Day 28 – Bridge Climb and Sealife Aquarium

The final day of our fourth week was spent on separate pairs: Leah and I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, while Fiona and Jamie visited the aquarium.

Ashley: Leah and I started out with a bit a relaxed wandering about the city.

Prior to the climb, we found time for the all-important lunch stop (Ribs and Burgers, again!):

Then it was time to climb. It was my second time and Leah’s first, and it remains a great experience. Plenty of fascinating history about the bridge and it’s construction, to say nothing of the unparalleled views of the Sydney CBD. Leah peppered our guide Nicole with questions and she was a good sport about it. It would be nice if you were allowed to take your own camera up, but at least they comp you the group photo.

Afterwards, Leah had plenty of energy left so we wandered the streets a little longer, ate sushi and ice cream, then took a late train home. I was super proud of how well Leah did, and we both had a marvelous day out.

Fiona: While Leah and Ash climbed the bridge J and I visited Sealife Aquarium. We had a great time checking out all the exhibits but J particularly enjoyed the mud skippers, the sharks and the king penguins.

Following the aquarium we visited Hard Rock Cafe. J then decided he wanted to walk back to the rocks for dinner at Ribs and Burgers (yesterdays lunch venue). He made a gallant effort but although the mind was willing his little legs were not. So, we headed home on the train only to realise that Ash had the keys and all the food was locked in the car.

I managed to scavenge some milk from the neighbour and knock up some cereal for the boy. Not quite the smokey BBQ ribs he had had his mind set on but the belly was full.

Day 27 – The winner…is…

…Sid-in-ee. Which is where we spent all of today. Which is also a reference that our kids just totally don’t get, no matter how many times we say it at them.

We took the train into Circular Quay, marvelled at the big cruise ship at the berth, then fortified ourselves with overpriced-but-delicious coffee and sweets.

We wandered through the Rocks a little, stopping in art galleries, patisseries and breweries.

We booked a ticket on a Bridge Climb session tomorrow for myself and Leah which included tickets for a “pylon tour”. Let’s go do that today!

We absorbed some history about the construction of the Harbour Bridge (build time: 7 years 356 days), then headed on up. It surely provides one of the best views you can get of Sydney:

Down again, we sought lunch in The Rocks. We settled on ribs and burgers at Ribs And Burgers, which turned out to be an outstanding choice. Those guys picked out a name for what they’re good at.

Filled up, we went to explore some more. That is a pretty bridge, for sure:

Oh yeah, we also had a look at this oddly-shaped building:

I think that it was some kind of art installation.

Day 26 – The Lighthouse

The day dawned bright and clear, so it was time to go out and explore Jervis Bay. I got it into my head to check out the local bouldering problems. These proved to be a little challenging for me.

Nonetheless, the coastline there was spectacular.

We took a walk up to look at the nearby ruins of a lighthouse from the 1860’s. Who says Australia has no ruined castles?

At this point, the weather turned rather bad. Seems fair, given how much rain we’ve dodged lately. We packed up our soggy camper and left a little early. Jervis Bay is a beautiful spot, just less fun in a rain storm.

At this point we decided to put our foot down for Sydney. Only stopping briefly in Kiama for (excellent) coffee and gluten-free treats, we gunned it up the Pacific highway. We set up in the Lane Cove River Tourist Park, which is a national park pretending to be a caravan park. Tomorrow should see us wandering around The Rocks and admiring the Opera House.

Day 25 – The People’s Glorious Independent Sultinate Territory of Jervis Bay

Today was ANZAC Day. We caught the end of the local dawn service, which was held near to the caravan park we stayed at last night. I resolve to take the kids to a local dawn service next year. It was moving.

Anticipating early rainfall, we broke camp early again. Today, our destination was Jervis Bay – Australia’s fabled third territory. We traveled steadily north up the east coast, through a variety of towns – Narooma, Bodalla, Moruya, Batemans Bay, Ulladulla. We took a meandering tourist path that took a few rest breaks. The nicest was beside a coastal lake in Dalmeny. We spent a pleasant hour playing around this lake, climbing trees, digging holes and falling in the water.

Thus refreshed, we headed on to Jervis Bay. This is actually a small territory separate from NSW, and is part of the ACT. Apparently, because they “had no access to the ocean”. True story.

Anyways, Jervis Bay is totally delightful. We had a few hours to wander around this afternoon. Our site is on a spot called “Greenpatch”.

We’ve got the morning tomorrow to explore, then after lunch it’s onward to Sydney. Back to the big smoke.

