Tag: holidays

Trip to Wollongong – Laughs

This photo was taken at Tilba and I immediately conjured in my mind a toothless old guy searching the road for his teeth.

There were plenty of laughs! The things I remember most about the adventures I have in my life are the laughs often. Andy, the love of my life and travelling companion provided most of them.

When we drove through the little hamlet of ‘Suggan Buggan’ we passed this little cottage with a family sitting out on the veranda and he dared me to go ask them where McDonalds was.

When we arrived in Jindabyne, we were having a coffee and a police car pulled up, we had just watched the movie ‘Jindabyne’ before we left and he ‘dared’ me to ask the police man if they’d caught the murderer yet. When we passed the service station that had featured in the movie, he dared me to ask if Gabrielle Byrne was in.

At Kiama, on the way home a kid was leaning on his shorter brother in front of me. Andy dared me to lean on him. At one of the caravan parks we stayed at there was live music. It wasn’t really the bonus they had advertised and Andy dared me to go and ask them to turn it down.

He watches too much Ed.

Wollongong – Returning along the Coast

We spent 8 days travelling down the coast to return home. The beaches were all great and the names have blurred in my memory as it was one after another. We ran out of time to stop at every beach, I think you could take 6 months to make that trip. The coast was also much busier than I expected. The cost of real estate was much higher. There were no sleepy little places. I was longing for one at times as the traffic and crowds distract a bit from the natural beauty of these great places. I am a part of the traffic and the crowd though, so I guess I can’t complain.

We spent time in Kiama and checked out the blowhole, and the lookout. We spent our first night there. The next day Andy bought a boogie board and we began looking for appropriate surf for him to ‘boogie’. There were so many places I liked and the names I can remember were Mollymook, Jervis Bay, Ulladulla, Husskisson and Stony Beach. There were some great National Parks in among those places also.

I never take as many photo’s or clips in the last week. I suppose I get a bit tired of being away from home. We camped a lot also and so didn’t always set up the laptop and ‘do the photo thing’, so it all becomes a blur.

We joined the YHA in Merimbula and stayed there for an enjoyable night. It was awesome to have a massive and well equiped kitchen to cook in. We camped at Narooma and Mallacoota.  I couldn’t believe this caravan park, almost every boat owner seemed to have an old tractor to tow it to the boat ramp. Caravan Parks are like little settlements. People are there for the duration and set up these homes away from home. Some of them looked more permanent and well organised than my home. They each have their own cultures. I personally preferred the ones that didn’t have signs telling you what to do and had spacious showers with enough hooks. It’s funny the little things that make a difference when you are away from home.

I liked the murals on the side of the public toilet and was impressed that they were so clean and the place they were I can’t recall the name of, so if you know it I would appreciate you letting me know, because it was my favourite place. The vegetarian cafe there also had this awesome picture for sale and I would have loved it. It was a collage made from sea urchins and star shaped shells. The other thing I really liked about this place was at the beach there were a lot of older people surfing. It was great to see these fit, happy people pull up in the work ute and indulge in a spot of surfing.

I didn’t really interact with people, but I did notice how polite and happy people were in the general public. Whilst walking around these places, very few people passed without a cheery ‘gidday’ paired with a wide open smile. I guess that is what holidays do for us.

 

Wollongong

We stayed in Wollongong for a week. Our accommodation was basic but central. We stayed at Keiraview Accommodation. It is university accommodation and it was clean and the people were really very helpful. It was really noisy at night, I am not accustomed to being inner city any more.
Wollongong is a large city with a beautiful beach basically. I loved the rock pools and the beach. The shopping centre was as all shopping centres are, only useful if you want to purchase something. My favourite shop was called “Something for Doris”, such a cool name and a nice lady. I didn’t purchase anything there, but enjoyed my browse.
The art gallery was good, but I was looking specifically for my cousin’s artwork, I had hoped his collection would be on show, but it wasn’t, so I was a little disappointed in that. There were some really cool rooms inside that building. There was a great supermarket across the road from the place we stayed and I bought lotus moon cakes and ate them for breakfast. I liked them.