Summing Up

Well, another trip is over, although tempted, we didn't take the Adelaide turnoff the Hume on the way home.

It would have been nice, but not just yet.

Well we vistited the grandchild on the way up and then headed east to the coast. Washed out and scared by the big trees in the storm at Durras North. Dried out and rested at Bawley Point. Found paradise at Huskisson for a few days with a visit from friends from Sydney, then more paradise at Wyangala Waters. A very pleasant visit with a cousin of Robs, not seen for quite some years. Then back to the gorgeous grandchild for another play.
A respite from the long drive at Beechworth for our last evening by the campfire before the final leg home.

A major sadness on the Hume on the way down was the amount of kangaroos lying by the ide of the road. It was impossible to miss as they outnumbered the caravans going the other way and there were plenty of those. Not sure of the reason but it must be affecting the numbers.

Trip tally, 2300 km, only 6 setups, 2 rellie visits and several evenings around the pig. All in all a pleasant trip and many thanks to all the emails and comments. A special thankyou to Anna & Des who kept us laughing with their witty comments.

Round Trip

Til next time.

The end is near

Back at Queanbeyan for another visit with the delightful Ava and her Mum & Dad for 2 nights, lovely weather at the moment.
Found time to attend the Canberra Camping Show at the Entertainment Park. A bit dissapointed with the quantity of exhibitors and those there were'nt too interested in selling.
Walked around for a while and most of the things we wanted to see were'nt there anyway. Came away without buying a thing!
Went for our final coffee today at Manuka with Tegan and Ava and then headed off toward home.

Decided to break the long journey with a stopover at Beechworth. Nice little spot beside Spring Creek, with frogs a'croaking and brooks a'babbling.

Heading home tomorrow with a 1 degree forecast overnight and it could be the end in more ways than one. We could wake up frozen solid in the morning.

Catching up with Cousin

Decided for an extra day at Wyangala and run across to Cowra to visit one of Rob’s cousins and her husband she hasn’t seen in 22 years. Had a lengthy chat about all our kids and their goings on and reminiscing and a lovely BBQ lunch. They took us to the Information Centre where they have a hologram presentation story about the Cowra POW breakout in 1944. It seems that all is forgiven now and there are many Japanese tourists visiting the area. We went out to the site of the POW camp and all that remains are some concrete footings of some of the buildings.

A trip then to the local lookout for a magnificent view across Cowra township and the surrounding farmlands. The day disappeared before we knew it as we had a 5:00 curfew to get back into the camp area. We made it with 10 minutes to spare.

Back to Queanbeyan today to revisit the grandchild and see if she has changed in 2 and a half weeks.

Caves and Mountains

After a brisk morning in Bungonia Conservation Park, we decided that this was not the place to be. The guy at the information Centre said that the drive to Crookwell to the north was quite nice and we thought why not! After a quick pack up, we headed off for a drive through the mountains and he was right, it was a very nice drive. As we wound our way through the fairly steep and winding roads, Crookwell wasn’t quite the place for us to camp. It was on the main road and right in the middle of town.

 As we proceeded over the Great Dividing Range, we came across a sign to the Abercrombie Caves which we had read about somewhere. It was only 2 km off the highway, but straight down! A bit hairy on the very steep and narrow and winding road, but the trusty Tvan anchored us to the asphalt and we made it.

The caves were very interesting and fairly easy to get to and there were some interesting shapes and forms created by the stalactites and stalagmites. The water flowing through the cave was a bit eerie as it wasn’t the actual river, it went underground. It was very interesting crawling around some quite claustrophobic and small caves contrasting with the cavernous huge area of the main cave.

As we walked back to the car park, we heard lots of frogs serenading us as we walked along the river bank.

While having lunch in the picnic area, we went through a few of the brochures we had picked up in Goulburn, looking for a home for the night, we found Wyangala Waters State Park Recreation Reserve which is a park adjacent to the Wyangala Dam.

As it turned out, the camp area is terrific with fabulous water views, our choice of sites and fires allowed. Kangaroos and rabbits abound(ing) along with plentiful birdlife.

Dedicated Blogger

Ideal Campsite

View from camp

Mirror Perfect

All in all a great day.

Freezing our fingers off

We have left our little piece of paradise at Hidden Creek to continue our journey. We have landed at Bungonia State Coservation Area, just south east of Goulburn. Very nice park, but they don't allow fires! Hence the title. We are sitting in the last of the sun with a very fresh breeze forcing us into hoodies and gloves. We have turned the freezer off as it's certainly not required here.

