Step 8 The Entrance - Nelson Bay (Port Stephens)

Friday 26th - Day 25

Waving a fond farewell to the fisher folk we departed the Entrance via the exit.

An arduous journey of 110 km's ahead we nonetheless set off undaunted. Our route followed the coast road and took us pretty much through the centre of Newcastle. I maintain that it has always been our intention to stick as close to the coast as possible. Di is of the strong belief that I was hoping to see Jennifer Hawkins aimlessly walking the streets of her home town waiting for  a balding pre-geriatric to offer her a ride in a motorhome. We'll never know, Jen was a no-show.

After passing through Newcastle we came to Williamtown airport, the domestic airport for Newcastle and RAAF base for the FA18 squadron. Decided to stop at the tourist attraction of Fighterworld, which is a military aircraft museum. Very reminiscent of the aircraft museum Herb & I visited on our trip the Grand Canyon. As Di didn't have her sister to keep her company in the car this time she made it to the attached cafe. Apparently this is not an uncommon event and the staff at the cafe describe the lone women sipping on their iced coffees as "museum widows". Never one to bear a grudge (having been rejected by the airforce in his teens, due to poor eyesight) Steve meanwhile enjoyed the museum displays and the sights (and sounds) of FA18 Hornet fighter planes taking off and landing.

This is what the trainees John West didn't reject got to fly

Arrived at Halifax Caravan Park, as usual at lunchtime and checked in for 3 nights. Again my "accent" confused the staff. Originally quoted $40 per night, $120 for 3 nights, when I asked "would it be cheaper if we stayed longer" she replied "oh ok make it a $100 but if you extend it will be $40 / night for the extra nights." Quick mental arithmetic indicated I seemed to be better off so I resisted the temptation to explain myself and took the deal. Because the park was a little busy we also had to accept moving sites after the first night as they didn't have a site for the whole 3 nights. I guess that's the problem of a weekend booking close to a couple of major towns.

Having sorted that out we set-up and walked into town, about 30 minutes. Oh would the fisherfolk be proud of us now. We managed to find the fishermen's co-op and picked up some beautiful chili prawns and some remarkably good gemfish which went down a treat for tea.

Saturday 27th - Day 26
 Having moved MM to the new site we set off on the motorbike for a bit of an explore (after first stopping off at the fish market to pick up some more chili prawns and gemfish). The coastline around here is still stunning but we didn't stay out long because of the arrival of the bikers nemesis - the strong offshore breeze (or maybe that's on shore breeze). Anyway the gist of it is it got very windy so we went home. After dinner sat and had a chat and a coffee with the next door neighbours. In the "my isn't it a small world vein" Ian had been a Haileybury boy and Dawn a Mentone Girls Grammar girl. Now that may not seem very exciting but bear in mind:
   the closest Steve got to a fight in his school days was with the Haileybury boys at Mentone station
  and the only girls Steve spoke to in his school days were the Mentone Girls Grammar girls at Mentone station. Oh and the odd (catholic) Kilbreda girl if no one was looking.


All in all the  night could have finished very differently but it turned out that they were both several years older than me and all ended well.


Sunday 28th - Day 27
Lashed out and had a good old fashioned fry up for breakfast before heading out to Anna Bay and Birubi Point on the recommendation of Linda Rowe. A very good recommendation it was too.The weather was sensational so we sat outside at the cafe at the surf lif saving club and munched on calamari and chips while sipping on cokes and watching the world go by. The world in this case included the largest pod of dolphins either of us had seen with about 10 or so frolicking their little dorsal fins off. Birubi Point also overlooks the Stockton Sand Dunes - the largest moving coastal sand mass in the Southern hemisphere. (Although to be honest we must have missed the sand dunes moving while we were watching the dolphins). But what we didn't miss was how spectacular the sand dunes are, amazing. Although the dunes come right down to the sea (and you can drive your four wheel drive along the beach) as you look inland you could be looking at the Sahara desert. Or what I imagine the Sahara desert would look like. I have only seen the Sahara desert on  TV and movies. At least one of those movies - Sahara (2005 starring Matthew McConaughey, Penélope Cruz) was filmed on the Stockton Sand Dunes so now that I think about it maybe that's what confused me. (Move on Steve)

Actually the area is so nice we have decided not to move on for another 2 nights

Monday 29th - Day 28

In a continuing fitness campaign Steve walked to Shoal Bay this morning while in a role reversal Di slept in. Took a risk and grabbed a coffee at the cafe next door to the park and was pleasantly surprised - we'll give it an 8 out of 10.

