9 Feb: The Grand Pacific Drive
We started off with a homework session first thing in the
morning which was accompanied by an
all too regular
tantrum
from Gaelle. From now
on
it's
decided
that
if
the
girls
have a
tantrum
doing
their
diaries,
we'll
draw a
cross
face in
their
books! How
embarrassing!
We left Sydney, direction Melbourne, the South. We
drove
through the Royal
National Park with its
subtropical rainforest
scenery to Bald Head, a
beautiful lookout over
which many people
were
tandem hang
gliding. If
the
weather
had been
better,
François
would
have been
very
tempted
to
fly but
unfortunately it
was drizzling and
the
views
were
not
very
clear. Today is
the
first day that
we
have
seen
clouds
since
we
left France!
The
temperature
has plummeted from a
scorching
37 degrees to
16
degrees!
Brrrghh...We
had
to get
the Gortex
jackets
out
again !!!
We continued along the Grand Pacific Drive and stopped off at the
Sea
Cliff
Bridge.
A
665
meter long
viaduct,
completed
in
2005 in
order to
replace
the old road
along
the cliffs
which
was
subject to regular land
slides. We
walked
along
the bridge
admiring the beautiful
views of
the
sea. Next stop
Wollongong,
where
we
stopped
off for
a
bit
of shopping. The
hunt
for a
cigarette
lighter
charger
for the
Asus
laptop was
fruitless,
but we
did
manage to buy
the Lonely Planet
for
Australia and
a birthday
present for
Sophie (discretely!).
We
then
continued
south
bound
stopping
off
for the
night at a
rest
area
at Jerrawangala,
on
the
edge of Princes
Highway; not very
luxurious but
practical.
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| Bald Head |
Sea Cliff
Bridge |
10 Feb: Sophie's birthday!
Today's objective is to see kangaroos for Sophie's birthday. We
had read that there are kangaroos in the wild
in Murramarang
National
Park, but we are
fairly
dubious about whether
we
will
be
able
to see
them or
not. We
stop off
at a tourist
information office
to
get some
reliable
information.
If we
don't
manage
to
see a
kangaroo
today, Sophie
will
be
very disappointed. She's
been
dreaming of
sharing
her birthday
cake with a kangaroo for months
now! The chances of
seeing kangaroos in the
park at Pebble Beach
were confirmed, so off
we
went! We arrived at
the beach and strolled
down towards the
beach
for our
picnic
lunch.
We
could see
kangaroos
further along
the
beach,
but as
it
was
clearly
stated that
it was
forbidden
to feed
the
animals, we
decided to
finish
our sandwiches
before
approaching. One
big male kangaroo
must
have got a whiff of
our
food
however
and he
hopped
along
right
to
us, frightening
both
girls in the
process! We
quickly
finished
our sandwiches
before
strolling
along
the
beach to
the
group of
kangaroos,
resting and
feeding in
the
grassy
sand
dunes.
They
must be
familiar with
tourists
as they
were
not shy.
We were
able to approach
them
to
within a
metre
or two;
we didn't dare
get any
closer! It's
amazing
to be
able
to get
so
close
to wild
animals.
In the afternoon we drove further south to Bateman's Bay to
Birdland in order to see some more kangaroos,
plus some koalas,
wallabies and
parrots.
We were
able to
get inside
the
kangaroo
enclosures and
touch the
kangaroos.
Super! The
koalas
were sleeping
(they sleep for 20
hours
a day) so
the park gave us
complementary
tickets for the
next day
to come and see
and
touch
the
koalas at
10:30 am when
they
would be awake. We
therefore changed
our plans of
heading further south
that
day and found a
lovely
spot on the
seaside
in
Batehaven
to spend
the
night in
the
campervan. At
MacDonald's
we
couldn't
connect
to our
FTP
server to
update
our web pages.
Sorry,
you'll
have
to be
patient...
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| A wild
kangaroo at Pebble Beach |
Sophie's 5th
birthday! |
Sophie and
Gaelle stroking a kangaroo at
Birdland |
11 Feb: Eurobodalla Region
This morning Jenny woke up early, so left François and the girls
sleeping
in the
campervan and
went for a
run along
the
beautiful
sands of
the beach
to the
marina.
Her first
run since
leaving
France and
in hiking
shoes!
Afterwards,
we
returned
to
Birdland
to see the
koala
feeding at
10:30 and
the snake
and wombat
handling
session at
11:30.
This is
the first time we
have
seen a koala awake!
They sleep
20 hours a
day
and when
they're
awake;
their activity
focuses solely
on eating
eucalyptus
leaves!
François and the
girls
were
very
brave
and held a
boa
snake around their
necks
-
ugghh!
Mummy
cuddled
the
baby
wombat
(15
months and 12 kg -
a
big
baby!) and
everyone
admired
and
stroked
him.
We then drove down to Bingie Bingie Point, down a dirt
track, in the Eurobodalla National Park.
There are curious
geological rock
formations
at the
point
and the
deserted golden
sand
bays
both
sides of the
point are
magnificent.
The sea was rough; the
waves came
crashing in against the
rocks. It
was
beautiful.
Last stop of the day was at Central Tilba, a Natural Trust
Village
with houses, shops and hotels dating
back to
the late 1800's. The village is
quaint, all
the
wooden
houses are
colourfully painted, but
we were disappointed
to
find most of the shops shut (they close
between 16:30 and
17:00!). We were able to
taste and buy some
reputed Tilba cheese in
the
ABC Cheese factory
(the first New South
Wales
cheese co-op
established in
1891).
