Southern NSW coast

It’s been a while I last posted. We’ve been living life on the road, staying three nights in coastal parks to give us a day to explore and another to relax, before hitting the road again. We saw an apt description written across the rear of a caravan – “One room unit on 20 million acres”, but we’ve got a lot to go before we see all 20 million acres (it’s actually a lot more) of Australia. One thing is for sure – this is a beautiful country.

Wasp Head, near Bateman's Bay. Yet another fantastic coastal location.

For the last ten weeks we have travelled over 3,500 kilometres down the east coast of Australia, south from our most northerly point Cooktown. The mighty Pacific Ocean has been on our left, and the majestic peaks of the Great Dividing Range on our right. We’re now in Pambula Beach, near Merimbula and Eden on the south New South Wales coast.  Tomorrow we leave the coast and drive across Victoria, we’ll be home in two weeks. We’re quite looking forward to catching the ferry across Bass Strait and reversing the caravan down our driveway for its well earned rest. After five months away, we are definitely ready for home.

Whales ... every day they can be seen off the coast.

On the way down the coast through Tuncurry, The Entrance, bypassing Sydney down to Wollongong and Bateman’s Bay, we’ve seen some spectacular sights. Rocky headlands give way to sandy beaches. Surf rolls in over crystal clear water. Many coastal clifftops provide an elevated vantage point for a great view of whales out to sea. There are precious few free-camp sites down the east coast, and they are either beside a busy road or many kilometres inland. Each caravan park we’ve stayed in has been right on the beach, and we’ve gone to sleep with the sound of the sea in the background. We’ve shared our campsite with kangaroos and wallabies, rosellas and ducks. And of course, being July, the further south we venture, the colder it gets. We had our first frost a few days ago in Bateman’s Bay. Thank goodness for the van’s inbuilt diesel heater.

Kiama lighthouse.

We’ve been astounded at the number of caravans travelling north. The tales we’ve heard of the annual mass exodus of Grey Nomads escaping the southern winter are spot-on. The more southerly parks have been mostly empty, except for a few families as it’s currently school holidays. The Queensland parks told us that July is the start of their busy period. Ah Tassie – your cold winters may not be inviting, but you are still an important part of this country. It’s been great to see some Tasmanian brands in our travels … from smoked salmon to yoghurt and cheese, from grass-fed beef to beer and wine.
 

Pelicans are all down the coast. Magnificent birds in flight.