The Road Home – The Manning Coast & Home – October 2023

Posted on October 28, 2023 by Kevin & Ruth Sheather

First glimpse of the Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse at Seal Rocks near Bungwahl, NSW.

Our destination that day, Tuesday, was Harrington at the mouth of the Manning River, near Taree, the town where I was born almost eighty-four years ago. We stopped for coffee at Raymond Terrace, then kept to the highway that now bypasses Bulahdelah, the town of my youth. We were headed for Seal Rocks, on the coast near the eastern end of the Myall Lakes.

The rocks on which the sighting of Seals generated the name of the area.

Seal Rocks has some significance to me as it was a place that my father always wanted to go to fish. But around thirty years ago it was the first landfall sighted on the second morning of our voyage when I sailed a yacht bought in Sydney up the coast to Brisbane. I climbed to the lighthouse on my recent visit to look down onto the rocks from which it gets its name. They are low and flat and not all that conspicuous from the water, hence the lighthouse that is still in operation. The rocks do however appear much more significant from the deck of a small yacht, particularly one that you own and must navigate safely past the rocks.

Surging waves at the base of the headland of Sugarloaf Point.

Seal Rocks lighthouse is an active lighthouse but long since converted to automatic operation.

Like much of that coast, it is a very attractive with a surprising number of good quality houses and a caravan park. Its popularity is drawn from its kindness to the fishermen who visit it and the pleasant beaches that keep families happy and compensate for the attention of the fisherman (hunter gatherer?) being directed elsewhere.

An original lighthouse keeper residence and the local lifesaving club building at Sugarloaf Point.

Boat Beach, Seal Rock. The lighthouse is over the hill to the right.

A juvenile Osprey waiting for food at its National Parks provided nesting platform north of Tiona on The Lakes Way, NSW.

After Seal Rocks we returned to The Lakes Way and continued towards Forster, pausing at a Osprey nesting platform to photograph a juvenile bird that was perched, probably waiting to be fed. After a quick lunch for ourselves in Forster, we continued on our way to Harrington to occupy our cabin.

Crowdy Head Harbour at the mouth of the Manning River, NSW.

We had booked Harrington for two nights but were offered a third night at half rate, which we accepted. But when we checked in their booking system was down. “We will fix the problem tomorrow”, they said. But when tomorrow came and the system was back online, they discovered that the cabin had been booked by someone else for that night. They didn’t offer an alternative and we didn’t ask. Instead, we booked one night at a motel in Taree.

Great Eastern Egret at Cattai Wetlands, Coopernook, NSW.

A gliding Brahminy Kite at Cattai Wetlands.

Australian Darter and Little Pied Cormorant. They wouldn’t need to travel far for food.

On our first day in Harrington, we spent the morning catching up on washing followed by a sea food lunch at neighbouring Crowdy Head. A sea food meal as we watched the sea, with Whales frolicking in Crowdy Bay wa just the ticket. We weren’t complaining at all.

There were multiple hectares of waterlilies at Cattai Wetlands.

After lunch we drove back past Harrington to the Pacific Highway at Coopernook so that I could take a walk around the 2.5-kilometre track at Cattai Wetlands. The position of the sun was a problem, morning would have been better, but I saw and photographed a few birds and viewed wide areas of water lilies. I am a bit of a fan of water lilies. The walk was most enjoyable but was terminated at increased speed when I realised, about three quarters of the way around, that I was running out of time. The area closed at 3.00 pm, just 20 minutes away.

The famous Gantry. So well known that an eating place in town is named after it, The Gantry.

Finally, before we returned to our cabin, I did a walk along the rock training wall at Harrington. This wall was a favourite fishing site for my father from the days of his youth and a site to which he took us on holidays a number of times. It was also a favourite with my late brother Ivan. Despite the pleasantness of the afternoon there was not a fishing person in sight. I walked about 75% of its length, pausing to read many of the memorial tributes to departed fishermen that have been fixed to the rocks along the wall.

The stone wall has a bridged gap, known as The Gantry. I recall it being one of Dad’s favourites fishing spots. The wall is built out to an island that is near to the river bank which together with the wall forms an anabranch of the river. The Gantry allows for the ebb and flow of the tides into the lagoon, formed by the wall.

The Eastern end of the Harrington training wall.

