Coastal Highways and Byways

We left the Blue Mountain region and made our way to the SE Coast, defying our new best friend the GPS, and read the map in order to take secondary roads when possible.   We ended up in the town of Kiama and snagged the last powered site at the caravan park on the beach.  The golden rule of stopping by 2 ish paid off.   People in the park recommended a coastal town 4 hours south and that is the direction we pointed Bluey the next morning.   The drive through numerous regional and national parks was gorgeous.  I find the eucalptus groves achingly beautiful.   And I had my first go at driving now that we were away from the hurly burly of Sydney and its suburbs.  It was driving with a heightened concentration but there were only a few gestures from Brian to move away from the road edge so it was all good in the end. 

Our destination of Tathra was another  'glamping' experience and I was very happy to see the ensuite private bathroom came with a hairdryer.   What was even better was walking over the dune at the caravan site to come onto another stunning beach.  Oh yeah I can be happy here.  

A couple of days later we are on the road again headed to a small coastal town which my good friend Deb recommended.  The drive was bucolic and at one point we saw a cyclist powering up a hill and commented on how we thought he had way too much gear.   Then we passed him and realized it was a  recumbent tandem and his lady friend was working hard to help them up the hill.  OK so maybe they didn't have too much gear but we were both very happy it was them on the bike and not us.   Driving and sleeping off the ground suits us fine at this stage of our lives. 

The secondary road down to the town of Mallacoota reminded us a bit of the road to Tofino. Windy and steep but fortunately only 25 kms. And I was not the driver.  Like Tofino it is a magical place and attracts all kinds of people form mad fishermen/women, to birders, to walkers.  Great recommendation Deb!

This was th beach we arrived at mid point of a 10 km walk through gum forests and heathland. Apparemtly if you are lucky you might spot a black cockatoo.  We didn't but did spend time looking up into the canopy which was not a bad thing.  By the time we got back to town our first stop was the pub for a thirst quenching local beer.  

Aussies are very friendly and cooking in the communal kitchen areas is a great place for conversation. We've already met some real characters and they do love Canadians - even our accents!   Found out saying 'a bunch of' is a giveaway we are Canadian.   One night we shared a table with a young French couple and when we talked about our various travel routes it turned out they were the tandem cyclists.  I was relieved to find out they had met up with friend who had a vehicle and had ridden those windy 25 kms.  Oh, and we've had many questions about our new PM and are we happy with the change. Oh yes indeed! 

We've yet to see a real live kangaroo, likely as we are not on the roads at prime viewing times of dawn or dusk, but we've seen lots of these signs.   

 

Tomorrow we leave the coast and head inland towards the Yarra Valley - there's wine there that needs to be tested!