Day 14

14 February 2013

Woke up and it was a little chilly this morning so we decided to hang around in bed watching some tv! Once it warmed up a little we crawled out of bed and headed for our first adventure of the day - Tomaree National Park walk.

There is a few different tracks you can take, we decided to do the summit walk which suprisingly enough takes you to the summit! It is quite a strenuous walk, (however on the nsw environment site, they say its an easy stroll, I would beg to differ with this) it is easy in that the tracks are well paved however it is quite steep, I would compare it to climbing something like Mount Coolum. There are steel stairs and boardwalks that make some of the steeper sections a little easier... I was sweating by the end, however again you forget about the walk when you get to the top and take in the view.

WOW would be one pretty good word for it, it is 360 degree views with a few different viewing platforms you can look out. There is also interesting information about Port Stephens along the way, e.g Tamaree Lodge used to be a military base but was built to look like a fishing town, (sneaky aussies) it was then turned into a pychiatric hospital and is now a disability recreation lodge....and at the summit is ruins of an old radar that used to detect enemies within 120kms of it. I found these things interesting.

Another interesting thing to look at on the viewing platforms is all the padlocks attached to each pillar of the railings, each padlock is engraved with someones name, or a couple that was engaged there etc etc, it was quite cute, unfortunately we did not get the memo about this so we were unable to add our engraved padlock to the others there....maybe next time.

If you look out you can see a big sand bar between the two land masses (as seen in photo below), on low tide you can walk across here and go and visit the ruins of the PS lighthouse, I think this is pretty cool but unfortunately we didn't have time to do it!

We then walked back down and back to camp which all round was about a 2 hour walk. We then were running a little late for our next adventure, the dolphin cruise! so we had to jump in the car and head down to Nelson Bay and we had just enough time to order and eat fish and chips before hoping on the cruise. When we arrived at the bay we were a little concerned that our boat would be crowded as there was a lot of tour buses parked on the road. However we chose the right boat, because there was only about 8 people on our boat compared to this.......on the other boat!!!!! Right boat chosen - tick!

We headed out to the dolphin region, while you are travelling you can take a quick dip in the spa and have a Jim Beam if you like ... don't mind if I do....



Now this looks super nice and relaxing however the photo does not depict the temperature of the water which was FF (that is a technical term for very cold) as it was sea water. There was a few moments whether we wondered whether the dolphins had decided to leave for the day but of course as if on queue they showed themselves!!! Love dolphins, so great to watch them, dolphin cruise complete for me.... however fun not over!

Dolphin sightings equals boom net down to get the oppurtunity to get closer to the dolphins. Yes please we are in, again the water was FF temperature, however it was worth it and it became warmer the longer you sat there, unfortunately no dolphins wanted to swim with us but was still an experience.

And lastly the waterslide on the back! We were already FF temperature so why not ride the slide into the FF water below! I would highly recommend to anyone attempting the slide that you hold your nose before heading down the slide.... it is quite steep and you are really rocketed into the water, which results in water rush up your nose in your mouth, in your ears and this can result in somewhat of an ear ache!! Once was enough for me, Joel went a couple of times but again it was an experience.

As there was only a few people on the boat we had a bit of spare time so the driver took us out into the Tasman Sea and around to the opposite side of the Tamaree National Park Walk to this awesome cave, he actually drove right into it while waves were crashing around which was somewhat scary but he had obviously done it before! We were hoping....

This is where we climbed to this morning.

Then back to the dock and we were both happy with the ride, it was good fun and would highly recommend it for the cost of it, it is well worth it! After this we had once again worn ourselves out and settled into camp for an early night and dinner. We also had a chance to chat to our neighbours who were lovely people and gave us a few pointers for getting to our next destination.... Katoomba.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 13

13 February 2013

Took me a while to get to sleep last night as the waves crashing just over the road kept me awake.... I know it's a tough life.

Woke up early and went for a run along the beach to some rocks, it was tough going as sand was too soft so ended up hopping back onto the road for the way back. Went right down to the opposite end on the road until the Tomaree National Park, there is a couple of walks you can do here (which will hopefully do tomorrow).

We then decided to head to the information centre at Nelson's Bay to ask about beach driving and to get a permit for Stockton Beach. (Now you used to be able to camp here as well but has been closed due to storm damage). We came across a bookings centre before that and went to ask about a couple of activities that we were interested in doing. Ended up booking a Stockton Beach sandboarding tour & dophin cruise combo which was $39 each. Visitor Centre to get our permit which is $10 for 3 days or you can purchase a yearly pass for $30. Maps in hand, ready to go, but now high tide and will have to wait till low tide at 6pm!

Decided to do our sandboarding, so headed to Anna Bay on James Peterson Street where there is a carpark and this is where the tours leave from. There is a couple of different buses you can go on, so make sure you get on the right one! We were on the zebra bus so easy to spot!

There was only us and a family on the bus which was good, no crowds! The dunes they take you to are only about 10mins away but there are some nice views on the way out there of the dunes and water etc. You see some cones on the dunes and this is where the sandboarding takes place. They provide the board and give you a few quick instructions like sit on it and slide down the dune...and some rules like no standing up on the board (Joel's face dropped when he said this!)

First hurdle, climbing the bloody dune so we could sandboard down it! Hard going but made it to the top and everyone had to take a few moments to catch their breath before heading down! Joel of course wanted to go on the biggest baddest dune first and I wanted to go on the little baby dune first haha.

We then repeated this process about 6 or 7 times till we were worn out from the walk up the dune and decided to just wait for the bus to come back to take us back again.

The dunes are pretty spectacular when you are in the thick of them, total contrast to the big green rolling hills in the country.

We picked the right tour, as to the left of our dune was the "red bus" tour and there would have been 50 people trying to get their asses up and down the dunes at the one time, it looked hectic! We had a total of 6 people....

Had lunch at a park up the road from our camp and a swim in the bay across the road from home. Freezing but bearable as it was a relatively hot day.

We then decided that we hadn't worn ourselves out enough yet so we went and hired a double kayak at Nelson's Bay and headed out for an hour paddle. We couldn't quite agree on the right timing of the strokes and have decided in future that 2 single kayaks will work better for both our sanities!

Now we were buggered!! We had actually planned to drive along the beach at 6pm but we were to wrecked from the rest of the day so that will have to be tomorrow. Dinner, Home & Away, Sleep and we are out......until tomorrow.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 12

12 February 2013

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.

Water is very clear and sand is clean and pretty white. Looking forward to what we can do here. Hikes, bike riding, snorkelling, swimming, dolphins, kayaks, 4 wheelers, sandboarding... will be an expensive part of the trip but well worth it we think.

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

 

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