Month: January 2008

As we are tourists, it seemed only right to take the tourist lakes way drive, and who could turn down a detour to Seal Rocks. Only thing was the route involved 2km of “unsealed road”. As we bounced and rattled along the road, worrying for the integrity of the van, screws literally fell out of their holes. Seal Rocks itself was a nice little spot, much too busy given the road, and devoid of seals. As we swam/cleaned ourselves in the sea, there was always that concern about the warning sign to fishermen of the fine if a great white shark was caught, what about the swimmers?!
The second detour of the day was to Cape Hawke, named by Captain Cook himself (they’ve got a plaque to prove it). The walk to the summit was rewarded with a viewing platform taking you above the trees for views for miles in all directions.
The campsite tonight is positive luxury: showers, laundry, swimming pool and power for the microwave so we can have popcorn whilst watching the DVD – heaven!

Actually make that 4. Yes siree that’s 4 beaches visited today. Ah it’s a hard life! All made easy thanks to the beauty of our campervan. We’re like nomadic snails carrying our home on our back wherever we go. Feeling a bit sandy / salty after the beach? Just get the camelpack out for a shower (thanks Mel!) and then change in the van. Feeling a bit peckish? Just pull into a picnic site, open up the van and make lunch in the kitchen. Sweet. Yes, ok maybe my enthusiasm for the van today is due to the fact that we spend some time apart last night (too much of a good thing and all that…)
So beach number 1; Stockton. Nah sorry, the guidebook was wrong – it wasn’t all that! The washed up lumps of coal and dead stingrays did not make for a very appetising pre-breakfast stroll. We ditched that idea and went for a swim in the pool instead. Quite frankly we are used to a much better standard of beach. And beach number 2 was bang on the mark. Birubi beach had the beautiful golden sand, the inviting turquoise waters and sand dunes to rival Westport- bonus! We passed on the 4WD and camel tours, opting instead to hike up the dunes and then run at breakneck speed back down. What fun.
Next up was Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest with the promise of urban Koalas and dolphins. No sign of either so we had to make do with beach number 3 and a bit of a surf before heading further up the coast and towards our camping destination for tonight. And so we drove into the Myall Lake National Park where Si, who was feeling a little crowded by the bustle of the caravan holiday parks that have been home for the previous few nights, was hoping for a more rural camping adventure. Not far into the park we stopped to climb a few more sand dunes (it looked like something out of star wars – pretty cool!) at the top we were rewarded with stunning view of gorgeous deserted beaches, which of course we had to explore.
Finally we arrived at our designated camp site, where the only things to identify it as thus were a few other campers and an eco toilet! No office and shop? No amenities block? We’re really going to rough it to the max. Well, after our sparkling red wine and dinner of Chinese beef stir fry that is. Tonight’s wildlife: dingoes!

Leaving Canton Beach behind (yet to find the actual beach mind you) we continued north, and started to wonder if the pioneers had begun to run out of town names. There’s a definite feel of a northerner missing home with towns such as Newcastle, Hexham, Gateshead and Stockton (almost laid out correctly too), and also the lets call a spade-a-spade with “the hill”. Also in that category was our lunch stop – Redhead, a red sandstone cliff/head with sandy beach stretching off into the distance. Made for a good beach walk, and also gave us the chance to help a beached fish (all 3 inches of it!) back into the water – must be the opposite of a swimmer getting caught in a rip current! Mel, I hope you’re proud of us!
This also marks a special day as we’re leaving the Sydney section of the guidebook that has been keeping us busy for the past 4 months, and moving on to the crisp clean pages of the New South Wales section (thanks to Fee and K – the guidebook has been serving us well!)
Campsite for the night is Stockton, across the river (Hunter, not Tyne) from Newcastle, and right next to the beach. It’s not really a beach for boarding on (although I did try!), but the breakwater nearby has a nice wreck attached, and pelicans sitting on lampposts waiting for the fishermen below to just turn their backs for a few minutes. As we’ve been in the van every night so far, we treated ourselves to the night life of Newcastle, New South Wales’ second city – hardly bustling but then it is only Tuesday!
Hot tourist fact for the day: Newcastle NSW, like the original is a prolific coal mining area, helping it shifting the most tonnage of any port in Australia. At any given time there’s a multitude of ships just off the coast waiting to be filled. (We thought it was a mass exodus from Sydney, but there you go)

Today was a little backtack as the campsite was a bit further north than we’d expected. After a coffee at the little surfing cove of Blue Bay, we made for Bulgandry Aboriginal site, with ancient rock carvings in the exposed rock. From there, we bounced along the potholed roads to Ocean beach for a swim and bodyboard, later noticing the lighthouse in the distance was Palm Beach. With the wonders of GPS, it turns out we were only 10km from it, and only 32km from Sydney, after about 300km of driving! Best get a move on!

