Dec 16, 2018 - Queanbeyan/Canberra

11 December Another lazy start to the day; we loaded up the car and set off; destination Canberra. Road, the M5, was not too busy getting out of Sydney and it wasn’t long before we were out of the City and into the countryside. We followed the M31 the Hume Highway, gradually climbing higher and higher through open countryside, almost like the plains, with gently rolling hills. Grasslands with sheep and cattle and vast fields of cereals. We were in the Southern Highlands. Got bored with driving the motorway, even though the road surface was...

Dec 11, 2018 - Jervis Bay to Sydney

9 December Beautiful morning. Headed out for Sydney. So out from Huskisson to the Princes Highway and headed north. Passed through Nowra, not a very pretty town, across the Shoalhaven River and along the estuary to Coolangatta and on up the coast on the Grand Pacific Drive. Looked in at the little towns along the way but the beaches were heaving, well it was Sunday and the first hot weather they had had for a while. Beautiful beaches and great facilities, but too many people and nowhere for us to park towing a trailer as we were. We drove...

Dec 10, 2018 - Mimosa Rocks to Jervis Bay

6 December A quiet night, we were sheltered from the winds and there were no galahs to wake us in the morning. But the sun shone through clear blue skies so we got up and on our way. Called in at Aragunna Beach on the way out. Beautiful in the early morning light, noone else there. Decided to have breakfast at a cafe for a change and so drove to Bermagui some 20 km away, we were hungry by then! Found a cafe and enjoyed a full breakfast; service very slow, but they were so friendly. We drove to the Blue Pool which is described as a large...

Dec 6, 2018 - Wonboyn to Mimosa Rocks

5 December Woken early by the birds, usual story, but it wasn’t the galahs this morning, it was the bellbirds, with their ringing bell-like call; very loud! All through breakfast and striking cmap we had bird visitors; Red-browed finches, rainbow lorikeets, bell birds, king parrot, little wattlebird, and finally just as we were about to leave a Wallaby appeared. Ruth held out the bad containing birdseed we were given last night and the wallaby came to her and ate out of the bag. Not something we would normally do, but this particular...

Dec 5, 2018 - Crescent Head to Home

5/12/2018. Wednesday. Warm Crescent Head to Brisbane We were up early packing for home. It was a very pretty drive from Crescent Head to the highway, and a breeze driving on the new double and sometimes triple lane divided highway which will be completed in 2020. We drove for about 2 hours through roadworks which will link the southern section with the northern, before back on a completed section which led to the border. Although the traffic from the coast to home was heavy, it moved freely and we had no holdups, and arrived home about...

Dec 4, 2018 - Crescent Head

4/12/2018. Tuesday. Hot, some cloud cover Crescent Head A quiet day. Crescent Head doesn’t have many shops other than a supermarket, chemist, fantastic bakery, 2 pubs/clubs and a few other small shops, so certainly not a place to spend a lot of money. But the beach - what more could you want! We didn’t go down today and give a repeat performance from yesterday - didn’t want to spoil the locals. Today was our day of walks - Hazel and Ron walked early this morning while we caught up on some sleep, and later Hazel, Ron and myself walked to the...

Dec 4, 2018 - Wilsons Prom to Wonboyn

Wilsons Prom to Mallacoota (Wonboyn) 2 December Once off the Prom we joined the Gippsland Highway, part of the Melbourne to Sydney Coastal Drive, and headed east. Mostly open farmland with several large tracts of commercial forest. We swung off to look at Port Albert, but being Sunday, everything, and there want much, was closed. Turned off again to Woodside Beach the self proclaimed start of Ninety Mile Beach which continues all the way to Lakes Entrance , becoming a spit rather like, but much longer, Chesil Beach in the UK. The waves were...

Dec 4, 2018 - 1 day to go

Tuesday 4th Dec Scary - if it's not done by tonight - we can forget it. Hopefully our checklist will see us through and nothing major has been missed Today Jan had a couple of appointments in the morning, and Ron stayed home and finished his "should I-will I" packing. All got done by 12:00noon and we headed up to our brand new Community Centre to have lunch from the bistro with long term friends (and fellow residents). Very enjoyable and a reasonable price and good company. One last trip back over to Keperra in the afternoon for some last...

Dec 3, 2018 - 2 days to go

Monday 3rd - counting down Today we were soooo excited that it was getting closer and closer AND THEN ..... we heard that the John and Kaye's hire car was the object of a Smash and Grab. All caught on video by nearby witnesses while they were having lunch nearby. The "grab" was some back packs and duffel bags. The content was 3 passports, laptops, iPads, and personal belongings. Some hours later after police attendance, bags were found abandoned missing laptops and iPads BUT still containing the passports. That was a major answer to prayer....

Dec 3, 2018 - Crescent Head

3/12/2018. Monday. Hot Crescent Head Just before 6am must be the time! Bang, bang, bang! We’re wide awake now. Hazel and Ron were luckier, as their young family next door were very quiet. But we all crashed last night, so had a good sleep and were woken to a beautiful morning. After a visit to the Chemist for scripts, we met Hazel and Ron in the water. The beach is only a couple of hundred metres from our vans and is beautiful. The water wasn’t deep but quite gusty waves knocked us over as the sand was very uneven so hard to get a steady...

Dec 2, 2018 - Taigum - 3 days to go

Sunday 2nd Dec Brisbane The pressure's on - 3 folk asked me today if I was going to do a trip journal. Well I guess this is it. Let's hope I get enough free time to keep you up to date 3 days to go and Jan is packed - BUT Ron is not - not much to go in though so I think we 'll both be on the plane. John and Kaye and the 3 kids are already in the States working their way to Canada where they will meet us when we get there on the 5th.

Dec 2, 2018 - Coopernook to Crescent Head

2/1/2018. Sunday. Hot, hot, hot Coopernook to Crescent Head We all slept in at lovely quiet Coopernook. We didn’t even hear the other vans pull out. We drove on the scenic route to Port Macquarie, a place Hazel and Ron know well and love; a place we’ve only been to twice, the second time with friends Pam & Don. We had breakfast at the Pancake Place and Ian was violently ill 50k or so down the road. Not a good memory for him! Today a learning experience for me and another memory! As we were walking down to the river, 2 elderly ladies with a...