As we
travel from one small community to another we have noticed many groups of
school children obviously on end of the year field trips. It reminds me of a
conversation I had last spring with my great nephew. When we visited him and
his family after going to Mardi Gras he looked at me and said, "you sure
get to take a lot of field trips." Boy, do we!
Our
next Aussie adventure was driving the coast pretty much from Sydney to
Melbourne. Stopped in a suburb, Morgan for brekky. The young men were concerned
we didn't order coffee so brought Greg a Flat White on the house. Mightily
proud of their coffee, they are. I ordered the double stack with Nutella,
whipped cream and strawberries to appease their pride. SO very rich and
way more than I could eat.
We
began this journey through "Nasho" or the Royal National Park, the
second oldest surviving purposed national park in the world behind Yellowstone.
We had a few peeks at the coast before driving through kilometers of mostly
eucalyptus forests. Because of construction we were detoured onto A1/Princes
Highway and spent the next two days alternating between it and the Grand
Pacific Drive.
In Kiama we parked in
town and walked to the famous blowhole. Wandered back, got some ice cream and
headed farther down the coast. Jervis Bay was our next stop. Read that the
beaches here have some of the whitest sand in all the world. After a bit of GPS
snafu we finally found Callala Beach. Pretty, but sand wasn't
extraordinarily white. Looked across the bay and decided we needed to find THAT
beach. Which we did. Hyams Beach sand was indeed fine and white. What was
more impressive to us as we walked both were their beauty AND the fact that we
didn't have to share them with anyone else.
Around dusk we both saw a
wallaby emerging from the forest. By the time we turned around to go back and
take a picture, alas, it was gone. Headed toward Batemans Bay where we
found a place on a cove to spend the night.
The next day we stayed
mostly on A1. Good road, not too crowded, close enough to coast that we were
able to weave in and out of towns (read: stop at bakeries). Read about gold
mining relic Central Tilba which is supposed to be bastion of local
craftsmen but judging by wares on display street side, felt more like a tourist
trap so we just drove through.
We DID stop in Begs at
the cheese factory. It was more of a museum, small but well appointed, with the
opportunity to "taste" (and buy) their cheeses. One of us enjoyed that.
Stopped
in Eden to stretch legs on beach, walk Boardwalk, stroll through on old
cemetery. Supposed to be an excellent place for whale watching. Saw no signs
today, and decided after our good fortune with whales this summer, it will
probably be a long time before we are "one" with those friends
again.
(7+
hour) Mad dash to Phillip Island to watch the parade of little penguins at
sunset. I vaguely remember eucalyptus forests, rolling hills with sheep and
cattle grazing, communities we slowed down long enough to manage the round
abouts. I'm pretty sure we will never win any "slow travel" awards.
BUT the penguins were so stinking cute it was so worth it.
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