After taking our time motoring over the past few days, today felt like we were positively ratcheting up the miles between ourselves and Sydney. Half an hour up the freeway, the Australian Reptile park beckoned, a cosy little zoo with all manner of Aussie critters, including Elvis the 5 metre croc, all manner of lizards and spiders and the obligatory kangaroo enclosure. Although personally, I found the tasmanian devil more interesting (amazing what effect Disney cartoons have!) It did give us the chance to see the poisonous red-back and funnel web spiders, and tell us to wrap bandages around bites for one but not the other, if only I could remember which way round it was – best to just avoid all spiders!
The camp site hunt was on once again with the aim of getting us fed before the mozzies, this time taking us quite a way up the coast to Toulakey, a quaint little place next to the calmest water I’ve seen for a while, alas by the time we’d bought beer for the barbie it was getting dark and the mozzies won – next time…

With you each day… And today we were with it!
With slightly groggy heads after the first night in the van, a BBQ in the Ku-ring-gai National park, followed by a walk on the Birrawanna track seemed an ideal way to perk up. With rain threatening followed by bursts of sunshine we headed up the hill, with the deafening cacophony of the beetles around (cicadas?). On the way back down, an echidna rustled past, as oblivious to us as the possum from the night before.
With late afternoon approaching, it was time to find a beach (it’s been 2 days!!), although many of the east coast beaches were shut due to large waves, so no swimming or bodyboarding. First beach was Bilgola, reputed to have red sands, and to be fair they did have an orange hue, but no more than Palm beach, film set for the venerable Aussie soap Home and Away. Avoiding the waves crashing high up the beach, we found the Alf Stewart’s diner and other scenes familiar to Caroline (I obviously had no idea what Home and Away was 😉 )
Finally we took the easy option and stayed in the same camp site s before, well with no one turning up to collect fees, it’s a bargain!

So, we’ve left home again! All of our possessions have been squeezed into the “Keen as Campers” campervan, and we’ve left Sydney, although it did take until 4pm for us to actually get going! We might also have to lose a few possessions on the way, in 3 months when we leave for New Zealand it all has to fit into rucksacks!
The van is pretty sweet, there’s a pop-top so you can actually stand up inside (when you remember!), lots of little storage cubby holes, a microwave and even a DVD player! Only time will tell if we are still keen after 3 months in it! After crossing back over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the swathes of traffic carried us to the coast north of Sydney. Expecting there to be loads of campsites with ample room, it was a bit disconcerting to find them all full. In the end we found a nice little place next to a showground – all we really need are showers and a electric socket and we’re set for the night! Night fell with the laughing of the Kookaburras all around, and even a little possum walked past, completely unperturbed by us. I hope all our campsites are this good!
There’s also a new page on our website that lets you see day-by-day(ish) where we have been. There’s also a lot of places we might go to which are all on a map, and the itinerary page has a rough plan of how we plan to squeeze it all in! See what happens when you leave a geek with a computer and a couple of weeks!

Happy New Year! The boat cruise was excellent fun! Everyone on board was in a good mood to see the year out, and 2008 in. We spent a good while with our table buddies Brett and Hussan swapping the provided face masks in various hilarious combinations (or what felt hilarious after a few drinks!). The free table service drinks flowed all night, and were even better once I realised bottles of wine last longer than beer 🙂
The first fireworks were set off at 9pm, whilst we were worryingly moored under the Harbour Bridge (fortunately no fireworks on the bridge!), then our boat along with the others in the exclusion zone lit up and cruised up and down in the Harbour of Light parade. That gave us the chance to make the most of the band and DJ, who even took the request for 500 miles by the Proclaimers, a song that Caroline danced her heart out alone to, as I was keeping a spot at the front of the boat in preparation for midnight (sorry Caroline – I didn’t know!). Midnight came with the illuminated countdown on the Harbour Bridge, then all manner of fireworks set off from the bridge, with us parked a nice distance away this time!
Here’s wishing everyone the best for 2008!
P.S. Sorry it’s taken us 2 days to get around to writing this, January 1st has always been, and always will be a day to lie low, eat unhealthy things, and vow never to touch alcohol again! 😉