DAY TWENTY-ONE: Fitzroy falls

DAY TWENTY-ONE: Fitzroy falls


Today we drove to Kangaroo valley with the grand illusion of seeing kangaroos. Unfortunately after over an hours drive we arrived to see nothing but cows. It must be an Aussy joke telling tourists about Kangaroo valley. To be fair it is a lovely place to visit but you would only drive through, there doesn't seem to be much other than canoe tours which we will be visiting at a later date.
From here we drove to Fitzroy falls, it's only about 17KM away from Kangaroo Valley, I really enjoyed it there it reminded me a lot of Katoomba only with far fewer tourists. All around there were animals you could hear rustling in the bushes, callings from the tree tops and splashing from the rivers. Unfortunately we didn't see anything we could only hear, I was disappointed but the views from the escarpment of the falls made up for the lack of wildlife spottings.

Fitzroy falls. There is a view platform right next to the falls.

DAY TWENTY: Job hunting

DAY TWENTY: Job hunting


Today we continued to chill, the humidity over the past few days has been unbearable so we decided to keep indoors. Today's plan was to continue planning our travels, so far we have done a lot and seen a lot we've driven about 3,000 km which is considerable for only two weeks. We have priced up a few little excursions locally for a few days or a week then we will return to base. Also we're in the process of planning a big trip up and back down the eastern coast, starting in Melbourne up to Cairns and back to Sydney, to then return to base. Currently we're swaying towards greyhound buses with the hop on and off ticket. First we have agreed that before we travel any distance we should aim to get temporary jobs here to raise more funds. As well as looking for jobs we visited Wollongong our local city for toiletry supplies and lunch.

DAY NINETEEN: Stormy Sunday & home made pasta

DAY NINETEEN: Stormy Sunday & home made pasta

Today has been the most uncomfortable day of all because of the humidity with temperatures of 27 degrees celsius. There has been terrible storms over the past couple of days with more to follow, along with a tornado in Kiama which is only an hour away. The raging thunder and lightning through the night gave us a restless sleep, so today we walked to the beach to see the waves crashing in to nearby rocks and the lightning flickering in the sky. We spent the rest of the afternoon having a pasta making lesson with my uncle,Vicki loved making the pasta and is a natural. It was even more fun eating it.....

DAY EIGHTEEN: Nan tien temple

DAY EIGHTEEN: Nan tien temple

After our day of rest we decided to keep activities to a minimum so we went to Nan tien temple. Nan tien temple is a Buddhist monastery just out of Wollongong. It is the largest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere although I'm not a religious person it was an incredible place to visit, there is an incredibly calm atmosphere, maybe some of that was down to the strong smell of incense they use during prayer. Either way the temple itself is fantastic unfortunately you were not allowed to take photo's inside the beautiful buildings but we took some from the outside.

Dave and Vicki at the bell of gratitude

Before we left we went to one of their café's where we indulged in loose leaf tea. I normally wouldn't go anywhere near tea but since we were there I thought I would give it a try. I ordered Mountain high tea, Vic ordered lemon grass and ginger.

Vicki has never been happier

DAY SEVENTEEN: Day off

DAY SEVENTEEN: Day off

After the past sixteen days of being pretty much none stop and the fact that I still haven't slept a full night without waking up at some obscene time had gotten the better of us and today we crashed and did very little except buy a snorkel and mask.

DAY SIXTEEN: Hunter Valley

DAY SIXTEEN: Hunter Valley


Today we went to Hunter valley for a bit of wine tasting at the beautiful vineyards. We're not entirely sure why we decided to go especially since neither of us drink wine and one of us was the designated driver. Nonetheless it was a lovely area with fantastic views which anybody could appreciate. Along Mt View road which is a home to a famous vineyard tour maybe if we had booked onto one we would have learned something about the wine. We stopped at several lookout points, and the views were fabulous.

DAY FIFTEEN: Sand boarding

DAY FIFTEEN: Sand boarding

 This has been without doubt Vicki's favourite day. Arriving at the pick up point at lunchtime we were approached by a friendly man with a camouflage hummer we climbed in with another five people to head for the sand dunes (Stockton Bright Sand Dunes) while he told us some interesting facts about them for example, the dunes are 32 km in length and are the fastest moving dunes in the southern hemisphere. Whilst travelling through the dunes it was hard core off road terrain, we went over some large dunes which tilted the hummer into an almost 90 degree angle as if you were on a roller coaster. When we arrived at the sand boarding location we had a quick tutorial on what to do and we were off at our own pace, as getting back up the dunes was tiring. Speeding down the dunes was fast and exciting whilst getting sand everywhere. The views around were spectacular white, golden sands very smooth looking, built up like pyramids. After sand boarding we stopped off at the beach to see Pippi's in their habitat. This location is also home to the filming of the famous movie Mad Max. After the trip we ended the day playing in the surf.

Vicki & Dave about to race

Pippi