The main training wall at Harrington with the river to the left and the lagoon and anabranch of the river to the right.

Manning Point on the southern bank of the Manning, through afternoon salt haze.

Pilot Hill at Harrington. Ships were guided over the bar from this vantage point in the early days of settlement.

The Training Wall and Manning Point from Pilot Hill. You can see the size of the lagoon. Tidal waters flow to and from it through The Gantry.

Norfolk Pines in Harrington’s main street with the lagoon behind.

The main street of Wootton and The Wotton Way.

Thursday was exploring day. We turned south and turned into Wootton Way which, when we lived on it was called plain old Wootton Road. It was part of a string of roads that lead from near Newcastle to Taree. In their early married life my parents tried to eek a living out of a soldiers settlement block on Newmans Road, that joined Wootton Road at Wotton. The road is still mainly gravel with some patches of sealed road where the road crosses streams. I lived there as a baby and again about 75 years ago, so was not surprised that much did not look familiar. I suspect that the old house is long gone. I think I identified the location, but it was hard to be sure.

Myall Lake at Mayres Point on The Lakes Way.

From Wootton we accessed The Lakes Way via Wattley Hill Road, a road that has been there since first settlement in the area, but one over which I had never travelled. We drove in to Myall Lake to check out the sight of Sunday School picnics of three quarters of a century ago. It is now all overgrown.

The Boat House at Smiths Lake, south of Forster, NSW. The building contains a cafe and boating facilities.

The sand bar that separates Smith Lake from the Pacific Ocean. The town of Sandbar is to the left, right on the coast.

Blueys Beach is just off The Lakes Way near Pacific Palms. It was favourite beach for locals in my youth and had only beach shacks.

We called in to several beaches that we frequented in younger days including Smith Lake, Pacific Palms, Blueys beach and Elizabeth Beach. We again stopped at Forster for lunch.

On our way from Forster to Taree we diverged so that we could look at Harrington across the river. The diversion lead us over some of the islands that make up the Manning River Estuary. Harrington is clearly visible from there. Manning Point has some tourist facilities but is much smaller than Harrington.

Jetty near the shopping centre at Forster, NSW.

The old Forster fishing cooperative now sells fishing supplies, has a cafe which of course sells coffee.

Pelicans roosting on the boat shed roof at Forster, NSW.

The shark proof swimming enclosure at Manning Point.

Harrington through the Pine trees at Manning Point.

The mouth of the Nambucca River at Nambucca Heads, NSW.

We spent our night in Taree, setting out next day, our last day but one, on the four hundred plus kilometres to Ballina. We made two diversions. The first into Nambucca Heads trying to find a coffee shop. We ended up at the service centre back on the highway. The town was parked out, but we did get to a couple of lookouts and one beach. Nambucca Heads is worth a longer visit.

The coast south of Nambucca to Scotts Head and Smokey Cape (South West Rocks) in the far distance.

Finally, we drove through Grafton to find lunch and photograph Jacarandas. There seems to be less of the distinctive purple trees than I remember from previous visits. Lunch done, we departed the town over the new bridge over the Clarence River and re-joined the highway at Tyndale, to continue the drive to Ballina.

After another brief and pleasant visit with Joe and Thelma we proceeded home, arriving mid afternoon. So ends another drive along that most familiar coast.

Relative Travel – Days 1 to 8 – Home to Newcastle

Posted on March 26, 2021 by Kevin & Ruth Sheather

A three image panorama of Merewether Beach and suburbs further south.

With some embarrassment, I see that it is a year since I have added to our travel Web site www.mobilesheathers.com. One reason for the delay is that we are less mobile, with advancing age and the disposal of our caravan and tow vehicle. But despite Covid-19 we have made some excursions of several days duration. I will start getting the site up to date with a report on our most recent trip south.

Gold Coast high rise from the Broadwater

We have, for obvious reasons, been reluctant to venture out of Queensland, due to the possibility of being locked out or needing to deal with the expense of getting back in. With the prolonged period of no community Covid infections as encouragement, we took our courage in both hands and crossed that border at Tweed Heads, heading south. What was the experience like, you may ask? Well, very much the same as on previous occasions. All the border closing gear had been placed out of sight, so all was normal again. But, for how long? The answer to that question remains unanswered, thankfully.