Went for a walk around the camping area, noone else around and we saw some kangaroos and an echidna (someone did pick up on my little test in a previous post where I called them a porcupine - well done you).

We stopped off in Goulburn for supplies and some lunch and a very nice feast at Rose's cafe. We have eaten there before and it was very nice.

Rob's Spinach Pie and salad

Phil's Morrocan Pie and potatoe bake

As I mentioned, the weather here is very cold and down to 1 tonight. Rob is prepared as we have a quiet read before tea.

Ready for anything

Gourmet Travellers from Sydney

We had a visit today from some friends who drove down from Sydney to catch up. We first met them on a camping trip in Meningie SA and they too are camping tragics.

They arrived in time for a massive cookup for brunch of fresh poached eggs (from Anna’s chooks), bacon, asparagus(fresh from Anna’s garden), tomatoes, toast and freshly brewed coffee brewed by our visiting barista, Des. We were thoroughly spoilt by our visitors fare.

We finally met in person their constant travelling companion, Svejk, who while only a cloth puppet, has a long history and even his own book and featured in our friends recent travel blog.

Svejk and his "guardians"



A rest after bruch



After a few hours of camping modification stories, new toys recently acquired, the girls discussion of “issues” with our children, it was unfortunately time for them to move on.

It was a lovely way to spend the morning and the weather was just perfect.

The camp owner was meanwhile busily cutting up a few fallen trees and was kind enough to drop off some nice dry firewood. Food for the pig tonight!

Looks like the camp is filling up for the weekend – the serenity is gone!

Thoroughly modern camper

Aaah, The Serenity

Finally, a bush camp that is just perfect. We happened across the appropriately named “Hidden Creek” (Real camping) ground just out of Huskisson while out on a drive. After calling in and asked for a look around, we decided to pull up stumps at the caravan park in town and move to Hidden Creek. http://www.jervisbaycabins.com.au,  It’s just down the road from a 5 star camp ground that costs $480 per night! http://www.paperbarkcamp.com.au

Yes we will miss the constant stream of new friends walking only metres away from morn til night, and the sound of people packing up at some ungodly hour (before 9am) and the sympathetic sounds of the caravan park lawnmower and whipper snipper doing the rounds at all hours of the day. NOT.

Anyway, we have moved and we are the only ones here. The sun is shining and the birds are singing.

While most will think it’s a bit primitive, to us it’s perfect. We still have power, access to toilets and showers, 3 minutes from town and it’s in a beautiful bush setting.

Reading Room

Front Lobby



Dining Room

There may be a few more critters around (as the ants crawl across the keyboard!) and I’m dreading the possibility of mossies and just hope it’s a bit early in their breeding season.

Came across a echidna this afternoon as we walked around camp which is right on the river (creek?), little bugger just curled up next to a rock.

Neighbor

A Lazy Day of Nothing

Well yesterday was one of our lazier days. Sitting around reading, going for a quick drive over to Vincentia, scan the local real estate windows, coffee in town and back to more reading and a walk.

This is the view from our camp

This is the view our constant stream of walkers and cyclists have!

And this is the view from inside the encampment

Off for a drive around the coast this morning to check out some potential future camping spots.
Saw a couple of humpbacks way out in the bay thismorning, hope to get a closer look as we drive around Jervis Bay

Huskisson

After a very leisurely 3 days at Bawley Point, it was time to move on and get back into the camping thing.

We headed up the track (Princes Highway) towards Huskisson and upon arrival, were surprised at the amount of people around. Last time we were here it was a sleepy little hollow, but now it was like Sorrento on a Sunday. Packed with people and cars everywhere. Rolled into the Huskisson Sands Caravan Park to be told, "Oh we may have one or two sites available"!

We walked around and looked at the suggested sites, both were in the dirt and under massive eucalypts. Back to the office and asked about site 65 - "Oh yeah, you can have that". The interest in our well being as a customer  was amazing and will definitely be remembered next time! Anyway, we thought we could suffer a couple of days overlooking Jervis Bay and listen to the gentle sounds of the sea.

Don't you just love walking\cycling paths? Especially ones that run right past your quiet, secluded camping site!
We have nodded and waved to so many people this afternoon that I feel like a local!
The Tvan usually attracts some attention, but here it seems that it must look like something out of space. The amount of looks and comments have been amazing.
Let's hope that Monday says goodbye to any remaining school holidayers and the crows dispersed to just the grey nomads.

