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Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Yamba, Byron Bay
Our third night out of Sydney was spent in Yamba. We arrived mid-afternoon, and after settling into the motel, we went for a walk along the river to the beach and picked up our friend on our way past the caravan park towards the beach. The following day we left for the Gold Coast via Byron Bay. This was the last actual day of our road trip holiday. The Thursday involved sorting out the car and was a work day for Hubby (visiting clients) and I (paying bills), before we went with the business partner to Noosa. ACTIVITIES Yamba, we only did a walk along the river. At Ballina, we…
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Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Dorrigo National Park
While driving between Nambucca Heads and Yamba, we stopped at Dorrigo National Park. This is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Area. From the National Park Website: The rainforests in Dorrigo National Park are part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, the most extensive strip of diverse rainforest anywhere on earth. The World Heritage Area is a direct window into the past and the future, providing a link to the ancient pre-human world and a stunning and irreplaceable record of life on our planet. https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/dorrigo-national-park/learn-more First, we took in the view from the Skywalk. There are many walks in the National Park, but we decided on the…
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Friday Thoughts #17
We went hiking in the Glasshouse Mountains last weekend. We started with a steep but concreted walk up to a lookout. I forget what this one was called, but the view was pretty good. Next we headed to Mount Tibrogargan. We started on the circuit walk, then decided to give the peak trail a go. There were a lot of warnings at the turnoff. The first section is steep, rocky steps, but then it changed to climbing. I decided to pull the pin here. I wasn’t feeling like challenging my fear of heights. Two of our party continued while the rest continued the circuit walk. It soon started raining pretty…
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Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Tidal Bay Gaol and Nambucca Heads
We left Port Stephens on Monday morning, heading towards Nambucca Heads with a stop at Tidal Bay Gaol. Our accommodation at Nambucca Heads was The Beach Rooms, a 60’s refurbished motel overlooking the river. The rooms are all refurbished in a coastal style. There is also an excellent open-air lounge/kitchen area near the pool which would be useful during a longer stay. ACTIVITIES Tidal Bay Gaol: is a 317 km drive from Bannisters Port Stephens and 50 km south of Nambucca Heads near the small town of South West Rocks. Tidal Bay Gaol was built in 1886 to house prisoners building a breakwater to provide a safe harbour between Sydney…
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Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Port Stephens
Sunday morning, we left Sydney and drove to Bannisters Port Stephens. The hotel overlooks Port Stephens and is an old, remodelled hotel. ACTIVITIES We had a few activities planned here and got busy before we checked into our accommodation for the night. We had planned to do the Tomaree Head Summit Walk, which reportedly has impressive views, but when we arrived at the carpark, the walk was closed for maintenance. ☹️ The wind was blowing a gale across the water to the point where I just wanted to hop back in the car quickly. It also made me a bit nervous about what we had planned for the rest of…
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Melbourne to Noosa Roadtrip: Sydney
The first stop on our Noosa road trip was Sydney. We arrived on Friday at about 4:30 pm and left on Sunday at about 9:30 am. We’d been to Sydney for a week in 2021 with all the kids, so we had done some major sights, including kayaking on the Sydney Harbour from Manly, The Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb and the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk. This time we had a decent chunk of running to get done and also wanted to enjoy some good food. Running Saturday: Big South Head Loop I planned this approximately 17km route using a section of the Bondi to Manly Walk, then cutting back…
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Wilson’s Promontory: Day 4
Just a few photos from an early morning walk along the river before packing up to head home. This weekend was a beautiful escape into nature, with wildlife, water and incredible views. A good escape not too far from the city, no wonder it is so popular. All the accommodations, including the campsites, were booked out even though this weekend was not a long weekend or holiday. We headed back home around the coast, stopping for a coffee and walk at Inverlock and then lunch at the Kilcundra General Store for lunch. We were back in time to unpack and make it to 5 pm church.
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Wilson’s Prom: Day 3
I woke up feeling pretty tired from the previous days hiking, but we had another two hikes planned for today. The first was the Lilly Pilly Circuit. You can start this walk from a dedicated carpark, but we hiked from our accommodation. We crossed the Tidal River again, but this time headed inland. The walk traverses several different types of environments, including a stand of grass trees covering one hillside bordered by an area of scrubby She-Oak and Banksia recovering from fire. We then crossed the road and the entered the rainforest. There were a variety of fungi through this area, and so we all got into the act of…
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Wilson’s Promontory: Day 2
We woke up to the sound of kookaburras outside our cabin, and over breakfast, we enjoyed the antics of this Swamp Wallaby outside our window. We had two walks planned for today. We met at 9 am for the walk to Squeaky Beach via Pillar Point. (10km approx.) Crossing the footbridge across Tidal River you begin walking up and over the headland. We had awesome views looking back down Tidal River. There were heaps of birds in this section of the track. There are a lot of banksia and tea trees, providing nectar and seeds to a variety of birds. Towards the top of the headland there is a turn-off…
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An extended weekend at Wilson’s Promontory and our Anniversary
We took Thursday and Friday off work last week and headed down to Wilson’s Promontory with friends. But first, we celebrated our 26th anniversary on Wednesday. I’ve been keen to try Gimlet since we got out of lockdown, but scoring a table is hard. I booked for Wednesday in mid-January, and we had a choice of 5:45 pm or 8:15 pm… I chose 5:45 pm. We decided to catch the train, which saved driving and parking stress. We arrived 15 minutes early, but our table was ready, so we settled into the dark leather banquette seating at our corner table. I chose the restaurant’s namesake cocktail, a Gimlet, to begin…