We drove to Merimbula and parked for half hour in MacDonald's
car park to check our mails and Sykpe the
family. When pulling out of
MacDonald's,
François
drove on the right hand side of the road down
to the traffic lights,
but no harm done! We
parked for the night in
a deserted spot near
Pambula Bay.
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 |
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| Bingie Bingie
Point |
A koala
awake! |
Sophie bravely
handling a
snake |
12 Feb: Merimbula to Mallacoota
This morning our objective was to find a WIFI connection with
which we
could
update our
web site.
After
asking in
the
tourist
information
office and
a couple
of cafés,
we ended
up as
temporary
members
in
a RSL
club
(Retired
Services
League)! A
good
cappuccino
coffee
later and
our
mission
was
accomplished!
We drove
to The
Pinnacles
in Ben
Boyd
National
Park;
beautiful
white and
ochre
coloured
rock
formations
on
seaside cliffs.
The walk
in the
park
went
to a
lookout
point on
the
cliffs,
but didn't
approach
the
rocks
themselves.
We tried
an
alternative itinerary
down to
the
deserted beach
and
managed to
find a
small
hidden
path up to
The
Pinnacles.
We continued our drive southbound and crossed over from New South
Wales to
Victoria,
stopping
off for
the night
in
Mallacoota
(voted
the
Lonely
Planet's
favourite
place in
Victoria).
We ate a
BBQ in an
idyllic
picnic
spot where
the river
meets the
sea and
then moved
on
to an
isolated
spot to
spend the
night. We
would have
loved to
have
stayed
put, but
unfortunately
camping
was
forbidden
at the
picnic
spot...
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| The
Pinnacles |
Long Beach -
not
a
footprint
in
sight,
except
our
own! |
The
Pinnacles |
13 Feb: Mallacoota to Metung
This morning we went down to the wharf in Mallacoota to enquire
about
hiring a
boat for a
few hours
to look
around the
inland
lakes.
A 2
hour
cruise
trip was
just about
to depart,
but
instead we
decided to
hire a
boat for 3
hours and
discover the
lakes
independently.
The motor
boat was
very
basic; a 5
metre
fibreglass
boat with
a half
cabin and
moreover
an engine
dating
back to
the
industrial
revolution
that had
to be kick
started,
had one
cruising
speed
of
about 5
knots and
no
reverse!
After about 5 minutes, François had succeeded in grounding us on
a sandbank
and had to
jump in
and push
us
free!
In his
defence,
the
navigation
channels
were not
very
clear...
We cruised
at 5
knots across
the Bottom
Lake
(where we
didn't get
lucky
enough
to
spot
the 2
resident
seals),
through
the Narrows
and
up
Captain
Creek.
We
docked at
a jetty
there for
a short
walk
in
the
beautifully
aromatic
eucalyptus
forest,
hoping to
spot a
koala.
Unfortunately
the shy
creatures
were
obviously
hiding,
so
we
rejoined
our boat
and headed
back.
There were
hoards of
big
white
jellyfish
in the
waters, so
swimming
was out of
the
question!
In the afternoon we drove to Metung, a quite village in the Lake
District
behind 90
Mile
Beach. The
wind had
picked up
and it was
chilly
outside,
so we
decided to
spoil
ourselves
with some
pub grub
and
local
chardonnay
wine in a
bar
overlooking
Bancroft
Bay. We
parked
the
campervan
for the
night on a
quiet road
on the
waterfront.
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 |
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| Cruising on
Mallacoota
Inlet |
Capitan Creek
Jetty;
stop-off
for a koala sighting walk |
Gaelle at the
helm
! |
14 Feb: St. Valentine's Day
Yesterday was Friday 13th, but it was today, not yesterday that
bad luck
hit
us...
The day got off to a good start. Jenny went out for a run along
the
boardwalk
in Metung
under a
glorious
blue sky
before
breakfast.
Then a
trip to
the
laundry for
the
dreaded
washing
(we do
miss the
luxury of
Thailand
with a laundry service for less
than one
Euro!) and
a walk
around
the
farmer's
market on
the main
square,
where we
bought
some
local
produce.
We then
decided to
hit the
road
direction
Melbourne.
At
Bainsdale,
we stopped
off at a
picnic /
BBQ area
with a
large
kids
play
area.
It
was
just a
perfect
spot for a
nice BBQ
lunch and
for
the
girls
to
amuse
themselves.
After only
a few
minutes on
the
games,
Gaelle
fell and
badly hurt
her elbow.
The pain
didn't
subside
with ice
and her
arm had
swollen
quite a
bit, so we
rushed her
off
to the
local
hospital.
We were
lucky to
be so
close to
one,
probably
the
only hospital
in a
radius of
80km. We
had to
wait
for
over
an
hour
and a
half
for
the
X-ray
operator
on call to
come
and
take
the X
-rays.
The
medical
staff was
very
friendly and gave Gaelle a
teddy bear
and
stickers, but
she
was
on
morphine
at
this
point...
We were
sure that
she had
broken
something
and were
dreading
the
thought of
her being
in plaster
for
several
weeks to
come. We
were
surprised
and very
relieved
when the
X-rays
showed
nothing
broken,
but the
swelling
and pain
were still
important
so
the
nurse
put
her
arm in
a
sling
and
we
rushed
off
to the
chemists
for
Nurofen
and
painkillers.
We continued our way towards Melbourne, with both girls napping
in the
campervan.
We stopped
off for
the night
on the
edge of a
dirt
track
road
off
Princess
Highway,
about 80km
from the
city.
Fingers
crossed
Gaelle
won't
suffer too
much
tonight.
Gaelle with her arm in a sling...
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