Travelog for: Manni-Maus

Today is the day! Today is the day we start our long journey north!

Well, first, we had to back track... we went to The Entrance again, we've been here before... but this time we drove along The Entrance Road and came along the beach area... it was very windy and stormy - it is predicted to be as such for the next few days on the Australian coastline... but we'll make the most of what we have... we parked near this boardwalk and got out to explore the area... it was very pretty...

Just like magic, we are at our destination... Nambucca Heads on the mid-North Coast...

The real magic was about 5 hours of driving... and that's without stops... so it's a bit longer than that when you add breaks for fuel, food and bathroom breaks... but once we were there... we went down to the beach and ran down to the beach before it got dark... just like down at The Entrance, it was very windy and rainy up here... and unfortunately -  not much changed the entire time we were there... but Nambucca Heads is a very beautiful beach area and the water, was even warmer than when we were at Terrigal - like a luke warm bath!

Today, we went to Port Macquarie... about an hour South of Nambucca Heads... there was a little zoo there where we could see some koalas and other Australian animals.. there wasn't too many opportunities for toyvoyager photos as the animals were all resting, or hiding - as it was raining constantly throughout our trip to the zoo... it was quite fun though, and Sara was lucky enough to pat a koala and a freshwater crocodile...

Afterwards, we headed to a city beach called Nobbys Beach, which is popular for people that have dogs... and the dogs were having a lot of fun running up and down the beach... but we had a chance to enjoy the surf and the big rocks on the beach... it was quite pretty... but it was getting kinda cold so we decided to head back to the tent for the night...

The next day, we had to headed an hour North of Nambucca Heads to Coffs Harbour... there's a couple neat things to see, so we quickly got our work done and headed to the attractions... we first went to the Coffs Harbour Jetty... which is a very popular spot for people to swim during the Summer, and is usually pretty calm, but today, because of the storms... it was quite far from that... we got a few quick photos and headed back to the car, we were SOAKED!

Next stop, and one of the more popular parts of Coffs Harbour, is The Big Banana... it is one of the many iconic "big things" that Australia has... it was very cool to see it!

It's Australia Day! This is the day that Australia celebrates the arrival of the first fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788. It's a day with a lot of celebration and Aussie flags around... it wasn't much of a day for a barbecue though, as it was still raining...

We decided that we would head down to see another nearby town - known for the shipwrecks on the beach... it's called South West Rocks... we headed there - and just like we expected it was raining and very very windy... we snapped a few photos and saw that the shipwrecks are now covered by a sand dune or the water level has covered them... it would have been neat to see them - but oh well...

We quickly got some photos and then headed out to the next destination... we had to do it pretty quickly because on the road to South West Rocks, the water level was right against the street... and it was continuing to rain. We didn't want to get trapped in the town overnight...

That night we were all listening to flood watch on the radio, and the road to South West Rocks was shut down, for as much as 72 hours... can you believe that? How crazy is that?!

Next destination around South West Rocks, was called Trial Bay Gaol... unfortunately because of the risk of being stranded... we couldn't explore the gaol, but we said we would make it another trip to come and see the gaol, which is now a museum...

Here is a bit of information about the gaol itself:

It has been raining constantly since we came and unfortunately now, the Nambucca River is almost at the edge of the highway... some areas around the mid-North Coast are flooding and being blocked off... it's pretty intense... Sara and Daniel aren't able to go snorkeling because the risk is so high because of the water level, and the torrent of water in the river is so quick it wouldn't take long for something to go wrong... so we're being safe instead...

Today, we decided to go down to the river to see the water level. We walked along the boardwalk that runs along the highway near the tourist information centre... the water level was SO high! If it was much higher we wouldn't have risked going out on the boardwalk area... it was crazy! Hopefully the rain will stop soon...

Hi mom! I was lost in a bag for a little bit of time, just because I was so tiny! However, I'm safe and well... I even took a trip to New Zealand, in which Sara is finding the photo of me in New Zealand and will post that backdated (you'll find it before this entry but after the Nambucca Heads entry)... here's a photo of me recently at the Huskisson beach, which has recently been named the best beach in New South Wales... so neat, especially since it's so close to where Sara lives now!

Write again soon!

Well, you may ask... how did I spend my Christmas... cooped up with everyone under blankets - it was a nice cool Christmas (probably not as cool as you would have experienced) but it was very cold and overcast, raining off and on... definitely not a day for beaches and BBQ's which is what Sara hoped it would be... it was nice to experience some cool days though, since we've experienced some scorchers...

On New Years Eve, we went out to a place called Kiama, it's a town with a few surf beaches, big waves and a fun holiday destination for a lot of people - when driving around we found a nice view and we got out of the car (it was VERY windy) and took a few photos... we then went down to the beach but were warned of the "blue bottles" that are in the water... pretty much electric blue jellyfish which really sting if you get them on you... we found one on the beach that Sara took a photo of...