Drying Out

We have settled in at interludes in the Hakea cottage. It is very well appointed and has given us a chance to recover from our recent soaking.

The cottage has a large undercover deck and we took full advantage today as soon as the rain stopped. As can be seen from the photos, there was much to be dried.

This morning I opened the curtains to see a poor drenched kangaroo taking shelter under the trees outside our cottage. It must be tough to be a wild animal.

As soon as we could see some blue sky to the south, I opened the Tvan to try and dry it off as well, and during our haste to pack up, everyting in the front toolbox was wet as well. The pig has taken on a nice shade of rust, like the patina of fine silver.
By 4 o'clock we had everything dry and packed away, ready for our next encounter with the elements in a few days.
The forecast looks OK but we'll wait and see.
Meanwhile, the sun is shining and we have some glimpses of the ocean off Bawley Point from our cottage.

 And the kangaroo returned this afternoon for a well earned soak in the sun.

The Rains Are Here!

After a very pleasant day on Wednesday, a night sitting out by the pig (fire), we were woken during the night by the gentle patter of rain on the roof.

Typical we thought, 2 days in and the rain find us. After a leisurely lie in, we went outside to discover torrents of water rushing all around us. Can’t last forever, can it?

Beautiful one day...

Absolute rubbish the next!

After gaining confidence that our sail and hoodie were not going to pool water, we decided to venture into Batemans Bay and have some lunch. A very nice café right on the boardwalk overlooking the bobbing yachts and out to the raging surf. After the salt & pepper squid and pizza, we headed home and listened to the weather forecast. We listened to news of the Princes Highway closed at Ulladulla, (just to the north) and forecasts indicating that the low pressure was headed our way and should stay a couple of days with increasing winds and possible thunderstorms.

Back at camp, we spoke to the Manager and asked his opinion of the local weather. He jumped online and confirmed our earlier advice. He told us the trees are checked annually for loose or dead branches and were done just 4 weeks ago. Then he told us that he talked some prospective campers out of staying there due to the wind and the rain!!!

The beautiful tall trees yesterday

We arrived back at our site, looked up at the 50 metre high trees swaying in the wind and decided to pull up camp and wait it out in a safer environment.

We were able to get into some cabins just up the Highway at Bawley Point (Interludes).  We are staying here for 2 nights and hopefully the weather will have cleared and we will decide on our next step.

With luck, we can put up the camper and try and dry it out along with our sails. The cabin is elevated and we might be able to take advantage of that.

On The Road Again

Who's a pretty girl!

Optimistic?

Yummy sunglasses Mum

This trip is a combined visit with the daughter and son in law, play with the little Ava and then head of on a sojourn along the coast from Batemans Bay north to Kiama, then inland back for another visit in Queanbeyan.

After a delightful couple of days visiting our grandchild, it was time to head off. After a delightful drive out of Queanbeyan through the NSW countryside, we head into the forest and the veeeery steep and winding road down towards the coast.

After the compulsory coffee and supermarket visit in Batemans Bay, we head north to the quiet little town of Durras North. Camped in a magnificent camp area amongst the towering eucalyptus surrounded by an incredible selection of birdlife. We have seen crimson rosellas, king parrots, rainbow lorikeets, satin bower birds, wild doves, kookaburras and a few more unknown to us. And the giant lace monitors and kangaroos all around the camp.
Had a bit of a scare (nor really) as late in the afternoon, we were surrounded by all these parrots coming in for a feed. The only problem was we didn't have any food. They swooped none the less and came perilously close and I thought it was time to don the saftey gear. My hat! Ten minutes later, they were gone with just a few stragglers - on to greener pastures I suppose.

Our setup this time has had a slight addition with a "hoodie" over the kitchen to provide some shelter in the rain or sun. Works really well and at the moment, all we need.

Another addition was the installation of an outside LED light over the kitchen. I didn't get time to install before we left so I started while we were at Queanbeyan. It seems that 12 volt installations are not my forte! After several hours there and 3 30 amp fuses later, I gave up and waited til we set up camp.
Well, this afternoon, success. The light works, now all we have to do is wait for nightfall and see if it was all worth it.

A delightful walk along the beach this morning and few hours reading in the sunshine. A few more days of this and we should be well relaxed.