A distant view of the caravan park on the waters edge at Southport.

The decision to go south was brought about by an earlier decision to join a group from our Probus Club at the Broadwater Tourist Park at Southport, near Surfers Paradise, for a few days. We do this periodically, at different locations, generally staying for three nights. Normally, some of our group come with their caravans, while the other attendees take up residence in park cabins. This time, with inclement weather both with us and projected, we all chose cabins.

Boats in the Southport Yacht Club marina, viewed from the club in the early evening.

A cruising yacht complete with flower garden, moored in front of the Palazzo Versace hotel.

Our program included dinner at the Southport Yacht Club, a luncheon cruise of the Broadwater on a Sea World ferry and each evening a happy hour in one of the park camp kitchens. The periods not organised were free time, but no one did very much due to disagreeable weather. I did go for a wander during the first morning, with my longest lens on my camera, to photograph some local shore birds. Bird photography is my latest hobby interest.

Palazzo Versace hotel with the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort in the background.

So on Friday, day 4 of our travels, we crossed the border and drove a further 90 kilometres to Ballina, where we spent two nights with our longest time friends Joe and Thelma, who relocated themselves from Melbourne to Ballina a couple of years ago. Renovations are complete on their house and have been very well carried out. The house is as new. We enjoyed a day and two nights with them, resuming conversations interrupted when we parted from them the last time. Thank you, Thelma and Joe.

Shelly Beach and the ocean at North Ballina.

A new eating location that was closing when we were there in the late afternoon. The photo of the beach was taken from here.

This brought us up to Sunday 7^th March. The 8^th March was my Brother Ivan’s 87^th birthday, so we had a day to reach Newcastle and our accommodation at Merewether Beach. The only impediment to traffic flow on the Pacific Highway, between the Queensland Border and the northern approaches to Newcastle, are the multiple (is it 12 or 14?) sets of traffic lights through Coffs Harbour, so we made the journey in comfort and with ease.

We had lunch with Ivan and Marjorie at the Windsor Hotel in East Maitland on Ivan’s birthday. He drove us there in their new Nissan X-Trail, having a few days previously passed his second “old persons” driving test with flying colours. We returned to their home to again resume old conversations. We stayed with them for a light evening meal and then returned to our digs.

The 87th birthday lunch. All participants looking younger than their years.

We arrived back at our motel too late to lodge breakfast menus, so next morning needed to embark on an excursion to find breakfast. We drove to Merewether Beach but all the Newcastle city workers who park there and walk to work for exercise got there first. So there was breakfast but no parking. A little further up the beach we found a venue and parking but breakfast was down a long and steep flight of stairs. Closer to our motel we found a café that did the poached eggs and bacon to a turn and provided excellent coffee.

Merewether Beach. The parked out area is near the distant end.

Empire Park covers much of what I believe to be the actual hill named Cooks Hill, from which the suburb of the same name presumably takes its name.

The rest of the morning was free until we were due to meet Ruth’s eldest sister Judy and Alan her husband at 1.00PM, after they kept some previously made appointments. We used this time to revisit familiar areas and to find some that were less so. Judy and Alan arrived right on time. We enjoyed a leisurely (about 2 ½ hours) lunch at the pier which is part of the Queens Wharf Hotel, while we chatted and watched the procession of bulk carriers and tugs on the busy Newcastle coal port pass by.

A bulk carrier, probably coal, leaves the Port of Newcastle.

A bulk carrier entering the Port of Newcastle.

Nobbys Head at the southern side of the port entry

There had been a severe thunder storm while at Ivan’s place the previous day. As we approached the expiry of our parking meters the signs were building up for a repeat performance. This one was less severe. We said our goodbyes and made it to our vehicles before the first drops fell.

Out luncheon venue. We were seated just to the right of the second pillar from the left.

This view from water level could mean that you are in a lot of trouble.

With time to fill before we needed to be back at our motel, we set off through the rain on the 20 kilometre drive to Stockton Wharf. Our destination had been visible to us as we sat at lunch, about one kilometre across the harbour from us. The purpose of the drive was some photos of the unobscured Newcastle riverside precinct, from a distance. The bonus was that the road took us very close to the shipping berths and the loading equipment that handles much of the freight volume that passes through the Newcastle port. The bad news was that rain was falling again , so no photos.

