We have moved around a bit since our last post. We left the sodden township of Moruya in much the same condition as we arrived. It was still raining. It was such a pity really as it was a very pretty town.
Anyway it was off to the little town of Windang. This is in the Shoalhaven shire, and looking at Wikicamps, it appeared to be the best place for us to stop. I actually spend a lot of time on the Wikicamps website, as it is a great tool for finding somewhere to stay.
The drive from Moruya was mostly through forests and national parks. Much the same as the entire east coast of N.S.W. The roads weren't too bad, just very hilly and not very wide. We had planned to stop at Berry, in the Showgrounds Park, but it was booked out and very wet. As we drove through Berry it was quite a quaint little town, but very tourist orientated. It was a Sunday and the streets were chaotic with tourists. We decided to come back another day for a better look.
We drove through some very pretty coastal towns on the way and finally arrived at Windang. After setting up we went for a bit of a stroll along the beach, to stretch the legs and the back. I know it is amazing, but there was no rain for probably the last 2 hours. I forgot what it was like to drive without the wipers on. Anyway, it had been replaced by wind.
We walked down to the beach and there was a windsurfer out on the surf. He was really quite good and worth watching. There was also a couple of surfers, but they never got to stand up. Obviously waiting for a bigger crowd. Continued our walk and checked out the town of Windang. Could have saved our energy really as there was only a couple of shops and a pub. The next town is Shell Harbour and it is huge. I think Windang is just a suburb of Shell Harbour.
Up bright and early Monday morning and off exploring the area. Our first stop was the town of Kiama. What a great town this is. We checked out the famous blowhole, which was refusing to blow too high due to a fairly still ocean. There is also a great little sea bath just down from the blowhole, with a little marina. I had to take a photo of my next boat that was moored there. Also got a photo of a sea bird, sunning itself on the rocks.
Oh, I forgot, the weather today is just awesome. The sun is shining, no wind and no rain. Great. From the area of the blowhole, you can see the beautiful little sheltered harbour that is part of Kiama. Along the front of the harbour is a great parkland area that had lots of mothers, with their children, just sitting enjoying the sun. The shopping centre is on the other side of the parkland and it is a very vibrant shopping precinct. We both decided that we could live here, until of course, we checked the Real Estate boards. Anyway, there is still tattslotto.
We continued on our travels and checked out the little village of Gerringong. This would have to be the hilliest place I have ever seen. It puts Eden to shame. Even without the van on board, it was tough getting up a few of the hills. Just a small shopping centre, probably because the delivery trucks cant get up the hills.
Next was the town?? of Gerroa. It is really just a small settlement not far from Gerringong. From here you can get onto the 7 mile beach which is probably the prettiest beach I have seen in this area. The retail shopping area consisted of a tiny post office/general store.
Next on the list was Shoalhaven which never really took up a lot of our time. A couple of caravan parks and some quite nice houses but if you weren't into fishing and the like, you would struggle with finding something to do. We then went inland, and found the town of Berry. It is a totally tourist town, with gift type shops, cafes and the like. The main problem was the noise. The Princes Hwy goes straight down the middle of the relatively narrow main street. The constant noise of the trucks was very off putting and probably affected the way we felt about the town. I will say though, there is a Berry bypass that is currently underway, expected to be completed by 2018. Not sure if that will help the towns tourist name or not.
We then made a huge mistake. Deb was looking at a tourist brochure!!! We had been caught before by tourist attractions, being exaggerated so to speak, but we still went to see Fitzroy Falls. Supposed the best waterfall in the area, and it did look good in the photo. The only problem was it was up the side of a mountain, down the other side and then halfway up the next mountain. Awesome. Not to be dissuaded, we headed up the mountain, with very steep, narrow roads that got worse the higher you got. Of course we even had some roadworks that cut off half of the road. Anyway, we got to the falls and walked about 500 metres into the forest to see these spectacular falls. PROBABLY, in the middle of winter, with lots more rain, it would have been more stimulating. I will grant one thing that the brochure stated, it was the biggest drop that I have seen.