But wait - the transformation has begun. Weather forecast not good, sky a bit overcast......

So we decided to walk to the local RSL, no, it gets worse. 

We decided to have our main meal of the day at lunchtime 

        to get the cheaper deal

              the special of the day

                   3 courses for $7.90 each !!!

                        Pea & Ham soup, roast pork and 4 veges and apple crumble  & COLD custard

                   house chardy & pot of old for another $7.80

Then to maintain the image a quick trip to the pokies - for an hour and a bit.

Lunch at Syracuse and Cecconis seems a lifetime away ;-)

On the bright side we ended up winning $25 so by my estimation the club paid us a $1.20 to have a 3 course meal and be entertained for over an hour. Not bad.

Tuesday 30th November

Someone hasn't read the script - it rained overnight and was still drizzling when we got up this morning. Mind you it cleared up enough for us to walk up (the extremely steep) hill to the Nelson's Point maritime museum and tea shop. On the recommendation of Vicki & Herb we had a cappuccino and were not disappointed a definite 9 out of 10 and the view was fantastic as well.

What can I say, it was back to the RSL for lunch but obviously we couldn't have exactly the same thing for lunch again , that would be silly. So we substituted roast beef for roast pork. Magic. Unfortunately the pokies weren't as generous today even though we went back to the Jetsetter machine (where 5 Maritas - or trolley dollys or air hostesses as they are sometimes known - gets you the minor jackpot). So we have ended up sixty cents over budget for the day and it looks like we might need to switch to home brand toilet paper if we're not careful.

Packing up tomorrow and heading off to Seal Rocks, another Vicki & Herb recommendation.

Step 7 Lane Cove, Sydney - The Entrance

Tuesday 23rd - day 22

Now I know what you are thinking - "wow they have named a place after Steve & Di's big arrival in Kiama". But strangely no, although The Entrance has been known by many names over the years the current name has been in use since the 1930's (not many people know that).

Back to the trip - A relatively easy exit from Sydney along the Pacific Hwy and on to the Newcastle Fwy but then in a moment of madness we ignored Tammy (our portable GPS - Tom Tom  - unit) and decided to take the Gosford exit. As mistakes go, not too costly but certainly added a few extra hills and minutes to the trip for not much gain. Another lesson learned.

Checked into the Dunleith Caravan Park on the north side of the river at the Entrance having managed to find a nice wide site, albeit without a slab and more dirt than grass. Must say this has been our least favourite park so far, all a bit packed in and the view mainly blocked by other vans. Of course we may have just been feeling a little bit left out because the park is FULL of fisherman. Here is an excerpt from the today's transcript:
   "Ho Barry - been out today"
   "Yo Trev, yep took the boat out picked up a couple of flatties and a nice tailor, you?"
   "Nice one, yep, threw a line in down by the bridge got a couple of brim (that's actually spelt bream, but fisher folk say brim"

   Conversation repeats multiple times as each new face walks by.

   Awkward moment at one point
       "Morning Steve, catch anything?"
       "Actually I don't really fish to be honest"
       Pause
       Pause
       Pause
       "Oh"
       "Oh well have nice day......"

After surviving the "non-fishing incident" Di and I took the 20 minute walk into town to grab some supplies for dinner tonight.

Major area of interest for locals seems to be tattoos and piercings. Well I'm basing that on the fact that there are three tattoo parlours in town and we passed another half dozen on the approach to town.

The other thing we learned today is that we may be considered a little strange in the caravanning fraternity here for other reasons. Well a number of reasons, but the one I was meaning is that whilst we are travelling all the way round this great brown land, everybody else on this park seems to live less than 150 kilometers away. Many of them in small coastal towns like the one we are all staying in. Aaah, when will my people come and rescue me, this planet is very strange.