The bulk carrier side on. It has seven hatch covers. She is the MV Zonda, flagged out of Panama. The vessel is 229 metres long, 38.3 meters beam and a deadweight tonnage of 51,225 tones. She left port the following day, loaded with coal bound for Taiwan.

A panorama of the Newcastle waterside. The waterside building to the left is the Queens Wharf Hotel.

After a substantial lunch only a light evening meal was required, so we dined on previously acquired rations and went to bed to build up our strength for the drive further south the next day.

Destination Tasmania – Part 1 – Home to Devonport

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Kevin & Ruth Sheather

29^th January to 5^th February, 2020.

Please Note: A videos covering the material in this blog post can be found at the bottom of the post.

Tasmania has been in the planning for some time. We made plans to visit, with the caravan, in 2018. We even booked the passage on the Spirit of Tasmania, but then cancelled in favour of repeating our 2009 trip around Australia. You may recall that we reached South Australia, but returned home at that point due to the poor health of my brother Winston. Win died a couple of months later, so we had certainly made the right decision.

So, with the caravan and the Mitsubishi Challenger both sold, we set off on 29^th January in our new Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. Motel and caravan park cabin accommodation from how on.

An early start got us to Ballina at about 10.30 AM for morning coffee with our long time friends Joe and Thelma. For those who don’t know, Joe and Thelma have left Melbourne to continue their retirement at Ballina. These folks have been friends for almost all of our married life and all of theirs.

Ramada Resort, Flynn’s Beach, Port Macquarie

We had chosen Port Macquarie as our overnight stop and happily pulled up at the Ramada Resort at Flynn’s Beach after a drive of just less than 600 km.

Day two brought us from Port Macquarie to West Wallsend, a suburb of Newcastle. On the way we drove through some bush fire affected areas south of Taree. The Taree fires featured prominently in press coverage on the run up to Christmas.

We detoured for morning coffee at my old home town of Bulahdelah at The Detour Cafe. The cafe looked familiar. I asked the lady who made the coffee if it had always been a café. She said that it had been for most of its existence. That is why it was familiar. I used to call there for an after school milk shake about 65 years ago.

We then called on my eldest brother Ivan and his wife Marjorie, who live just off the highway north of Newcastle, where we had lunch and generally caught up on family matters and doings.

Then off to West Wallsend where we spent the night with Ruth’s eldest sister Judy and her husband Alan. Another session of catching up on family matters and news of mutual acquaintances and travels completed and planned.

Anglers Rest Hotel at Brooklyn on the Hawksbury River

Waiting for lunch to be prepared at Brooklyn

The new office for the Riverboat Mailman. We did the mail run a couple of years ago. The new office was just being built then.

The marina restaurant and shopping complex at Brooklyn.

The run to Sydney along the Pacific Motorway was easy with no congestion. We pulled off the highway at the exit on the north bank of the Hawksbury River and drove over the old bridge to reach Brooklyn. We like Brooklyn and have frequently stopped there over the years. Many years ago we hired a boat there and spent a great week on the river and Broken Bay. That was back in family holiday days.

Day three brought us to daughter Briony’s unit in Erskineville, a near Sydney city suburb. February 3^rd is Briony’s birthday. Our activities included hiding in a shopping mall and the car to avoid high 30s temperatures on Saturday and her personally organised birthday, with friends in a private room at the cafe at her complex, on the following, cooler day.

Briony and Ruth waiting for guests to arrive.

On Monday, her birthday, we enjoyed a delightful birthday lunch for just the three of us at Aqua Dining. This restaurant, with excellent outdoor seating, is near the front gate of Lunar Park and overlooks the North Sydney Olympic Pool. It is in part of the buildings that adjoin the pool. So we had a great view of a local school’s swimming carnival. Of course we also had views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the cruise liner terminal, the Sydney Opera House and a broad sweep of the harbour, both east and west of the city

Harbour Bridge, Sydney city and the wall of the pool. But you knew that, didn’t you?

On 4^th February, with family commitments finalised, it was time to deal with the main objective of the trip, Tasmania. We set off at about eight, pausing “where the dog sits on the tucker box 5 miles from Gundagai” and stopping for lunch in Gundagai before reaching our Albury motel late in the afternoon. Another 544 km completed.

