Day 181 - October 11 - Home

We had breakfast with Judy then we left Eagle Point and drove home.  It was absolutely pouring down and very cold.  We had the heater on in the car most of the way home.  We arrived home at about 2-30 pm and it was really good to be home.  We haven't done much this afternoon apart from washing, which of course I cannot hang out as it is raining - maybe it will be better tomorrow.  Shaz came round with Emma and Corey, my how the children shoot up when you don't see them for so long.  We are going to pick up Laura and Chloe from school tomorrow and then Lily from creche.  We spoke to them tonight, Lily seems quite excited that we are now home.  We are having an easy dinner tonight.  

Thank you all for reading the blog - I hope you have enjoyed following our travels as much as we have enjoyed travelling.  Hopefully we will do another trip next year though we don't have much planned at the moment.  It will be good to catch up with everybody over the next few weeks.

Day 178 - 180 - October 8 - 10 - Merimbula - Eagle Point

Monday (8th) - Staying about 6 km outside of Merimbula at an RV & Motorhome park (628 in Camps 6), it is $20 a night for a powered site and $15 for an unpowered.  There are no facilities to speak of but it is a big paddock and a lot cheaper than the caravan parks in town.   We are only staying one night.  This afternoon we went into Merimbula and had a walk around the shops, we filled the car ready for tomorrow and then sat out in the sun for a few hours.  It was quite warm surprisingly today.

Tuesday (9th) - Staying in a free camp tonight not far from Murrungower Picnic Area which is 20 east of Orbost (Camps 6 / 14).  We arrived here about lunchtime and believe it or not the weather was sunny and we sat out for the afternoon and read our books.  We are the only ones here which is a first for us.  We lit a fire later in the afternoon and sat out till about 8pm by which time we had no wood left.  It was good sitting by the fire for dinner, even cooked the chops and potatoes over the fire.  

Wedesday (10th) - took our time packing up as we were only travelling through to Eagle Point to spend the evening with Bob & Judy.  It was quite a bright day but cold and windy.  We had lunch at Lakes Entrance and had a quick look around.  Then we did a bit of shopping in Bairnsdale before going to Bob & Judy's.  They have set their front up so that they can get caravans on the garden, they have even put power in under the carport.  We spent the afternoon catching up with Judy - Bob was at work at got home around 4-45pm.  Judy cooked us roast pork for dinner - it was yummy and we had cheesecake for desert.  

Day 176-177 - October 6 & 7 - Moruya

Saturday - well what a difference a day makes. Can't remember the last time we packed up in the rain and boy did it rain.   It was the most miserable day we have had since we have been away.  It rained the whole way from Kiama to Moruya and continued to rain once we arrived here and it was quite cold.  Needless to say we spent most of the day inside the van.

Sunday - the sun came out again today but it was very windy.  We decided to stay another day here and have a look around.  We had a drive into Batemans Bay via the coast road.  It was a great drive through Broulee, Mossy Point, Tomakin, Malua Bay, Lilli Pilli and Batehaven.  The coast was beautiful although a bit choppy today, good waves for surfing.  We had lunch at the RSL in Batemans Bay before returning once again down the coast road. 

We are staying at Riverbreeze Tourist Park which is set on the Moruya River.  Our site backs onto the river.

Our site at Riverbreeze

Moruya River

Day 175 - October 5 - Kiama

Not a lot on the agenda today.  We decided as the weather was so good we would stay in Kiama and enjoy the hot weather.  We didn't do much though apart from going for a long walk and reading our books (sorry but somebody has to do it).  

Day 174 - October 4 - Kiama

Today we went for a drive to Gerringong, Mount Pleasant Lookout and to the Saddleback Mountain Lookout.  It was a really clear day and the views from the lookouts were amazing.     We also went down to the lighthouse and blow hole in Kiama itself.  We came back to the van for lunch then we spent the afternoon reading our books, we had a couple of hours on the beach which is down from the caravan park. 

Blow Hole Kiama

Lighthouse Kiama

Rockpool Gerringong Beach

Lookout Saddleback Mountain

Day 173 - October 3 - Kiama

We travelled from Sydney to Kiama via the Grand Pacific Drive.  The drives starts at the Royal National Park and goes through some spectacular coastlines.  The highlight of course is the Sea Cliff Bridge.  We didn't drive through the National Park we started the drive at  the Bald Hill lookout which gives a 360 degree view of Stanwell Park and the beautiful beach.  You can see the Sea Cliff Bridge quite clearly from here.  The bridge has an overall length of 665 metres.  This is now another thing of our bucket list, it really was something we wanted to do and certainly a highlight of the trip.  We are staying in Kiama at the moment and will probably stay here 2 or 3 nights. The weather has been glorious today.

Sea Cliff Bridge from Bald Hill Lookout

Bald Hill Lookout

Driving over the bridge

The bridge from the other side

Day 171 - 172 - October 1 & 2 - Sydney

Monday - We left Port Macquarie with the intentions of doing a free camp but the one we had picked out had been closed and was probably a bit too close to Port Macquarie.  We had quite a lot of heavy traffic during the course of the journey and decided to turn off at Gosford and look for a caravan park as we had by then been on the road for about 6 hours, well there was only one caravan park and it looked feral so we decided we had better push on and see what else we could find.  We called in at the Information Centre in Gosford to be told that unless we wanted to travel about 30 km out of our way towards the ocean the nearest park would be Lane Cove in Sydney - well that's where we have ended up.  We got here at about 4-30pm so it was a long day in the car, we left Port Macquarie at 9am.  Anyway we booked in here for two nights so we can have a bit of a break tomorrow. 

Tuesday - we decided to go and have a look around Circular Quay, we have done it many times before but it is always good to see.  We got the train from North Ryde only about 750 metres from the caravan park.  We were pleasantly surprised when we asked for two senior tickets - it only cost us $2.50 each for a day ticket. It was interesting going over the Harbour Bridge on the train.  We  had a good look around Circular Quay and Mrs Macquaries chair.  The Opera House and the Sydney Harbour bridge are both really impressive sights.  We then had a walk around the Botanical Gardens and over to The Rocks where we had lunch.  Got back to the van at about 3pm - we are both very tired but have enjoyed the day.  

Lake in Botanical Gardens

Mrs Macquaries Chair

Bronze statue in the Botanical Gardens