Celebrating an early family Christmas on 13th December enabled us to do a little trip down the south coast of NSW to finish off the year. As luck would have it, that timing also enabled us to leave Sydney before the travel restrictions tightened up again and we were able to celebrate together with family and friends, which would not have been possible on the 25th December due to new Covid restrictions caused by a recent outbreak.
Our family Christmas morning – the present session.The big traditional turkey dinner!
Departed Sydney on the 18th December and spent a few days at Tuross Heads, camped right on the lake. Its a great fishing place which was not the attraction for us. Our initial plan was to be with friends (Chris & Chris), but as they couldn’t be there we spent our time exploring a very nice part of the coast.
Our campsite on the lake (and also next to a busy road).
Our explorations included visiting the Moruya markets, lunch in Moruya, plus lovely beach walks, coffee and lunch stops at Tuross Heads. We decided a good way to support these local communities, who have suffered through the fires and lost most of their tourists due to Covid, would be to eat lunch out as much as possible in addition to caravan park fees, groceries and fuel purchases.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES – same exact place, two photos taken by different bystanders on two very different days. Bright skies and sunshine versus cloudy squalls and wind.These trees are a key feature of the Tuross Heads foreshore. A cairn commemorates Hector McWilliam who planted the 200 Norfolk Island Pines in the town and owned property in the area. Hector McWilliam planted the 200 trees after being told they would not grow in the area. McWilliam, a one-time real estate salesman, acquired the Mylott property in 1924, attempting, with little success, to sell land in the area and make it a tourist spot. Hector was very generous to the community with his donation of the foreshore land and the distinctive Norfolk Island Pines that adorn it.
After more long beach walks, a good uke practice doing Christmas Carols and a pleasant alfresco meal by the lake, we said goodbye to Tuross Lakes. Getting an early start (thats 10am for us), we headed off to Bombala for our catchup with Chris and Chris. Stopped in Bega for lunch and a Zoom medical appointment. Had a pleasant evening with our friends.
The Troopy (Chris & Chris’ vehicle) and Belle side by side, and Dick doing his balance class.Lots of talking and planning future trips…..
Then we headed back to the coast and a new camp on Lake Wonboyn, very near the Victorian border, which was still open so there were quite a few people around. No places were full but it was only a few days before Christmas.
Its pretty quiet in Wonboyn – these guys took their time crossing the road as we drove in to the Holiday ParkOn our evening walk we met Santa and she invited us to a locals Xmas drinks by the lake. Note the burnt out trees.We hired a boat and explored Lake Wonboyn. Dick is plotting our course on his phone.Late afternoon sun ………this picture sums up Lake Wonboyn beautifully for me.This King Parrot seemed to like me. He hung around our camp a lot.Exploring in Eden – a lovely cafe lunch and drives and walks along the scenic Eden coast.
Our Christmas day started with lots of family phone calls before we went off exploring Wonboyn Beach. The 5 km trip on a very rough 4WD track got us to a lovely deserted beach. The south coast has a never-ending stream of hidden lakes and beaches to explore. We’d never heard of this area and initially planned to go to Ben Boyd NP but decided to explore Wonboyn instead.
Had a great beach and bush walk. No one else around. More burnt out forests. There was still an eery feeling in that bush.It was such a beautiful spot we decided to free camp at the beach (instead of returning to the holiday park) before heading off to our next camp in the mountains, Kosciuszko National Park.A scary 15 minutes during the drive to the mountains. Out of nowhere we were caught in the middle of a dreadful hail and snow storm. It felt like the windscreen was going to be smashed in. We had to stop and wait for it to die down. Ten minutes later we were in sunshine.Our campsite for three nights in Kosciusko National Park. Good place for walking but not so good for sitting outside as the March flies were ferocious. Good for quiet nights as no tv or internet.Enjoying the 7km Waterfall walk on a warm 24C day.One of our favorite alpine walks is the Porcupine Trail. Here is the view from the top.Lots of delicate and beautiful wildflowers on this 6km walk.The trees and views are magnificent, and the walk is not strenuous so makes for a pleasant time.To celebrate Dick’s birthday, we went for a nice lunch in a cafe in Jindabyne. He totally indulged himself in an old favorite (the hamburger) and the cafe staff indulged him with a candle on his cake.You never know who you will meet driving along the road. As we left Jindabyne, C&C were driving in so we had a roadside chat before we headed off back to the coast.Our next camp was on Wallaga Lake, between the lake and the ocean. NSW has so many amazing coastal places to visit.We did a stunning walk along the coast. The mountain in the background was called Mount Dromedary by Captain Cook in 1770 because he thought it looked like a dromedary camel. The local Yuin people call it Gulaga, the Mother Mountain.
In the 1970’s aboriginal people campaigned against logging on the mountains. After years of slow progress the whole area was handed over to the Yuin people and is now jointly managed by the aboriginal owners and National Parks and Wildlife Services.