The Dog on the Tucker Box near Gundagai.

The Kelly Museum at Glenrowan, Victoria.

We only had a short drive to Port Melbourne to the Spirit of Tasmania terminal (334 km), so detoured into Glenrowan, of Ned Kelly fame, and spent the remainder of time until boarding having lunch and shopping. We drove aboard at about 5.30 PM and sailed for Devonport just after seven o’clock.

Part of the passenger area on the Spirit of Tasmania.

More of the passenger area on the Spirit.

Daylight saving ensured that we sailed through Port Philip Heads in daylight. We had a smooth crossing, arriving at East Devonport at about 6.00 AM on Thursday 6^th.

Medium rise accommodation at Port Melbourne.

A view of Melbourne city from the deck of the Spirit of Tasmania.

Our cabin was comfortable, catering in the dining areas, although we only ate casually, was adequate and in all a pleasant experience. We were in the car ready to go by before 7.00 AM, drove off without incident and headed around to Devonport proper (on the opposite side of the river) looking for breakfast.

Sunset over Port Philip Bay. We were almost out of the heads.

The Spirit of Tasmania berthed at East Devonport in the Mersey River.

https://youtu.be/xWFFUxc2Erw

Sydney 2017 and the “Big Birthday Bash”

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Kevin & Ruth Sheather

We have just returned from a 20 day excursion to Sydney. A visit to Sydney for daughter Briony’s birthday celebrations (she likes to refer to it as her “f” birthday) had been intended as the first part of a rather longer trip, but circumstance necessitated a return to Brisbane for a few days. We hope to set off again around the middle of March, unless something else happens to derail the plan.

The foot bridge near the mouth of South West Rocks Creek

We left Brisbane on 27^th January for Maclean, on the Clarence River, where we paused for a night to call on Ruth’s youngest sister Kathy and her husband Barry, who live in the area. We then had a couple of days set aside for the Gloucester and Barrington area but high inland temperatures persuaded us that it was much smarter to stay on the coast.

The result was two nights at South

The same bridge with the tide out

West Rocks, which increased to four nights when we saw how hot it was to be at our intended next destination, just to the north of Newcastle. So we opted for temperatures in the low 30s instead of the low 40s. We used the time to enjoy sea breezes, check out South West Rocks and the adjacent area of Trial Bay. We drove out to Smokey Cape where I climbed up to the lighthouse to take in and photograph the 360 degree views.

Dredging at the mouth of South West Rocks Creek

The actual South West Rocks at South West Rocks. The town’s name was derived from the instruction giver to early ships captains to “Anchor with the rocks to the south west”.

View over Trial Bay to the old prison on the point

The beach side caravan park. We were at a different park.

The old Trial Bay Goal, formally the home of convicts.

Smokey Cape lighthouse

Secluded bays to the north of the lighthouse are accessed mostly by walking tracks.

The view to the south of the lighthouse towards Hat Head

We spent the next evening parked in my Brother Ivan’s driveway at Woodberry while we enjoyed hospitality provided by Ivan and Marjorie, his wife. Next day, a lunch stop at West Wallsend allowed us to spend time with Ruth’s Sister Judy and husband Alan and one of Ruth’s cousins and husband. Then it was on to Sydney to our space at the Lane Cove River Tourist Park on the edge of the Lane Cove National Park, at suburban Macquarie Park.

Bennelong Restaurant at the Sydney Opera House

All this brought us to the day. February 3^rd is Briony’s birthday. Don’t tell her that I told you, but counting this one, she has had 40 of them. This was a BIG one.

We made our way to Briony’s Erskineville unit, arriving just before lunch. With Briony and her house guest Tiani, over from Perth for the celebrations, we made our way into Sydney for a delightful lunch at the Bennelong Restaurant at the Sydney Opera House. Excellent food and service, outstanding views and the reason that we were there, made it an event to remember.

We had great views of a cruise liner from the restaurant.

Time then for a bit of a rest while the guest of honor visited the hair dresser and then it was time for the main event. Briony had booked an upstairs room at the Rose of Australia Hotel at Erskineville. The event was a cocktail party with finger food. The 75 guests, about 20 of whom travelled from Brisbane for the occasion, were adequately provided with both food and drink. For us it was an evening of meeting friends whose names we knew from Briony’s interaction with them on Facebook and renewing some old acquaintances. We met some of Briony’s Sydney friends for the first time.

