South NSW Coast to Central NSW Coast

We have now been away from NZ for over 5 weeks and have covered over 3,000 kms. It’s amazing where the time goes when we are having so much fun!

We loved our time in Bateman’s Bay and we were really sorry to leave there. We did manage a feed of prawns though. We found a great little fish shop on a side street, recommended by a fellow camper. He let us sample prawns with his homemade vodka sauce. No kidding, it was great. We bought about 2 dozen prawns and his sauce and we had a great meal.

We then moved onto Nowra where we based ourselves so we could explore Jervis Bay and the Shoalhaven area. If anyone hasn’t been down to this part of Australia, please think about it. The beaches are just the best with the whitest sand that goes on for miles. We had our first meal of oysters here at Greenwell Point. They were cultivated oysters and about half the size of the Bluff ones, but very, very tasty. The lady opened them for us so they were really fresh and every now and again she would pass us one each to sample. Not having tasted an oyster for a couple of years, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven! $10 for 2 dozen.

The Australian Navy has a base at Jervis Bay and it is closed to the public but it can be seen from across the bay from a little place called Hyams Beach. We had gone there for a paddle and as we were leaving we saw a helicopter circling above the base so decided to watch and see where it landed. To our surprise it started heading out to sea at a very low height. There was a little pleasure craft that had obviously come too close for the Navy’s liking and the helicopter started herding it towards the open seas. It was flying very low and stirring up quite a wake with its rotors. It was a sight to behold. Obviously the Aussie Navy has a bit more money to spend than the NZ Navy in that they can send up a chopper to push a little boat around. I don’t know why they didn’t put out a frigate!

Our next stop was a little beach just north of Wollongong called Bulli Beach, pronounced “Bulleye” not “Bullee” as we pronounced it a couple of times. Just north of here they have built a huge bridge called the Sea Cliff Bridge. It is an amazing feat of engineering. It has been built out from the cliffs over the sea and if the greenies would allow it, this could solve the Centennial Highway problem on the Kapit Coast. We parked the car and walked over it. There are huge cliffs along this coast and rock falls had caused road closures over the years and while this bridge was being built a huge rock fall caused the normal road to be closed for 2 years.

Car problems with the cd stacker and a leaking radiator caused us to stay in Sydney for repairs. Thank goodness it is still under warranty from Toyota. We just set the GPS and it was simple to find our way. I can’t bear to think of the aggro that would have been caused without it. We stayed in Lane Cove National Park which is on the northern side of Sydney. Every night we had a nocturnal visitor to the caravan roof. We were told there were kangaroos in the park and I know they can jump but I think this animal was a bit light footed for a roo. It was possibly a possum but there was no way I was getting out of bed to see what kept him practising his tap dancing on our roof every night! I still love Sydney and our visit there bought back so many happy memories of staying with Stephen, Sarah and the boys when they lived there.

We had a really funny experience during our visit out to Fairfield to pick up the car. While we were waiting we decided to pay a visit to the local RSL Club, purely for observational purposes of course. Now Fairfield is in a fairly run down area with quite a high crime rate so it came as quite a shock to us to see that the RSL was very upmarket with lovely groomed lawns and gardens and the hostesses all dressed in black suits, even down to black gloves. The interior was all glitzy with water features in the foyer but the pokies room was a real surprise. It was very busy and this was on a Monday about mid-day. There were about 10 or 12 women dressed in black lace tights and high heels; short red fitted waistcoats with tails and little top hats acting as hostesses. A bit like Hefner’s bunny girls. We found a seat and sat down to play and donate our funds to the RSL and tried not to let the racket going on around us deter us from our mission. Every now and then the compere would call out “ Yaa dee yaa dee yaa dee” and people would rush over and get a whole list of numbers. We weren’t doing that well but then we won some free games and over came one of the hostesses with a list of numbers for us. We then went into a draw for $200 . Needless to say we didn’t win that but what a laugh it all was.

We then headed for the Central Coast of NSW; Toowoon Bay and Newcastle. Here our lovely weather decided to desert us for a while. We had just put up the awning, ground sheet etc. at Toowoon Bay when the proprietor came over to say there were 2 storms on the way, one from Sydney and one off the sea. Needless to say, we then had to pull everything down again. I’m glad we did as we had some very strong winds and heavy rain. I know that NSW is in drought conditions but they are certainly not on this coast. The beaches are quite rocky here but it is very spectacular when the wind gets up with the sea spray flying everywhere.

In my last newsletter I mentioned the grocery prices in Oz. Well there is an enquiry going on into the monopoly and they have found that groceries in NSW are 30% higher than they should be. I could have told them that without the trouble of an enquiry. Australia has just had its first budget under the new Labour Govt. and they haven’t pleased the pensioners at all with nothing for them. I am so glad to see that Aunty Helen and her cohorts have kept us oldies in mind when they delivered the NZ one this week.

We will be heading further north in the next few days and by the time of my next epistle we should be either in Queensland or getting close to it and maybe some more settled weather.