Although a bit windy we managed to sit outside for our now customary Harvey Wallbanger and cheese platter before the electric frypan was pressed into service again for a nice steak. This rated on the park as incident number 2 as far as the other tenants were concerned - "you're eating steak?" "This is the Central Coast man - you should be eating fish!"

Wednesday 24th - day 23

Big day today. One of the reasons for staying here is to ride the bike out to Wisemans Ferry. Another scenic ride suggested by Australian Cruiser and Trike Magazine (a bi-monthly publication available at all good newsagents and book stores).

 The scenery for the ride was sensational, with the road eventually dropping down on to the banks of the Hawkesbury river where it meandered it's way through to the ferry itself.

To avoid being predictable we didn't actually go across on the ferry but decided to head back for lunch at a little town called Spencer that we had passed on the way. According to the sign they do the best burgers on the river. Interestingly they did do a very good burger, a good old fashioned hamburger with the lot, no egg, for Steve (including pineapple - despite Rule number 1 for David Rowe - don't mix dessert with your main course). It's interesting that they do a good hamburger because their claim that they are the best burger on the river is somewhat diminished by being the only place on the river that does burgers. Di, never one to fall for a sales pitch, went with the fish & chips. Well at least that will give us something to tell the boys back at the caravan park.

 Thursday 25th - day 24

Phew, it's all been a bit exhausting, so a bit of  rest day today :-) Lazy walk into town, and while walking over the bridge noticed that there is somewhat of a herd mentality to fishing in these parts

I know I'm a bit naive in the ways of fishing but based on the picture above there would seem to be more of a chance of catching another boat than a fish.

And that's if the real locals haven't eaten all the fish already

But, the big news of the day. The topic of conversation has changed!!! OMG. Overnight it appears a number of vans were burgled! Sample transcript 

   "Ho Barry - did you get done"

   "Yo Trev, yep they took the bloody fish right out of me eskie, and you ?"

   "Bastards, yep they got about three hundred bucks of lures out the back of the ute!"

   "If I get my hands on them I'll xxxxxxx, bet they are all .xxxxx"  transcript censored for legal reasons

The big news of the night is that it is only the second  night of watching "TV" since we left Melbourne. Fired up the big laptop and watched the very first episode of the very first series of NCIS . That only leaves 122 to go.

Pack up tomorrow and on the road again

Step 6 Kiama - Lane Cove Sydney

Friday 19th - Day 18

Weather overcast after big rain last night but no rain during packing up thank goodness.

After assistance from the two neighbours we have the trailer attached and tightened up so that hopefully it won't fall off.  And  as you all know the motto is "What could go wrong?"

Just in case we stopped at a trailer accessories place 10 km's from Kiama, he couldn't help but confirmed that the  trailer was connected ok and we wouldn't have any problems. Although as we left I did notice he called his wife and told her not to drive on the main road to Sydney for the next hour or so.

But oh ye of little faith we made it safe and sound to Sydney 130 km's later. Drive into Sydney was remarkably easy albeit a little tense as we watched for every bump and waited for the sound of the trailer hitting the road.

Lane Cove River Tourist Park is set in National Park at MacQuarie Park less than 10 minutes walk from the new North Ryde train station. It's actually closer to the CBD of Sydney than the offices of the last two companies I  worked for before I retired took a gap year. Walking around the site it's hard to believe you are anywhere near a city.

The lesson for today is: If you adjust the trailer hitch to it's maximum so it doesn't fall off, you can't get it off the car when you arrive. So in my usual response to a difficult situation - I ignored it. There was enough room on the site to leave the trailer attached, although MM did seem to be a little close to the edge of a slope. Not to worry there was a caravan at the bottom of the slope to stop us rolling too far away. Anyway, we packed up an overnight bag and headed off into Sydney to stay with Jackie & Howard overnight. As always we had a lovely evening catching up with them and then sheer loooxury, we slept in a bed in a house.

