This morning we woke fairly early to get ready to leave for a bigger day of driving. We had decided that we were going to head to the Chichester State Forest as we had read a few stories in 4wd magazines about falls, waterholes, 4wdriving and fishing in this area being good and it was free, so win win.
The drive was about 3 1/2 hours to Dungog where there is an information centre where you can source maps for the forest so this was our destination. At the moment we are using a combination of the GPS and my google maps navigation on my phone which is pretty good most times but is not foolproof as I have told Joel many times and I don't hear him complaining when it gets us to destinations! Anyway the first exit we were meant to take the lady with the directions indicated the turn was 600m and just as she said this I saw the turnoff zooming past us and it was gone! Thanks lady with the directions.... this is the same lady that took us on the crazy journey to Dorrigo.... silly mole.
Anyway 50km down the road she gave us another exit which we also missed as drivers love the right hand lane when there is a car towing a caravan in the left hand lane! We then went past about 6 u turn oppurtunites which we also missed... we then ended up sitting in the right hand lane just waiting for a turn around point! Finally got one, headed back to the original exit and we were going in the right direction for Dungog. Dungog is about 25km from the highway and through pretty shit pothole ridden roads. Finally got to Dungog and almost took out a small car as after driving for 4 hours, Joel missed the giveway sign! (Giveway sign, what giveway sign?! haha no not really it was a weird intersection, only one you would find in a small town!) Made it to the information centre, raining in Dungog (yay), had a chat to the information guy and he pretty much said "why would you want to go to the forest when it's raining and there are leeches, I don't like going there at all?" WAY TO PUT PEOPLE OFF. After this Joel was ready to strangle anyone and everyone that came in his path and said F$k this we are going to Nelson's Bay!
So back the way we just came, back onto the highway and another 1hr or so to Nelson's Bay. This is where we were going to head after the Chichester Forest so we had already researched a little about it. Pretty much it's expensive but in a beautiful location with lots to do. So we headed to a few of the parks we had researched and one was no vacancy! Argh starting to panic, will we get a site here or have to drive another 2 hours to somewhere?! We then headed to Shoal Bay and pulled into a park there,vacancies yes! Right on the water, beautiful, amenities, games rooms, full holiday park with all the bells and whistles pretty much. So we set up here, this is also very busy but there was still a few spots left. We are staying here for 3 nights so did a full set up.
We then headed to the beach for a swim, the water the freezing, it has been really overcast all day so I am hoping that the weather improves over the next couple of days with lots of sun! Took a couple of pictures of our surrounds, it sort of looks like phuket or something similar its very pretty, not sure why but made me feel like it was overseas somewhere.
Another win for us today is that we got the tv working at this park. Joel put the antenna on the broomstick pole and attached it with gaffa tape to a pole of the annexe.... not as flashy as the winnerbago's around us but it works! Home and Away - watched, dinner eaten, chocolate for dessert and ready for a big rest and falling asleep to the sounds of channel 7's crap shows (just like home) for fun in the morning. Starting with a run along the beach!
Another lose for today, we missed two big things, the big oyster at Taree (too far off the highway) and the big rock (which is a replica of Ayers Rock, not as big but weird enough that people care about it)... missed this as we decided to stop at a rest stop 1 sec up the road from it so didn't want to stop again!
Carly & Joel
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment