South Coast NSW 2019

This trip, although on a time limit, was more unplanned than other trips. We just drove each day and if we liked a place we would decide to stay there for the night. We found we didn't need to book anything, just went with the flow.

DAY 1: Home to Urunga (392km) Today and tomorrow are all about doing the kms to get past Sydney. Left home late morning and then drove through Boonah, Rathdowney, The Lions Road, Kyogle, Casino, Grafton, Coffs Harbour and stopped at Urunga.

DAY 2: Urunga to Shellharbour (585km) We are past Sydney, tomorrow the exploring begins. I had planned to free camp tonight but as it was David's birthday thought it would be nice to take him out to dinner so booked into a van park instead. Bonus is the great view we have from our campsite and we get to watch the whales passing by.

DAY 3: Shellharbour to Woollamia (194km) Lots of exploring today. Kiama - blowhole and lighthouse. Jamberoo (in the hinterland from Kiama) lovely scenic drive there and old pub. Mt Pleasant Lookout. Werri Beach. Gerringong. Gerri - stopped here at Black Head Reserve for lunch. Berry. Kangaroo Valley - a winding scenic drive to old police station and Hampden Suspension Bridge. Cambewarra Lookout. Nowra. Currarong. Finishing our day at Woollamia with another water view.

DAY 4: Woollamia to Wairo Beach (185km) Today was a shorter day. We stopped mid-afternoon so that we could relax a little but still saw quite a few places. We left Woollamia, went through Huskisson, Vincentia, Hyams Beach and then stopped at the Booderee National Park. All these places are on Jervis Bay. At the national park we went to Murray's Beach and walked to Governor Head Lookout. The turquoise water and white sand was amazing. At the lookout you could see Bowen Island where a penguin colony lives. We drove in and checked out Green Patch campground, Iluka and Jervis Bay Village. We then went to Cape St George Lighthouse Ruins. we saw a whale passing by. We left the national park, heading south on the highway, turning off to check out Sussex Inlet and Lake Conjola. Back on the highway we drove though Milton, Ulladulla and Burrill Lake. We stopped the night in a quirky caravan park at Wairo Beach that has some cabins that look like old buildings and a great pool area. We were not directly on the water but it was a quick walk to the beach.

DAY 5: Wairo Beach to Batemans Bay We kept heading south and drove through Lake Tabourie, Bailey Point, Kioloa and Merry Beach. We found a dirt road that took us through Murramung National Park to Pebbly Beach, Depot Beach and Durras Lake. We checked out Long Beach before arriving in Batemans Bay. We set up camp and went exploring. We drove inland and saw the historical town of Nelligen and drove up to Holmes Lookout.

DAY6: Batemans Bay to Narooma We left Batemans Bay and took the scenic route through Malta Bay, Rosedale, Tomakin and Broulee. Just out of Broulee before we got to the highway, we found the quarry site for the pylons of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Back on the highway we went to Moruya Heads and Congo. We drove into Eurobodalla National Park and checked out the Congo campground. We saw 15 black swans. We went to Tuross Head where we saw an echidna. Back on the highway we went through Bodalla. We saw a church made from shingles. We went to Potato Point and stopped for lunch. After lunch we decided to flood a dirt road through the national park. This ended up being a nice 4WD track and the van handled it well. We found our way back to the highway. We took the next turnoff which took the tourist route through Dalmeny and Kianga and back to the highway. We arrived at Narooma, went to the Rock Bar Lookout and are staying just south of the town.

DAY 7: Narooma to Merimbula (125km) We went to Mystery Bay then to the inland historical village of Tilba. We followed the scenic route down the coast through Akolele, Camel Rock, Bermagui, Tanya, into Middle Beach and Gillard's Beach on the Mimosa Rocks National Park, through Tathra, to arrive in Merimbula around lunch time. Spent the afternoon doing some maintenance and a load of washing. Very, very windy here so we have put up the full annex.

DAY 8: Merimbula Exploring! Drove through Beach and to Bega. Checked out the Bega Cheese Factory. Then drove to an historical town called , through Wolumbla, checked out Pambula Beach and around Merimbula. Quiet afternoon relaxing.

DAY 9: Merimbula Not the best weather today - thunder storms. Went to look at an area called The Bar then decided to something indoors so went to the Merimbula Wharf Aquarium and Restaurant. Checked out the aquarium and had lunch there. Ended up being a movie watching afternoon back at the van.

DAY 10: Merimbula to Mallacoota We are now in Victoria! First stop today was Eden where we went to the lookout and the wharf. We headed south on the highway through Kiah and turned into Ben Boyd National Park. We stopped at the Disaster Bay Lookout then continued to Green Cape Lighthouse. This was built in 1883 from cast concrete and is the most southern and second tallest lighthouse in NSW. We got to see some whales frolicking and some fur seals. We stopped at City Rock for lunch. We arrived at Mallacoota in time for an afternoon thunderstorm.