Saturday 20th November - Day 19


Our first thoughts upon waking in the morning were "wow the ceiling is a long way away" and "gee you can get out of the sides of the bed, we don't need to crawl out over the pillows"


Making the most of the location the four us headed down to circular Quay for breakfast and then round the corner into the Rocks for another coffee making the most of the availability of good coffee while we can"


H & J drove us back to Lane Cove and H, utilising his years of caravanning experience managed to get the trailer off the MM. Definitely need to get that looked at though.


Again, taking advantage of it while we can, the afternoon saw us off to Aldi on the bike. Oh dear what has happened to us in such a short period of time ;-) (Apologies to the Aldi lovers on this Blog). Apologies to the bike as well, because we overloaded the luggage rack somewhat !


After unpacking all that it was off on the bike to Gary & Mandy's place for dinner and stay overnight in Artarmon. Details are sketchy but dinner at the local Japanese BBQ restaurant and a couple(?) of bottles of  wine started the evening. Then back to G & M's where, after a quick viewing of a video -  Leo Sayers' Greatest Hits (both of them) it was into some serious 70's disco dancing and singalong. Gee I miss the Partridge Family. Photo's were taken but at time of blog publishing they are unavailable, and hopefully will be for some time.   Another night in a real house, and magnificent home cooked breakfast and it was back to the caravanning life  for Mike & Mal Kendall.


Monday 22nd November - Day 21


Steve, surprisingly, got up early and headed off for a walk along the walking track beside the river. Still gobsmacked at the national park setting so close to the Sydney CBD. 

Mind you the "neighbours" in the national park are much noisier in the morning than the neighbours on the other side (MacQuarie Park Cemetry)

A quick trip to City Trailers in Rydalmere and hopefully the trailer is now fully operational. The guys there changed  the hitch and while they were at it, raised the jockey wheel which had been sitting a bit low, making it difficult to fold up at times. They also recommended and supplied a clip to lock the release handle when travelling. Having consulted family, friends and now the professionals at the trailer place, opinion on the cause of the problem is divided. Many lean towards the, very plausible, theory that I did something wrong in connecting the trailer. Some believe that it was indeed a faulty hitch but we are all (particularly Di)  now very happy it is safe to continue.


Having dropped the trailer back at the caravan park we caught the train into Sydney to vote in the Victorian State Elections (no - not telling who we voted for).  Lesson for today: " A Sydney day return does not allow you to get on and off the train as many times as you like in the same way that a Melbourne all day pass does". But the very nice railway worker at Town Hall station explained all that very helpfully. Lesson Two - when buying a ticket from a machine (to replace the return ticket that was taken in the previous step) make sure you get the name of the station right. Sydney doesn't have zones, the ticket is for the station you are travelling to. Anyway, got to meet and talk to another nice railway worker at North Ryde and avoided  a conviction.


Forgot to mention the obligatory visit to the queen Vic building while in the city and managed another great cup of coffee from a place I remembered from my working days. Also visited V & H's favourite (kitchen accessories) shop in QV and picked up sensational bread rolls and strawberry and rhubarb crumble from the German bakery. 


Quiet night back at the van, although a highlight was emptying the toilet canister again :-)


Tuesday morning will pack up and head off, less than a 100 km's, to The Entrance for another 3 night stop. - See you there

Step 5 Narooma - Kiama

Day started beautifully, rain held off while packing up and continued to brighten throughout the day. So much for the weather forecast.

Big day of travel today - 230 kilometres ! Mighty Merc (MM) performing well though, Sprinter maybe an exaggeration but it chugged along and managed the hills OK.

Stopped for late lunch at Gerroa Boat Fisherman's Club ( a lot more upmarket than the Gerroa Fisherman Without a Boat Club. It's probably the Pokies). Anyway, lovely lunch. We shared Salt & Pepper Squid and Fish and chips and salad. Steve sampled the local ale - Tooheys Old and Di sipped on a Chardy. The outlook from the dining room was sensational and I think the phrase "million dollar view" is going to get overworked on this trip.

Left the club for the short drive into Kiama. Note to driver - towbar is quite low so make sure you come out of driveways on an angle, that crunching noise cannot be good.

Arrived at Kiama Easts Beach Big 4 Caravan Park at 3:30 ish and after perusing the available sites we selected the one with absolute beach frontage.

