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