Day 23 – Buchan Caves and Platypus Reserve

Broke camp the next day and headed back into Buchan. This town’s name rhymes with truckin’, so imagine the hilarity that ensured. After a fortifying coffee at the local cafe, we headed to our real destination: the Buchan Caves Reserve. This is a gorgeous picnic area and campsite, and it also has some caves.

We took a tour down Fairy Cave.

This cave was was pretty impressive. We followed about 500 metres of it, though apparently it extends several kilometres. Obviously a smartphone camera isn’t going to do it justice, but the formations were beautiful.

Having ticked another thing off the holiday list (“go caving”), we decided to try for another (“see a Platypus”). We settled in to a long drive to a town called Bombala, where the critters are rumoured to be found. This also took us over the border into NSW, and past the 5000 km mark.

We pulled up at the Bombala Platypus Reserve, a small site next to the Bombala River that has a couple of viewing hides installed.

The kids (and Fiona) were very pleased to see a single elusive Platypus right on dusk, as well as a couple of bats. The plan is to be up at dawn tomorrow to try spotting more. We’ll see.

Day 22 – Tarra Bulga and Snowy River NP

We said goodbye to our gracious hosts and left Fish Creek en route to place called Tarra Bulga National Park, on the strength of the pictures in a tourist brochure that we picked up. Located in the Tarra Valley, visiting this site involved a drive up a narrow winding road, often single lane, with signs stating “Caution Log Trucks”. Brilliant!

It was totally worth the drive, though. We saw Lyrebirds!

About beautiful temperate rainforest looked at, we headed on. During the next leg, we passed the Lou Yang power station. The infrastructure was immense. Not a planned visit, but interesting nonetheless. Worth seeing how most of our electricity still gets produced.

We headed past the town of Buchan (we’ll be back here tomorrow), and on to the very southern tip of the Snowy River National Park. There, we found a small camp called Bailey Hooley and set up. Right next to the honest-to-God Snowy River!

It was lovely, and cold, and we all enjoyed splashing around in it. It was a great campsite, made all the better but some other people that our kids adopted for the evening. Thanks, reluctant babysitters!

Day 21 – Sandy Point, Foster and chill

This, the final day of our third week of the holiday was possibly the most low-key so far. After yesterday’s marathon, we totally bummed around the local area. We took a short drive to the beach, at Sandy Point.

The weather didn’t cooperate as much as yesterday, so we retired to the local town of Foster to query the tourism people and plan tomorrow’s destination. We relaxed at the library (free wifi!) and drank coffee. Then we went home and made dinner. Very domestic. So nice.

Day 20 – Wilsons Promontory

Who was Wilson, and why did he have a Promontory? In search of answers to these questions, we drove to this most southern of Victoria’s national parks.

The first place we stopped at was the Prom Wildlife Walk, wherein we observed emus, kangaroos and wombats. The animals there are pretty comfortable with humans.

We spent the next few hours visiting a selection of beaches. Whiskey Bay, for the excellent boulders. Squeaky Beach, for the uniform white sand-grains (they make noise!)

After this, we went down to the Tidal River campsite. Tidal mangroves (the most southern in the world), majestic surroundings, tiny crabs, and another beautiful beach.

This is my favourite photo from the entire holiday:

We took a drive up nearby Mount Oberon. The summit walk was a little too much in our current tired state, but we did enjoy the view from the lookout.

Finally, we met our gracious hosts Jen and Rich back at the Prom Wildlife Walk at sunset to spot more native animals. They were more plentiful at this time of day. Wombats are very cute little dudes.

Wilsons Promontory is an amazing place. We could easily have spent the whole day at any of the spots we visited. Ticked as one to revisit some day.

Day 19 – Fern Tree Gully and Fish Creek

Said our goodbyes to sunny Melbourne. We left with every intention of heading up to the Dandenongs to take a ride on Puffing Billy. However, owing to poor/absent planning we found that we would arrive a minute or so after it left for the day. We quickly changed plans to visit Fern Tree Gully and hike the Kokoda Memorial Walk.

We thought better of doing the arduous 1000 Steps Walk, and did a shorter trail instead. The area, part of the Dandenongs National Park, is beautiful.

The trail includes a memorial and information about the WW2 conflict in Papua New Guinea, on the Kokoda Trail. Sobering reading, amidst the tranquil bush.

Thereafter, we drove through the scenic southern Gippsland region to Fish Creek, our base for the next couple of days. Looking forward to visiting Wilsons Promontory National Park tomorrow.