The next little section is a lesson on how to make an entrance into a caravan park but should only be attempted if you are NOT trying to keep a low profile.

So we jumped into MM and rolled on down to the boom gates to get into the site. As MM went over the speed hump Steve thought "mmmm that was a big speed hump." As the trailer went over the speed hump Steve thought "What the? That was a big bang and how come I can't see the bike in the rear view mirror".

OK don't panic - the bike was still on the trailer. It's just the trailer wasn't still on the car! The tow hitch was laying on the ground and hanging on by the safety chain. And this was when I got to meet: the guy and his wife in the car behind;
         several people from the pool, right by the entrance;
         and several members of the maintenance staff.
Lovely people all of them. So between the crowd we managed to connect the trailer to MM again and drive off to our site.


Once there the view kind off made up for the excitement in the driveway.

Funnily enough one of the guys who helped us turned out to be on the next site but one. Next to the two German girls who didn't seem to mind travelling together without boys. On the other side of us a couple travelling with 3 boys, aged from 2 to 10. Very brave. But between the two groups we managed to pick up a few tips on travelling, as well as working out that getting the trailer looked at might be a good idea.

I also learned that the fishing is better in Kiama than Merimbula because John managed to catch a decent size bream by walking down to the waters edge and throwing in a line whereas Herb and I had to drive and walk a fair way to catch nothing.

Thursday 18th - Day 17


Magnificent day greeted us when we awoke - apparently the sunrise was spectacular, but we missed that by about 4 hours.

After a quick breakfast jumped on the bike and headed off on Scenic Drive 4 to the Saddleback Mountain Lookout. Unlike Brokeback Mountain there were no happy cowboys to be seen, but although a little hazy, the views were magnificent.

Continued on the Scenic Drive, through historic (but very uninspiring) Jamberoo. Past the Illawarra Fly (treetop walk) and I do mean past, because there was no way Steve was going walking 50 feet above the ground on a walkway that moves in the breeze.

We did however stop at the Carrington Falls which did meet our criteria for touring on the bike. No dirt roads and tourist attraction within 300 metres of the car park.

Then it was on to the world famous (well I read about it in a bike magazine) Robertson Pie Shop. Certainly worth a stop, pies are fantastic and S can recommend the lemon tart, while Di seemed quite partial to the apple turnover with cream.

Headed back to MM via the Illawarra Hwy - a bit of a misnomer because it incorporates the MacQuarie Pass. A piece of road that would not look out of place on the side of a Swiss mountain. I certainly didn't set a lap record but Di enjoyed the ride and handled the sometimes tricky corners and hairpin bends very well. 10 out of 10 for pillion skills. It did mean however that I did not get to take full advantage of the tee shirt I had printed which reads on the back "If you can read this, my wife has fallen off"

As a final stop on the way back I had to take Di to the Kiama Boat Harbour, scene of one of my first "fishing incidents". Long story short, we used to stop in Kiama over the summer holidays every year, and that's where, in my early teens, I managed to put a fish hook through my finger (complete with very smelly bait) that necessitated a trip to the local doctor.   I was disappointed there was no plaque to commemorate the incident. There was a boat dedicated to Di there though.

Bit hard to read but the boat is named - Dinky Di

Also pointed out where the caravan parked used to be, now completely replaced by holiday cabins. Mind you the rock pool we used to swim in is still there

Finished off the day with fresh cooked prawns and fresh bream from the local fish market

Overnight got hit with torrential rain and in the ongoing learning experience that is this Gap Year we learned that:
                     Even Herb is not infallible - the van leaked again
          And    No matter how nice it is when you go to bed, when travelling the East Coast of Australia, always put your chairs away at night.

Phew - that's the end of the Kiama adventure, not sure I can keep up this pace (I'm more sure that nobody wants me to, but it seemed interesting at the time).

Step 4 Merimbula - Narooma. Sunday 14th - 17th November

Short drive up Highway 1 to Narooma and checked into East Big 4 Caravan Park by 12:30. Signed up for Big 4 Membership - yee ha more discounts.

Lovely day as we set up so wandered across the bridge to the fresh fish shop on the river. Picked up a lovely piece of Cameron (Ling) for tea and stopped at the ice cream shop on the way back to MM.

