Australian Road Trip: Week One

Finally we have a place with good access to the internet.  Mom and dad are here in Australia! We have been on a coastal road trip for the past week and have already seen so much.  They arrived on Tuesday and after spending two days in Sydney, we started heading south.  Here is everything we did:

Day One: Sydney

Their flight arrived early Tuesday morning, and they rented a car straight from the airport.  I got a call shortly after the time that I was expecting them to arrive asking for directions because they were headed here without a map, brave!  But, they made it to my residence with little issue.  So we started their trip with breakfast at a cute little restaurant in Newtown called Cuckoo Callay.  The food was great and we sat outside under the sun.  After having some good eats, I took the two of them for a walking tour of the University of Sydney campus.  Then we went to their hotel for their time in Sydney, then went for a walk in Hyde Park.  We walked past the ANZAC Memorial and checked out the Australian Museum near by.  The Museum seemed quite dated and a bit chaotic, but they had a really neat exhibit about the Aboriginal people of the area.  I think the three of us each learned something different from our visit there, because I don't think we were fully invested in reading every single plaque and sign.  What I learned is that 'didgeridoo' is not an aboriginal word, but actually from the Europeans calling it after the sound it makes.  There were also several exhibits about Australian animals, which were very interesting and scary.

After the Australian Museum, we decided to go to the Sydney Tower Eye to get a view of the entire city at sunset.  It was popular that evening, which meant some waiting time, but still worth it if you ask me.  To finish off the evening, we went to an Irish pub for dinner.  We called it an early night so mom and dad could sleep off as much jet lag as they could.  I headed home by bus and also went to bed fairly early so that we could start sight seeing early the next day.

Day Two: Sydney

Today was all about our harbour boat cruise.  We had a hop on hop off tour that took us around the harbour and had some interesting commentary.  The boat stopped at the wharf at Circular Quay, Taronga Zoo, Fort Denison, Garden Island, Watson's Bay, and Manly, where we got off.  The announcer was entertaining as he provided some history about the harbour, but he mostly made animal noises and movie references.  If you must know, his Hagrid impression from Harry Potter was spot on.  He also turned it into a hollywood star type of cruise as he pointed out different houses and which famous people lived in them, or even stayed there while they were in town.  One of the houses he mentioned was even the Australian prime minister's place of residence.  As a special treat, just as we were pulling in to Manly, the announcer got really excited and pointed out dolphins next to the ferry! They came up really close to the boat and were there for a little while as all of the passengers pushed to that side of the boat to see.  Unfortunately, I was not quick enough to draw my camera, so I don't have photo evidence of this.  When in Manly, the rain started.  We walked along the beach for a short time and watched the surfers.  But, the rain got worse so we decided it was time for lunch.  We ate at the Fish Shack, which looked out at Manly beach, and we had a delicious seafood platter.  We meandered back to the wharf after lunch, stopping at different souvenir shops along the way.

You can see the clouds rolling in behind the Opera House

On the way back we got off at Circular Quay to see the Sydney Opera House.  We booked a tour of the Opera House, but had about an hour to kill before it started.  So naturally, we went for a walk around the entire perimeter then found a restaurant to sit with a cider.  There was a seal sleeping on some of the steps off of the Opera House.  I guess he lives there because the city has made him special signs for people to beware.  Our tour was really interesting as it took you the history of being built, as well as the architecture and acoustic features.  There were also really well done movies along the way to give our tour guide a break.  To end the evening, we watched the Badu Gili light show, which was projected onto the Opera House, and ate an Italian dinner in the historical precinct, the Rocks.

The main stage in the Opera House

Badu Gili

 Day Three: Bateman's Bay

This was the first day of our road trip.  Mom and dad picked me up and we made our way.  Our first stop was a town called Waterfall, about an hour from city.  Because of the name, we assumed that there would be a waterfall to check out and stretch our legs.  There was a hiking trail to a falls, but it would have taken several hours to get there an back, and we had other things to do and see.  So we went for a short walk along the trail, just to soak up the sun.  For lunch we stopped in a little beach town called Austinmer.  Originally, we had just planned to stop at the beach for a picture, but saw a nice cafe with a patio across the street.  Next, was Wollongong.  This was where we picked up dessert to our lunch, some ice cream, next to the lighthouse and staring out at the beach.  The seagulls there were very scary as they eyed your food, and one even hoovered on the wind above my head waiting for the opportune moment to strike at my cone.