The general restaurant and bar area at the Opera House.

The following day Briony had arranged for bare foot bowls and lunch at the Erskineville Bowls Club but the day was hot and only the hardy saw the game to its conclusion. I retired to the shade and a long cool drink after bowling only two ends. Ruth had opted to be a spectator.

The lighthouse on Barrenjoey Headland at the northern end of Palm Beach.

We then had two quite hot days to get through before we left Sydney to go further south. The first we split between lunch at a local shopping mall and a drive to Palm Beach. The air-conditioning in the car was almost as good as the cool of the shopping mall but had the additional advantage of the fantastic views of and from Sydney’s northern beaches.

Luxury homes overlooking Palm Beach

Our ferry at the Brooklyn ferry terminal.

On the second hot day, the Monday, we had booked a cruise with the Riverboat Mailman on the Hawkesbury River. An air-conditioned passenger catamaran fulfils the twin functions of providing an informative and scenic tour of part of the river north of Brooklyn and delivering the mail to a number of small riverside communities.

Naturally decorative rocks on the shore of Long Island Nature Reserve near Brooklyn

The tour lasts for three hours, includes morning tea and lunch and includes delivery and collection of mail to the small river communities whose only access to the outside world is by the river. Mario, the skipper, provided an interesting and at times humorous commentary about the history of the river and life upon its banks. The passage of the boat provided cooling breezes that supplemented the AC and made life on the upper deck tolerable, but only for short periods. The mercury was at around 38 Celsius.

The road bridges over the Hawkesbury near Brooklyn. The new highway bridge is on the left.

A small community on the river

A real estate investment opportunity at Marlow, the most distant mail drop of the day.

A derelict oyster wharf near the site of the former Sheather’s Wharf.

When the cruise finished at 1.00 pm we still had half of a hot day to deal with, so we went in search of Sheather’s Wharf. We had seen a photo in our local pharmacy’s calendar of this jetty. Not everyone has a wharf in the family. Naturally we wanted to see it. Alas, it is no more but appears to have been demolished relatively recently to make way for a marina and restaurant. I photographed its poor relation near by to give you the idea. If you want to see the real thing simply Google “Sheather’s Wharf” and you will see it in all its splendour. If I were to reproduce the photo here I would probably be breaching someones copyright.

Fog obscuring the view near Patonga.

Because I had never been there before, we drove on to Patonga. This small hamlet is located on a beach on the northern shore of the Hawkesbury. Glimpses of Barrenjoey Headland are to be had from the right spot. A passenger ferry service links the town to Palm Beach.

The surprise to me of the area was the thick banks of fog rolling in on such a hot day. There was not much wind so the fog was rolling in slowly, obscuring the scenery as it rolled.

Point Perpendicular would you believe? It is located just north of Kiama.

The plan had been to move on to Camden for three nights before heading home, but the weather intervened again. Temperatures in the low 40s were predicted for the days that we were to head back north so, as a compromise, we decided to stay on the coast and booked six nights at Shellharbour, just south of Wollongong.

Kiama harbour and headland

So on Tuesday we drove to Shellharbour. After packing up in drizzling rain we drove through a thunder storm as we crossed Sydney’s near western suburbs and then, at the top of the range before descending to Wollongong, we struck fog so thick that the road side warning signs instructed us to turn on our hazard lights. That has never happened to us before. It was a bit spooky driving down a very steep gradient with no visibility and have sets of flashing lights coming out of the fog behind us and disappearing again into it ahead of us. Thankfully we were on a divided highway.

The view from the Shellharbour Caravan Park.

The caravan park at Shellharbour is on a headland and rather exposed. On Tuesday evening a rain cell made its way up the coast from the south and tipped torrents of rain onto us for about three hours. There were reports of flash flooding next morning but we didn’t see any excess water as we made our way to Bowral.

Ruth’s youngest brother Wallace and his wife Ginny have been residents of Bowral for many years. We have visited them many times before but never via the Macquarie Pass. Bowral has an altitude of 680 metres while Shellharbour is at about 10 meters, so it is a sharp ascent. Part way up, the rain started again and the fog came down. No divided highway today but the winding road was mercifully quiet.