By 6 o'clock weather had turned and the rain set in - all through the night. Quite certain that we did not order rain, for any part of the trip :-( But that said it's not that cold, well not inside MM anyway.

Monday and it's still quite overcast and drizzling but cleared up a bit by 10:30 and we were able to head out for a walk to Bar Rock lookout

and Australia rock - see it really does look like Australia !

Tuesday, still overcast but, ignoring the internet weather forecast, headed off on the bike to Central Tilba  Picked up some cheese at yet another cheese factory and wandered around the town - which is entirely Heritage listed (my this blog is becoming informative and educational).

Lunch at the local bakery, given the cloudy weather opted for the meat pie. Excellent choice - it actually had meat in it. Followed by pear and custard pastry, also excellent. But then, breaking Herbert Hertaeg Rule # 1 for travellers we  slipped up and had a cappuccino. Luckily we survived, with a coffee of 6 out of 10, but  we will heed Herb's advice in future.

Moved on a couple of k's to  Tilba Tilba, so good they named it twice, (but certainly no New York) blink and you miss it as I did in this photo.

Stopped off at Mystery Bay on the way back - setting for the Robert G Barrett novel Mystery Bay Blues (one of the Les Norton series). Great read, for viewers over the age of 18.  It's a mystery why I didn't stop and take a photo actually.

Another dinner cooked on the electric frypan, which is fast becoming the most used item in the van, apart from Steve.

Tomorrow it's pack up again and off to Kiama - see you there

Step 3 Mallacoota - Merimbula Sunday 7th - 14th November

Quick coffee at our new local and on the road to Merimbula.

Mighty Merc is finding the combination of heavy trailer and large hills a bit of a struggle but all in all coping well enough. Looks like I am now one of those people I have been complaining about all my driving life. Revenge is so sweet.

Arrive in Merimbula at lunchtime and get to the Big Four Caravan Park at the same time as Vicki & Herb. Aaah so good to see the twins re-united, a very touching moment. Then they realise that Herb and I are also re-united and they start to worry about the next seven days.

Opinions differ on how soon it was before we got Herb working on the couple of odd jobs that needed doing but since I'm writing this lets go with we let him finish his lunch first. While I am in a generous mood lets also say that it was gone 9:00am the next morning before the girls hit the shops.

Good news is that it's straight into shorts and the sun is shining for Wine O'clock. It's also coming to the end of the whale watching season but through the week we manage to catch sight of a few frolicking their way to the South Pole.

Monday - Steve & Herb explored the vicinity on foot and sussed out some likely fishing spots. In the afternoon just as we headed off for a drive to Tathra to check out the view from V & H favourite coffee spot, a massive rain storm rolled in and obliterated the view. Luckily it passed through pretty quickly and by the time we got back to vans it had all cleared up. Handy lesson for the Kendalls though - close the windows by your bed before going out for a drive.

Tuesday - off to the Bega cheese factory and on to Bermagui and back along the coast to Merimbula

Wednesday - After morning coffee and lunch Herb & Steve rock fishing at Thura beach but no luck so it's bbq steak for dinner.

Thursday, it's coffee and cake at Pambula before retail therapy for the girls and surf fishing for S & H. Still no fish so in a battle of wills between Di & Vicki it's Chili Con Carne for tea. Let's call it a draw Vicki ate the Chili but not the white rice.

Friday -While V & H played golf Steve and Di did some more re-organising of Mighty Merc.

Quick trip to the local tyre place to get the spare tyre for the trailer fixed. Brand new trailer comes with flat spare tyre with 15mm self tapping screw through the tread.

Dinner at the Pambula Golf club for early Xmas dinner.

 Saturday - Steve & Herb give the Weber the biggest clean and service in the history of Webers. Weber now being entered in Concourse competition and Steve frightened to cook on it again.

Sunday and the week is over all too quickly and we wave goodbye to V & H as they head for home and the end of their 6 month trip and we head off to Narooma to see if we can do all of this on our own. Thanks Herb, thanks Vicki for all of your help and guidance - we'll be right. What could go wrong ;-)