The reason we came

I loved the road trip but the real reason for travelling all the way to Australia is to spend time with the family.  Although we get sent messages, videos and have FaceTime calls it's always good to be in the same place together.  

We had a quiet day on Monday.  On Tuesday Roger and I took ourselves to the Wollongong Art Gallery. There was an exhibition of Aboriginal Bark Paintings.

 
We walked along the beach to a seafood restaurant we had eaten in last year.

On Wednesday the whole family went to the Illawarra Fly Treetop Walk.  We didn't do the zipline!  We climbed to the top of the tower - 105 steps each way.
 

The view from the top over Lake Illawarra

 

 

We went for a walk along part of the shore of Lake Illawarra and the kids rode their bikes.

 

 

On Thursday Andy took us to the Mount Keira Lookout which overlooks Wollongong.

The three of us went to have lunch at a Filipino restaurant at Towradgi Beach.

 

On Friday, Andy drove all of us south towards Jervis Bay.  We stoppped off to walk the Grotto Walk, North Nowra and to have a picnic lunch.

 

After lunch we continued south to Sanctuary Point and the holiday accommodation we had booked for a long weekend.  It was on the shore of St. George's Basin.  There was a path along the shoreline that the children could take their bikes along.

 

We spent the next day mostly lazing about.  I read two books and Roger went for two walks.  It's not often we just do nothing.

 

The clocks changed that night so we 'lost' an hour's sleep.

 

See you next time for the next part of our holiday.

 

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Driving South

We continued our drive south via Urunga, Nambucca Heads, Scotts Head and Stuarts Point to South West Rocks.

At South West Rocks we asked at the tourist information if there was anything interesting to see but we told there wasn't apart from the beaches.  Fortunately we found otherwise and visited Trial Bay Gaol.

 

 

 

It had a really interesting small museum.

Continuing our journey we visited Smoky Cape Lighthouse, Cresent Head and arrived in Port MacQuarie.

The next day we walked along the Promenade in Port Macquarie and visited the museum in the town.

Driving further south we saw yet another lighthouse.

And then drove along the Lakes Way Road to Bulandelah. 

Saturday was our last day of wandering around.  We went to Fingal Bay and then drove into the centre of Newcastle.

On Sunday morning we visited yet another museum. Then drove out to Newcastle Beach along with what seemed to be the rest of the world.  As we sat in a traffic jam I spotted this guy on a lamp post.

We drove to Hornsby for a late lunch and then along various motorways around Sydney to our destination near Wollongong, to stay with our son and his family.

Thank you for joining me today
Bernice

Armchair Travelling for You

We've been on our travels again.  I hope you will enjoy our escape to the land down under.

We started by flying from Heathrow to Brisbane where we spent our first night at a hotel at the airport.  We picked up the hire car the next morning (Monday) and we were off on our road trip.  Six days travelling from Brisbane to Cordeaux Heights - a journey that takes just under 11 hours if you drive the direct route.

Which obviously we didn't!

We drove inland to avoid Gold Coast and drove along the Scenic Rim Way.  We stopped off at Natural Bridge on the way.  We had booked to stay in Brunswick Heads and the Motor Inn was a short walk across the river to the beach.

 The next morning it looked like this

Tuesday
Brunswick Heads to Grafton via Byron Bay and Ballina

On Wednesday morning we drove around Grafton to find its historic buildings.

We drove to Coffs Harbour and walked through a cemetery to the Botanical Garden.

 

 

We drove on to Bellinger where we stayed in a 'tiny house' - a deluxe one.  I dread to think how small the standard version was.

It's not really designed for those who need to go to the loo in the middle of the night - especially with a television sticking out of the wall.  Plus the light switch was somewhere near the kitchen.

 

Never mind - next time I should read the description of the accommodation properly.

 

I think that's enough for now.  We're almost half way through the road trip.  More next time! 

Thanks for being here today
Bernice