Water, Water Everywhere - The East Coast to Melbourne

Late January, 2013

Narooma was typical of many of the picturesque coastal towns along the southern NSW coast. It was nice to bump into some extended family Matt & Trish and their kids Darcy and Megan....three times.

Mimosa Rocks National Park

Gillards Beach, which we visited in honour of our great friend JJ, was one of our favourite camp spots on the East Coast, with great views, good surf and ok fishing. This grassy knoll became a regular coffee and happy-hour spot.

Craigy hooks a big one, but unfortunately it was a stingray. He  did pull in a couple of salmon though.

Goanas almost 2m in length were frequent camp visitors, along with wallabies, bandicoots, blue wrens and possums.

Boys and their toys - we're going to have to start throwing food and clothing out of the trailer soon.

Happy campers - Dad nearly gets some quiet time.












He usually manages to make up for it though.



The Good: The wonderful wildlife that surrounded our camp at Gillards Beach.
The Bad: The wonderful wildlife that picked through our rubbish, attempted to eat our food, tap-danced on our camper trailer at night, frightened our children and waged fierce animal battles at our camp...oh, and then there was the brave leech that attached itself to Nikita's leg. While we all thought, she may scream it off, it took a good splash of vinegar to do the trick. Of course I forgot you're supposed to use salt.....that's right, vinegar's for jellyfish...but I was in a bit of a panic!
The Sad: Learning that my good mate and journalist mentor Greg Kelton had passed on. Greg was a master of his craft yet one of the most humble men you could meet. He was cool and unflappable under crushing deadlines that had the rest of us swearing and sweating. We shared many a glass of red in the bowels of SA's Parliament House and in the tasting rooms of the Barossa Valley and I will miss him terribly.
The Ugly: Nikita's effort to split her head open on brick pavers by flipping backwards off a bench at a lovely cafe in Tilba, causing a tense, 6-hour concussion watch and cutting short Mum's cheese tasting....typical! Of course she was fine...but she did want to go to hospital for the jelly. Not surprisingly, at times, Nikita really wants to come home.

Sometimes, it's all just lovely though.

Striking rock formations add to the beauty of the beach walks along this stunning stretch of coast.

Sometimes the beach is just as much fun when it's stormy.

Tathra and Ben Boyd National Park - Waves the size of 3-storey buildings pummelled this normally tranquil bay as a 4-metre swell visited the coast near Tathra, much to the delight of local surfers.

Bad hair day.....as usual.

The lighthouse at Ben Boyd National Park - a short distance from the NSW/Vic border.

Many a ship has come unstuck on these rocks, with a littany of tragic tales, lives lost and incredible rescues from these unforgiving waters.

Saying farewell to the coast (for now), we had a lovely bush camp in Gippsland before heading to Melbourne.










Melbourne

The joy in seeing my wonderful girlfriend Kerryn, her family and her amazing home was heightened by her newly-found love of making Pavlova.

It seems Kerryn's social reputation as the `back-up-Queen' can be extended to Pavlovas. Two nights, two perfect, fluffy-on-the-inside, crunchy-on-the-outside meringues that had our mouths watering.

And, of course, champagne to celebrate. Celebrate what? An enduring friendship that is about to endure a lot more!!! (see below)

 

Despite the reputations surrounding Melbourne's weather, the pool at the Underwood/Norman resort saw plenty of action.

The Good: Leanne helping Kerryn and Andrew discover their insurer had mistakenly cancelled the policy for their lovely, large Hawthorn home.

The Bad: Leanne helping Kerryn and Andrew discover this by leaving the laundry tap running for a couple of hours, thereby flooding the carpet, walls and skirting boards in Sam and Lara's playroom....oops.

The Ugly: Kinda goes without saying. It was quite a mess (as was I) with soggy books, board games and toys. Thankfully, the piano was OK....otherwise I would really have been in the poop. So with that parting gift (with friends like these who needs enemies!), we tidied up as best we could and fled for the hills!!

 

Surf's Up - The South Coast of NSW

January 2013

Kioloa, north of Bateman's Bay

With the rugged, red inland and tropics well behind us, it was time to join the masses and indulge in that great Aussie summer pursuit - beach, surf and boogie boards. With our great pals, Scott, Chris, Flynn and Rhea, we set up camp at Kioloa, about 2 hours south of Sydney, and indulged in a nice mix of lazy mornings, furious beach activity and jolly evenings.

Waving on a wave....you'll be pleased to know that Master Smarty Pants face planted after taking his eye off the ball.










Despite having to share the coast with tens of thousands of holidaymaking Sydneyites, we managed to plonk ourselves in a nice spot and escape the heatwaves, bushfires and, later, the floods that struck other parts of the East Coast.

 
Our beachfront at Kioloa - a good morning coffee and happy-hour perch.

 
Pretty Beach

Pretty Beach in the nearby Murramarang National Park lived up to its name.

Surfin' crew and beach babes

A big day on the beach was just a litte too big for some....Archie perfects the sandy siesta, which gives mum and dad some good wave time.

After watching his big mate Flynn riding the waves on a real surfboard, Riley was not going to be content on his boogie board for long. So, after a trip into Ulladulla, both boys had new boards (Riley's was a softie ideal for beginners) and back to the beach we went.

 

Racecourse Beach, just up from Kioloa provided the perfect beginner waves.



Hey, this is cool.

Nikita was just happy to do some accessorising at the local markets.

Scott, Paul and Flynn enjoy some blokey time on a fishing charter and pull in a good haul of Snapper, Nanagui and Blue Morwong, perhaps thanks to a bit of extra berley from Flynn. He backed up well though yanking in some big ones.

 

Happy 3rd Birthday Archie

We detoured off the beach for a day to celebrate Archie's birthday at one of Australia's nicest zoos at Mogo. Largely dedicated to endangered species in relatively open-space enclosures, the kids had a ball.

Black Gibbons and a bunch of monkeys

, Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, you smell like a monkey......

Just as well were at a zoo - the kids fit right in.

A Burmese python

A scary Burmese python

A very scary Burmese python.

The Good: Archie turning 3 and finally deciding to start to speak.

The Bad: Archie turning 3 and finally deciding never to stop speaking.

The  Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Riley surfing until he could stand no longer and, after having to be carried up the beach, emitting a large portion of the ocean through his nostrils...nice!

 

Mystery Bay

 This lovely spot, just past Narooma on the south coast of NSW provided some of the most beautiful coastal walks we have done on our trip and a few good surf beaches too.

 

Thick forest down to the beach disguises a large campground with lovely views.

 

 Mystery Bay is named after the mysterious disappearance of survivors of a shipwreck last century. A large cave (far right) also has sacred Aboriginal significance.

Leanne's New Year's resolution to walk more was well rewarded along this lonely stretch of coast framing the Eurobodalla National Park.

Beautiful beach discoveries

A rare child-free moment...I guess one of us should rescue them from the rocks now.

 
Paul's more-hammock-time New Year's resolution is complemented by a big dollop of icecream.

Poole Bay

OK now Riley, look out for the rocks, the rips, the dumpers and we should be right.

Getting out there was a bit trickier than getting back in.

 

A bit of a push from Dad and Riley's on his way.

 Going, going....

Gone. Better luck next time.

 Got it!

Hey, what are you doing out here???