We spent a pleasant day with Wall and Ginny and many mutual experiences were relived. We than took ourselves off to visit Ruth’s younger half-sister Dorothy and her husband Peter, where we enjoyed dinner and the company of their two daughters and one boyfriend and spent the night in a comfortable air-conditioned room.

The Brackens are a working family so it was an early start to be out of their way as they commenced their day. Our next call was with retired friends who live in a retirement complex on the northern beaches of Wollongong. Marion is a friend from Ruth’s childhood. I have known her and Cliff, her husband, since their marriage. They stayed with us on their honeymoon trip to Tasmania all those years ago, when we lived in suburban Melbourne. Again much reminiscing! How good those old times were! That’s how we remember them, anyway.

Hampden Bridge in the Kangaroo Valley, inland from Kiama.

We now were faced with a hot Friday and weekend, before we made our way home. Friday was spent partly shopping, partly sitting in the sea breeze and the rest in the relative comfort of the caravan. On Sunday we opted for the AC in the car again and went for a drive. First to Kiama and then inland, over the coastal range to Kangaroo Valley and then up the escarpment to Fitzroy Falls. The walk to the falls, although short was warm, with the temperature around 38. I walked on another 800 meters to another

Fitzroy Falls up close …

viewing point for the falls and wondered part way if that was a wise move, but I made it back without harm.

We lunched and then returned down the mountain by a different road, calling in to an excellent lookout that provided views over the coastal plain around Kiama before returning to the van via the rather attractive rural town of

… and from a vantage point gained by a hot 500 meter walk in 38 degrees.

Jamberoo, with its streets lined with flowering trees and its quaint brick churches complete with square battlement topped steeples.

A view over the coastal plane near Kiama.

Formally a church, this historic building is now a restaurant.

This cliff foot Sea Cliff Bridge spans the breakers beneath.

The weather cooled on Sunday and was much more pleasant. Initially we drove north along the coast to Stanwell Park, past the many historic coal mining towns and over that stretch of highway built out over the ocean around the foot of the cliffs. We did that drive from both directions with the action video camera in operation. The results are attached for you to see.

Busy Manly Beach

From Stanwell Park we drove up to Helensburgh, parked the car and caught the train to Sydney. Circumstance had prevented us from going afloat on Sydney Harbour and we had never before travelled into the city from the south by train. The tip took an hour to Circular Quay where we caught the ferry to Manly.

Manly was a popular place that day. The crowd on the ferry was reminiscent of a morning commute. But the sun was out and so were the pleasure craft. Having sailed my own yacht on Sydney Harbour I derive much pleasure from watching the variety of craft on its waters.

Another cruise liner at the Circular Quay passenger terminal.

The beach was busy with a couple of surf related activities under way which partly explained the crowds. We found a vacant table on the footpath at a restaurant within view of the beach and within reach of the sea breeze, where we dined on good old Sydney sea food.

Lunch over, we made our way back by ferry and at Circular Quay, took a walk to see the cruise ship “Voyager of the Seas” that was in at the adjacent cruise liner birth. Then we were back on the train to Helensburgh.

The south coast of NSW near Wollongong as viewed from Sublime Point.

On the way back to Shellharbour we called in at Sublime Point for that stunning view of Wollongong and travelled down Bulli Pass to remind ourselves why we do not use that road when towing the caravan.

On Monday morning we were homeward bound! We spent Monday night with my Brother near Newcastle to make up for the night that we had missed on the way south.

Although I had lived in the area in my early years I had never been on what was the Old Pacific Highway that ran through Gloucester and Krambach to Taree. These days, it is called The Buckets Way. So this time we did the detour. Much of the road needs maintenance but parts have been rebuilt. It is quite a pretty drive.

Two more nights spent one each at Old Bar, near Taree, and Ballina and we were home again, just before lunch on Thursday.

Here is the video of the drive along the Sea Cliff Bridge near Wollongong.

A Drive Along the Sea Cliff Bridge

Kevin & Ruth Sheather

The Mobilesheathers – exploring Australia

Tag Archives: Ballina

The Road Home – The Manning Coast & Home – October 2023

Relative Travel – Days 1 to 8 – Home to Newcastle

Destination Tasmania – Part 1 – Home to Devonport

Sydney 2017 and the “Big Birthday Bash”