22-24 Feb : Sydney to Durras North to Mallacoota

 Day 1 - Feb 22. It has been a slowish start to our trip down to Victoria. Although we left home on Monday, visits to friends and family on the way down meant that our holiday meanderings didn't really start until yesterday.

As we had stayed at Tom's in Randwick, we decided that the best way south would be via the coast, along the Princes Highway.  What a horrible drive south while still in the Sydney 'burbs, tailgated until Wollongong by a truckie who was determined to kill someone on the way (running one red light when a man had started crossing the road, screeching to a stop at another causing his trailer to side-swipe the gutter).  Fortunately, we managed to get well ahead of him as we climbed the Bulli Pass into Wollongong. The Princes Highway improves a little once you get out of Sydney, but still it is a slow road.  

A later-than-intended start meant that we had a very late morning tea at Kiama, deciding that Kiama would have a supermarket where we would buy some supplies as well as have a nice spot for morning tea, that is the blowhole.  The blowhole, while not really violent, did not disappoint.  Always a beautiful spot.  I love the sound of the water as it builds up momentum for the 'blow'. 

The Princes Highway continued to be slow going after morning tea but no matter - our destination was only Jervis Bay, Callala Beach to be precise. With perfect weather, sunny and in the low 30s, Callala Beach was the perfect rest stop for lunch and a swim.

We found it difficult to find a camping spot for the night though.  Everywhere we tried was booked out, in both the north and south parts of Jervis Bay, in national parks and caravan parks. Why, we wondered, on a Thursday night out of school holidays?  We later discovered, after finding the last available unpowered site anywhere, at Myola, that Huskisson is hosting a triathlon over the weekend and that is probably the reason.

The caravan park at Myola was quiet and we enjoyed a walk by the river (just a stone's throw across the water from Huskisson which is a 10km drive by car away).  We could see the marquees set up for the coming triathlon.

Along the beach near the mouth of the river there were lots of sooty oystercatchers and crested terns.

Also, lot of seaweed along the southern end of Callala Beach near Myola.

After another refreshing swim we retired to the caravan park.

Day 2 - Feb 23: I was tired and slept in this morning till after 8am for only the third time in my life!  So nice not to feel that I needed to get up.  This lazy start was exactly what I needed before our quick exploration of Jervis Bay.  As our real destination is Victoria, and we want to get there soon, we had only given ourselves today to explore a little of Jervis Bay, enough to know this is somewhere we would like to come back for a whole lot longer.

We first visited Hyam's Beach for a walk along the world-famous white sands and the not-so-famous rocks and a swim in the turquoise water.  While there were plenty of people there, fortunately not the crowds there that can sometimes spoil such a beautiful spot.

Next on the check-out list was Green Patch, a national park campground where we had hoped to stay but couldn't because it was full.  A lovely spot for a future family holiday I think. Idyllic, at least today it was.

Our last Jervis Bay stop was Murray's Beach, a short 300 m walk down from the carpark to our lunch spot. We grabbed a last swim before the weather started closing in and we began our trip to Durras North to meet up with our friend, Peter.

Luckily we caught only the edge of the storm,  which must have been pretty fierce further north. 

Durras North is such a beautiful spot.  So quiet. The house or friend rents hasn't changed since the 1960s (still has no hot water,  still has a dunny, but has conceded to modern technology with a TV) and is beautiful because of that. 

A walk before dinner capped off a lovely day. 

Day 3 - Feb 24: An after-breakfast walk was the perfect start to a day in the car heading to Mallacoota.  At high tide, the sand was soft so the 3.5 km round trip was hard going. 

I got carried away wondering why some sand was more hydrophobic than other bits and took too many pictures of the same. Peter (friend) thought that perhaps it was where the wave foam stopped the water from really reaching the sand, but I watched plenty of foam and underneath it was wet.  Oh well - I continue to wonder.

                                  

At the end of the beach are beautifully coloured honeycomb rocks.

                                   

We farewelled Peter after our walk and headed into Batemans Bay for supplies and a coffee along the river.

Just behind where we had coffee was an interesting piece of street art - an unfortunate bit of writing ...

We couldn't resist stopping in at Eden on our way down.  Another beautiful spot where we could spend more time.  

We didn't arrive in Mallacoota until after 5pm but with the days longer down in Victoria there was still time after we finished setting up the camper to have a bit of an explore along the waterway in front of us.  Some beautiful trees somehow clinging on around the edges of the inlet.

We are finally here.  Looking forward to exploring.