DAY 11: Mallacoota to Buchan Better weather this morning gave us a chance to have a drive around Mallacoota which is a lovely beachside town - the foreshore, Betka Beach, Bastion Point. We also went to the WWII Bunker Museum ( a very interesting part of Australian history). We headed back to the highway, through Cann River and Bellbird Creek. We turned off and headed back to the coast to Cape Conran and Marlo (where the mouth of the Snowy River is). We then followed the road next to the Snowy River to Orbost. We then ended back on the highway before turning inland to Buchan.

DAY 12: Buchan to Seaspray This morning we did the Buchan Caves tour of both the Royal Cave and Fairy Cave. Inside the caves you are actually 500m underground. We left Buchan around lunchtime, drove through the beautiful countryside, through the town of Nowa Nowa, to arrive at Lakes Entrance and had some lunch. From there it was back to the highway through Bairnsdale and Sale. Just after Sale, we tuned back towards the coast and got to Paradise/Golden Beach. We followed the road along 90 mile beach to arrive at Seaspray for the night.

DAY 13: Seaspray to Inverloch Unfortunately today the weather turned crappy - windy, rainy and cold, but that didn't stop us from exploring. We left Seaspray, through Yarram then stopped at Port Welshpool to see the historic long jetty. We then drove through Toora, Foster, Fish Creek and Yankee to Wilsons Promontory National Park. We ;t able to do any of the walks here as it wasn't the weather for it, but we stilled checked out Tidal River, Norman Beach, Squeaky Beach, Glennie Lookout, Norman Lookout and Darby River. We travelled back through , then Waratah and Tarmin Lower to arrive in Inverloch. Spoilt ourselves with a concrete, ensuite site tonight to avoid camping in mud and having to walk in the rain!

DAY 14: Inverloch to Melbourne We headed back a little first through Darwin Lower to Cape Liptrap Coastal Park on Bass Strait. We saw the Cape Liptrap Historical Lighthouse. We then went to Walkerville South and saw the historic lime kilns. We drove to Venus Bay and back to Inverloch. We then took the Bunnerong Coastal Road where we went to Eagles Nest Lookout, Cape Patterson, Wonthaggi and Kilcunda. We drove past Phillip Island back down the highway to Melbourne where we stayed in my sister's driveway for a couple nights.

DAY 15 to 17: Melbourne Spent time with family.

DAY 18: Melbourne to Colac Colac We left Melbourne and took the scenic route and drove out through the Yarra Valley to Yea. From there we went through Seymour to the Hume Highway and up to Albury/Wodonga where we stopped and lunch next to the Murray River. We headed east along the Murray Valley Highway, past the large Hume Dam and through beautiful countryside. We stopped at Mt Lawson State Park and looked at the historic Boggy Creek Trestle Bridge. We stopped at a lovely van park on a creek at Colac Colac.

DAY 19: Exploring the Snowy Mountains We left van at caravan park and drove through Corryong, turned onto the Alpine Way, through Khancoban and into the

Kosciuszko National Park. We saw some of the Snowy Hydro Scheme but the visitor centre was closed. We continued alone Alpine Way through amazing scenery and rolling green hills to arrive at Thredbo. There was some snow high on the peaks. We looked at the Thredbo River which is a great spot for fly fishing. We checked out Lake Crackenback, and then onto Jindabyne on Lake Jindabyne where we stopped for lunch. We had lunch at the Kosciuszko Brewery. We then travelled through Berridale, Middlingbank (very rocky landscape) and Adaminaby, to Kiandra. We turned onto The Link Road and then onto Elliott Way which eventually put us on the road back to . We stopped at the Southern Cloud Lookout which looked over the Snowy Valleys. We didn't get back to camp till dinner time but was definitely a great circuit drive and we saw some beautiful scenery.

DAY 20: Colac Colac to Wattaka Rest Area We crossed back into NSW over the Murray River at Towong. We travelled through Tumbarumba, Laurel Hill, Barlow (famous for apples), Adeling, Tumblong back to the Hume Highway. We saw some old bridges and the Dog on the Tuckerbox at Gundagai. We went through Yass, checked out the Big Merino at Goulburn before making our way around Sydney. We stopped for the night on the side of the Hunter Expressway at the Wattaka Rest Area.

DAY 21: Wattaka Rest Area to Brisbane This morning we spent cleaning the food, linen and clothes out of the camper and into the car as we needed to leave the capmer in Newcastle to get some maintenance down. After dropping the camper off, we headed up the highway home. We got to see first hand the devastation the bushfires have caused.

Total trip - 5,740 kms.