Wollongong Beach

Continuing on our way, we drove over Sea Cliff Bridge, which extends out over the water and has just stunning views.  We did see our first kangaroo shortly thereafter, but it was the road kill kind. We have since seen several live kangaroos, but they are so abundant that they are bound to cross paths with cars.  We got to Bateman's Bay and checked in to our hotel.  From our window we could see a sliver of the bay.  We walked to a place called Stingray's for dinner, which had really nice and fresh seafood.

Day Four: Green Cape

To start this day, dad saw a spectacular sunrise, complete with a dolphin view, while mom and I continued sleeping.  We enjoyed coffee and breakfast on our veranda looking out on the bay, watching pelicans and other birds fly by.

Dad's sunrise picture in Bateman's Bay

When we needed a break from driving we stopped in Central Tilba, which is a heritage village in the middle of all the farm lands we were driving through.  We popped in a couple of stores and bought some rolls from the bakery in town, then continued past Tilba Tilba to Bega.  Bega is really well know for its cheese.  We ate lunch at the heritage cheese factory, where mom and I had cheese toasties (otherwise known in Canada as grilled cheese) and dad had a mixed cheese platter.  We were satisfied, to say the least.  The Factory started as a co-op for all the farmers in the area to pool their resources, and has now become one of the biggest manufacturers in Australia.  They had a little museum above the restaurant which we wandered through.  I particularly liked all of the posters from the war about producing more milk.  We stopped in Eden for supplies, then headed straight for Green Cape.  We stayed in the cottages at the lighthouse with another family staying in the rooms across from us.  We arrived just as the sun was about to set and the lighthouse keeper showed us around the grounds and mentioned the animals we might see: wombats, a bandicoot, whales... We saw all of them! We grabbed a glass of wine out on the veranda picnic tables and watched the sunset trying to spot whales.

Mom and dad and out wine

Before long the wombats (yes, plural) came out of the burrows and started wandering right up close to the cottages, grazing.  For dinner, we threw some shrimp on the barbie! We bought fresh caught prawns and smoked oysters from Eden and mixed them up in a butter and wine sauce.  We ate out one the deck, despite the cold wind.  Before long the bandicoot came out to eat near us, and bats came to eat the mosquitos.  By about 7pm it was pitch black and we could see the milky way! The sky was completely cluttered with stars, it was amazing.  Mom and I were cold so we went in to play cards, but dad continued to sit out taking in the sights and the bandicoot and wombats came within arms reach! We had a peaceful sleep with the waves washing next to us.

Wombat

Day Five: Narooma

We started our day at the lighthouse by waking up for the sunrise on dad's birthday! As a birthday present, two whales, a mama and a baby, worked their way north around the cape and we watched them for a long while.  We ate breakfast and then Greg,took us on a tour of the lighthouse.  He gave us lots of interesting information about the lighthouse and its construction, as well as shipwreck stories from the area.  Just down from Green Cape is Disaster Bay, named because of the sheer volume of ships that were wrecked there.  We got to look out from the balcony on the lighthouse, but the wind up there felt like it would knock us right off.  We headed back to Eden, to the Killer Whale Museum, which was dedicated to an orca named Old Tom.  In the area, there were several orcas given names because they learned to collaborate with the whalers to kill humpback whales.  The killer whales would herd the humpbacks into the bay, then one would breach the water outside of the whaling station.  The whalers would get in their boats to finish the kill and would give the orcas the tastiest bits (the lips and the tongue), taking the body, and more specifically the blubber, back to the factory.  We drove on to Tathra and ate at a nice restaurant on the wharf.  We also spied a big jellyfish off of the dock! Then kept on driving.  Our drive was very beautiful as we passed through Mimosa Rocks National Park and through various farm lands.  We even pulled over to a beachside look out when we spotted kangaroos in one of the fields on the other side of the road!  There were over twenty of them! and they were alive and hopping!  One even jumped up close to within 15 metres!! So cool!

Our kangaroo photo shoot

We continued driving on to Narooma, where we made camp for the night, figuratively speaking.  We had some time before the golf course where we were having dad's birthday dinner was open so we went to Australia Rock.  It is an interesting photo-op because the rock has a cut out in the shape of Australia.  Finally, we had dinner and cheers to dad and our vacation.