before crossing a path through the sand dunes to another coastal path, we never did see the town, we stopped at the first shop we saw that sold ice-creams, then devoured  them in the shade of a picnic area before returning to the camp site, not without stopping a few times for a rest.  We had a nice chat with some of the other people camping close by, Jenny with a young couple from Iceland and me with a lady (in a small Yellow bikini) originally from Ipswich (UK), I did enjoy our chat!  Late afternoon we relaxed in our picnic chairs outside the motorhome, we had hoped for a good sunset like last night, but it has clouded over, never mind it is still very warm, a little different to the temperatures in the UK we understand.

Thursday 8^th January 2009

Nambucca Heads, 30 37 75 S, 153 00 72 E, (5 Km),  Great start to the day, I wipe the picnic table over to clean any leaves, etc that drop on it during the night.  Jenny moves it around the corner into the sun and I bring the coffee’s out after breakfast. Jenny says “be careful the table is a bit wobbly, look” and proceeds to show me, I wipe the table over a second time to get the spilt coffee up.  As you can see we haven’t moved far today, only to a Big4 camp site that has “Net4” wireless internet, which we have subscribed to, it also has a swimming pool.  We stopped in the township just to pick up some bread rolls for lunch and as soon as we got to the campsite, the usual procedure, electric power on, then kettle on, Jenny bought out the teapot to top our tea cups up, I wipe the table over a third time to get the spilt tea up!  This afternoon we decided to go down to the beach, by the time we had lathered ourselves with factor 30, the sun had gone in and a cool wind had sprung up, we didn’t stop long before walking through the bush back to the motorhome and spent the rest of the afternoon with Jenny reading and me listening to music on my MP3, we didn’t need the sun tan cream we haven’t seen the sun since and we haven’t used the swimming pool.   Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas tonight for dinner, glad it’s not beans, Jenny would have spilt them (get it?)

Friday 9^th January 2009

Darlington Beach, Near Arrawarra, 30 02 95 S, 153 11 38 E, (86 Km). An early wake up call this morning with the rain pounding on the roof, in fact when we went over to the amenities, which are only about 30 metres from us, neither of us bothered drying we ran back to the van in our towels and dried there, to dry at the amenities would have been a waste of time.  The man at the next site told Jenny there is a cyclone out in the Coral Sea which is causing the wet weather.  It is ironic that we stayed at the same camp site in May (a month before the “Aus’ winter) and it was so hot, now it is summer and it has been so wet and windy.  We have been able to book an extra night at this campsite and we will probably manage another night on the coast before heading inland to Stanthorpe to see Jenny’s brother-in-law and collect all the extra clothes we brought with us for the colder climes e.g. USA, we also left with Ken some of the cooking utensils belonging to Britz/Maui which we knew we wouldn’t use, we’d  better give them back.

All images on this website are copyright of Alan and Jennifer Morris and may not be used without prior written permission.