After a 3km walk along this picturesque coast, we hitchhiked a ride back to Belle. Sounds lazy but we had a lunch commitment.Almost looks like we could have been in Paris, but it was La Gallette, a crepe/gallette cafe in Tilba Tilba. Lets call it a second birthday lunch for Dick.
For old times sake we checked out Mystery Bay, then drove around Bermagui and did a scenic drive around the coastline stopping at Blue Pool where we saw seals frolicking in the water. All very scenic and a beautiful part of the world. The next day we got home after another nice lunch out in Berry. It was a relaxing time away.
I’ll finish this blog with a note on our family weekend away in early January. Back to the Berry area where we enjoyed just having some time away together; and had the bonus of beautiful weather, a scenic coastal walk, lots of games, good food, and even stargazing in a very dark sky.
A stunning coastal walk, but Maggie, Helen & Anthony’s new golden retriever puppy, had to be carried most of the way, so they didn’t get to do the whole 5 km walk from Minnamurra to Bone Beach.Lots of inside and outside games, although we all know who the most coordinated ones are. I think the kids were surprised the jenga tower got as high as it did with Dick and I playing.Our place for the weekend had a great view. With the magic of Dick’s phone we got some nice group photos. That weekend was a lovely way to start the new year.This map shows our route.
The good thing about doing a mystery tour is that we had so many options and could go wherever sounded interesting; the bad thing was that we spent ages most days trying to work out where to go and what to do. We are now safely home and this blog chronicles that final leg of our trip home, which included lots of socialising, bush camps and a final waterfall.
After the fun of The Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail, we revisited Lara Wetlands on the last day of the season that they were open. We were probably last to arrive and certainly last to leave in the morning! Did enjoy a soak in the very hot thermal pool.
A sunset soak in the lovely hot springs, after everyone else had left.This was our campsite in the now-empty wetlands. Normally the area is full of campers.
Since we were on a mission to get to Explorer Motorhomes on a set day, we did two driving days of over 500 kms each day; in a marked contrast to the rest of our trip. Spent one night in a free camp and then two nights in a lovely bush camp.
Barambah Bush Camp where we selected our own spot by one of their dams. Very peaceful until the hordes arrived for the long weekend, but still nice.
From here we had another social time in the Sunshine Coast. Lunch out in Noosa with Pamela and Rod, plus dinner and breakfast with Gordon and Joanne in Tewantin.
Afternoon tea with Janice & John in their lovely house overlooking Sunrise Beach.Another night in Allan’s driveway plus dinner out with Allan and Barbara.
Since we were getting a few things attended to in Belle, we decided to clean her up a bit in a carwash as she was pretty dirty, and we didn’t want it to look like we didn’t take care of her. The Explorer people attended to most of our issues in one day and we were able have a nice night out with our friends, Denise and Steve, who had just that day moved into their new house. As we had seen the various stages of the build over the last 10 months, it felt appropriate to be celebrating this occasion with them.
With Steve and Denise in their new house, at the end of dinner and a long day for ‘the tired unpackers’.
Our time in Queensland was finished as we finally decided to cross the border for home. However we did need to park in the street outside the caravan park to work out which route to take. That’s almost delaying a decision too long! Decided to take an inland route as we’d driven up the coast road.
This sign greeted us as we crossed the border back into NSW, although no one stopped us driving through the border.Drove around Mt Lindsay and over a mountain range before we ended up at another nice bush camp, Rainforest Gateway, near Kyogle.Our campsite was beside the creek. They brought us wood and a fire pit; so what could we do! It was a nice place, not crowded so we stayed three nights. Very relaxing and we enjoyed helping ourselves to the fresh herbs on offer, as well as buying a dozen eggs from the owner, who collected them from the chickens, 10 minutes before she gave them to me.Another lovely bush camp near Deepwater. Stayed here two nights so we managed to have five nights where we had a campfire and practiced our ukuleles. Finally getting in the swing of having a fire. Its only been five years without them.There were two sheep, lots of chickens and two horses at this camp, plus swooping magpies. This guy really wanted to get in the van and the magpies were determined to swoop us. The chickens were satisfied with just pecking at our feet and chairs.Good place for a practice!Our next stop was in Wild Rivers National Park, where we camped at the Apsley Falls campground. While we were viewing the waterfall, we met a Channel 7 cameraman. He took some video of us for his story about local tourism (one was used in their 6pm news) and then he used our camera to take this photo for us.Our last stop was with Kevin and Jenny at their property- our visit there was a nice re-introduction to being back home.Before we left we did a walk around the property, accompanied by the dogs and cats.
This map outlines our 2020 Mystery Tour, where we went up the coast and returned through an inland route.Here are the statistics we like to keep for comparing our trips.
Thanks to all who came with us ‘virtually’ on this trip. We appreciate all the comments and feedback that you give us. We know we are fortunate to have been able to travel when so many people cannot, and we hope that our stories provide some diversion for those who can’t. Even without a plan or focus we managed to find lots of interesting places to visit and we continue to learn a lot along the way.