We couldn't stand any more excitement so it was off back to the caravan. Instead of going back over the top of the mountain we took the long route through Nowra and Berry. I think it was worth it as the roads were a fraction better.
Got up Tuesday morning and decided to head north to check out the ocean bridge, about 30 k's nth of Wollongong. It looked good on the brochure!!! Anyway, off we go and the bridge was actually a really good tourist attraction. There were heaps of people walking along the bike path to the side of it, but the main problem was finding a good spot to get a photo. After a bit of searching, we eventually found a good spot about 2 klms away. Thank god for the zoom on the camera.
After all that excitement, it actually took us about 75 minutes to get there, we headed back to check out the town of Shell Harbour. We headed down to the waterfront and checked out the beach. A large portion of it is covered in rocks, with the other part being a sandy beach. There is also a sea pool here, probably because the beach looks a bit rough for little kids. Like most of the beaches up here, they are more suited to surfing.
We then headed over to check out the Shell Harbour shopping centre. It was just huge. I thought we were back at Fountain Gate. I just had to take a photo of this huge fresh fish shop that is in there. One entire side is taken up by different types of prawns, with the other sides displaying dozens of types of fresh fish. Not my cup of tea, but Deb was impressed.
Anyway it was back to the park and get ready to head off the next morning. On our last night we had a fly bye farewell of a couple of aeroplanes, of which I managed to get a photo of one. Obviously they were farewelling us.
Got up bright and early and had worked out how to get through Sydney without going through Sydney. We were both pretty cheery about moving on, until we hit the expressway to go around Wollongong. The traffic came to a sudden stop, and the message board advised us of an accident ahead. Deb turned on the UHF radio and heard all of the truckies giving their opinions on everything. The main topic of discussion was the woman in a red dress at the accident scene. Was quite funny, except for the fact that it took us an hour to get through. And missed checking out the woman in red. Just great, as the weather was already 32C and getting hotter by the minute.
Eventually got through and to jump forward we got to the little town of Morisset, where we were staying at the caravan park. There were probably about 20 vans already there, with the facilities being what you would probably call basic. Finished setting up the van, with the temperature now hitting 35C. Can you just imagine how hot the van was when we opened up that door. The air conditioner was really pushing it uphill trying to cool things down after that.
Next morning up bright and early and we headed off to check out Newcastle. It was about 50 k's from here but mainly on the freeway. Our first stop was to check out Fort Scratchley. This fort was built, mainly as a protective measure for the Newcastle ports area during the war. The fort is fairly well preserved, with the various quarters, artillery store and cannons still in position.
You may be surprised to hear, but during 1942, a Japanese submarine got to the edge of the harbour entry and fired off 34 shells at the Port and other infra structure. They were quite smart really, as they hid behind a small island, and the soldiers from the Fort could not initially see them to return fire.
Eventually they returned fire before the submarine left. Of the 34 shells fired by the submarine, only 3 detonated, resulting in no loss of life and minimal damage. They have one of the unexploded shells on display. There is also a sea baths just down from the Fort, which was built by the convicts. It was dug out of solid granite, so obviously a huge job.
We had a bit of a tourist walk around Newcastle, which has some really well preserved historical buildings. We also walked up to the top of a tourist tower, overlooking the harbour, which, by the way, had 180 steps. See what lengths I go to, to get you the best shots.
To complete our day we headed up to check out the Memorial Walk. This is a really cool walkway that was erected along the cliff face, overlooking the ocean. It is a memorial to all of the soldiers that have lost their lives over the years. The walkway was about 450 metres long and was well worth the visit.
Whilst standing on the walkway, we saw a small group of possibly dolphins swimming down below us. Pretty good huh.
Then it was time to head back towards home. We took a more scenic route back, with a lot of little tourist towns spread all along Lake Macquarie. Just a beautiful part of NSW. It was then back to the van and we will be heading off tomorrow morning towards Port Macquarie.
Sorry this blog is so long, but I do get a bit carried away when I start typing it.
Bye for now.
Barry and Deb.
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