Afterwards we went to Huskisson to watch some fireworks, and went home in time to watch the Sydney fireworks on the TV...  not too adventurous... we were all pretty tired by the end of it all... I hope you enjoy the photos... I will tell you the photos don't do justice to how blue the water was... gorgeous! There is more to see in Kiama though, so we will be taking another trip up there in the near future to explore further...

Write again soon!

We have had a few absolute scorcher days already... Monday (the 7th), a bush fire was lit around 30kms away from us... no real concern, however on Tuesday... it was 45'c (117'f) outside at the lowest... some areas got up to 48'c... like inside our house. The fire started on the eve of a day we were having a catastrophic fire warning around the Shoalhaven and Illawarra area... so, Sara was a bit disturbed by this. We lost a few mice (pets) from the heat in the house - even though we were doing our best to keep it cool...

Not only that, but there was a MASSIVE amount of wind... so the fire that was contained by Tuesday morning, was out of control by 2pm on Tuesday... and stayed that way for about a week. It crossed the Princes Highway and completely burned out all areas around the Princes Highway... thankfully no houses have been burned, and no lives have been lost... but even now, it's still burning, and has burned 9,102 hectares (91 kilometers squared)... it hasn't rained much this year so it's not a good thing and it means the fires are a lot harder to contain...

The area that the bush fire was most affecting was called Sussex Inlet - a town at the bottom of the bay... only a small town, but it actually was evacuated to an evacuation centre - thankfully the town wasn't evacuated at any point... the day the roads were opened back up, we went to Sussex Inlet... and saw that their fire danger rating was still "catastrophic" because of the proximity of the fire to their town... only about 6 kilometers away...

After we went to Sussex Inlet, we went up to Huskisson beach and got in the water to cool down... Sara noticed some floating black bits in the water and when she caught them she realised they were actually ash from the fire that would have been blown over... crazy!

Today we went on quite the journey... we went to Victoria!

This is Sara's first time over the state border of New South Wales to Victoria.. so it was very exciting for her... funny enough, just as we got over the border - it started to rain... something that we haven't seen much of lately... so the moment we crossed the border, Sara got some photos of us with the "Welcome to Victoria" sign...

It is a very very short stay... but we will travel to the most remote town in Victoria, because of how far away it is from Melbourne... the closest town is Eden, which is back over the New South Wales border... more to come soon!

...after an hour or so of crossing the border, we hit a very small town called Mallacoota... it is a small town with only 972 people, which just about doubles during the tourist season (the Summer)... the town is it is 523 kilometres from Melbourne and 526 kilometres from Sydney... so quite remote... and the closest town is Eden, in New South Wales... which ultimately - is also a very small town, with only just over 3,000 inhabitants...

It started to absolutely pour down raining just after we crossed the border, and it didn't really stop until we left Victoria. Victoria is known as being quite wet, known as having a bit of a climate like England, kinda cold and rainy - in comparison to the rest of Australia... which is normally quite warm and hot.. especially as of lately...

So we went to some kind of pier, and we got some photos... but unfortunately we had some commitments to complete for the day - so we couldn't stay long... we quickly had to pick up and head back into New South Wales and get some work done... however, this isn't it for the day... there was still more to see!

Next stop was a town called Narooma... the first time Sara traveled here, her breath was taken away by the sheer beauty of the water as they crossed the bridge.. she's been back twice and the water didn't ever look quite as good.. so she was wondering if she was just going crazy... until today, when we went through... there was a view point just over the town, where you could see the beach and the inlet of water... and it was a beautiful sky blue... you wouldn't believe, the pictures don't due it justice...

Unfortunately, this again, wasn't our last stop... so after getting a few photos... we had to move onto the next stop. Also, just to note, it was VERY windy from where we were standing, so Sara found she had to keep a hold of us to keep any of us from going missing, or having a seagull take us...

As we were coming back from Victoria and Narooma... we had to drive through the area that the "Deans Gap" bush fire had gone through... West of Sussex Inlet, on last Tuesday it crossed the Princes Highway... and as I said, thankfully it hadn't taken any homes, or any lives... so while we were driving through at 100 kilometres an hour, Sara had to quickly get some snaps, so unfortunately were not in any of them - but Sara promises to make up for that in the near future...

The last photo may look slightly different from the others - but Sara took that photo so show what it should normally look like... or what it did look like before the bush fires came through. The second to last photo, you can see a sign that has been burnt out on the right hand side of the photo...

I will say, we drove through this area at around 5am, when it was still very dark - usually the headlights light up around the trees, which reflect some light back because of the white trunks... however, the burnt trees reflected nothing back, so it was just black... with the heavy smell of burnt eucalyptus...