To Aragunnu, then across the border into VIC and a visit to Melbourne

We left Lake Conjola on Valentines Day and headed south past Bermagui to an old haunch of ours, Aragunnu. We came here some three years ago with Gav’s friend Tyson and had such a good time we wanted to make a visit back. We spent two nights at Araguunu, Mimosa Rocks. 

The entry to the park

Mimosa Rocks Beach, Aragunnu 

Gav and I at Mimosa Rocks

We had a nice walk along the pebbly beach, a bottle of wine for Valentines Day, snorkelling and caught abalone and fresh rock lobster and had a feast and saw some seals swimming on one of the beaches. Gav also caught a shark ray with his hands when snorkelling... of course he did! 

Gav's shark ray catch! 

Gav's rock lobster for lunch - YUM! 

From Aragunnu we drove down through Merimbula, which is a beaut spot and would be a great little inlet if you had a boat or a kayak. We are looking to invest in a two person kayak because we think it would be a great addition to our set up. Drove on to Eden and learnt about how the Killer Whales used to work with the people and herd in other whales to the bay for whaling. While in Eden we learnt of news that Ballarat was possibly undergoing a gold rush... tempted for a minute to pack up and find our fortune! 

Shipwreck Beach, Mallacoota

Gav fishing at Shipwreck

We crossed the border into Victoria on the 16th February near Genoa. We took the turn off for Mallacoota which Joe told us was a great spot for fishing. Headed into town some 25km from the highway and after visiting National Parks found a campsite about 11km from Mallacoota at Shipwreck Campground. As we finished setting up a storm came through and we raced down to the beach to cool off. A whale had been washed up on the beach some months ago and whale bones where everywhere - fascinating and huge. The water was icy cold so we decided to do a spot of fishing off the beach. I caught a sand crab which was a bit of fun. We did some more fishing while in Mallacoota, but caught zilch. Apparently you really need a boat and fishing up in the top of the lake is the best place. We couldn’t reach it by foot, so decided to come back with a boat another time. 

Gav caught a sand crab!

Koala near Mallacoota on side of road

Leaving Mallacoota we drove through Croajiling National Park which was very foresty, scenic and hillly area. Stopped at Lakes Entrance - beautiful place and enjoyed a lovely coffee while overlooking the water. Stopped just past here at Bilby Creek and camped for the night before making tracks to Melbourne. Originally we had thought to bypass Melbourne but Gav and I knew that it might be a long time until we saw some friends and family who lived there. While in Melbourne we stayed with Gav’s friend Bec from Echuca. We also caught up with Chris Brown and his girlfriend Caroline for dumplings! Saw my cousin David and his girlfriend Emily for a drink and to visit their new place near Chapel St, South Yarra. Took a day trip via the trams into see Melbourne, visited the Botanical Gardens, Fed Square, Flinders St and Ponyfish Bar near Southbank. That night we took a tram to St Kilda and caught up with Lucy - it was lovely to see her and had a wonderful dinner a yummy gelato! 

Gav and his friend Bec, Melbourne

Gav, myself and Lucy, St Kilda

From Melbourne it was on to the Great Ocean Rd... 

N & G

From Brisbane to Alstonville to Sydney and Lake Conjola

It’s been awhile since I have written and I’ve decided to break this blog into three... the first one is more of an overview of January, the second one is what happened when we left Lake Conjola and the third will break down the Great Ocean Rd and the marvels we saw along the way. 

Tys and I jamming! 

Gavin and I in Caloundra - Thai Restaurant

In January we stayed with Gavin’s friend Tyson in his house in Sandgate, Brisbane. While we were there I had a job in Caloundra for 2 weeks about 40 minutes north on the Sunshine Coast. While I was working Gavin got stuck into Tyson’s garden with his brother Will and that helped cover the costs of our stay. We did a few day trips while staying in the area. We went to Noosa and the Eumundi markets and visited my cousin James who was staying in Noosa and also a friend Lousie who I used to work with in Merrigal and has relocated to Noosa. We also did a walk in the Glass House Mountains and climbed Mt. Beerburrum which said a 700m track but was really more of a vertical climb up a mountain and initially caused a lot of complaining until we saw the view at the top! On our last day in Queensland, we visited the city of Brisbane. We went down to Southbank and wandered through the markets and along the river taking in the gardens, statues and monuments that were part of World Expo in 1988. We went to the Museum which was celebrating its 150th birthday. It was a great way for us to finish our time in QLD because it took us through all the places we had visited over the past 4-5 months. 

Meeting Louise in Noosa

Gav and I - Brisbane

Glass House Mountains Walk - View

We packed up mid January and headed towards Alstonville to visit my Aunty Anne and Uncle Graham. 

Graham, Anne, myself and Gav

Alstonville for those that don’t know is in the hills above Ballina and quite close to Byron Bay and Lennox Head. It rained the entire time we were there, but we still had a great time. Visited Byron and Lennox Head and did a drive to Bangalow. At this stage we heard that parts of northern NSW had started flooding and after spending an awesome Australia Day with Anne, Graham and friends we decided make tracks and head south to get out of the rain. 

Flooding on the road south

First bit of sun... just outside Gloucester, NSW

Drove west towards Lismore then through Casino to Tenterfield, because the Pacific Highway was closed between Grafton and Coffs Harbour. The whole way to Glen Innes it rained and it didn’t stop raining until Armidale where it became a drizzle. We pressed on and ended up at Gav’s Aunty Lisa and Uncle John’s house in Freshwater, Sydney. We stayed here only a couple of days and caught up with family for my brothers 30th. 

Mum and I on Tim's 30th 

Eddy and Tim on his 30th

First Market Stall

Then we drove south to Lake Conjola to see Gavin’s family and catch up with them. We had a good time down at Lake Conjola, went fishing and caught really big whiting, and I caught a cuttle fish when we went bottom bouncing with Joe in the ocean. Had our first market stall in Batemans Bay, which looked very professional and I was very pleased to sell some of the earrings that I had made. Gavin and I also did some work cleaning roofs on Joe’s resort buildings... put it this way, neither of us are made for physical labour haha, but at least we made some money. We wanted to stay for the birth of Gavin’s new nephew Billy but knew we had to keep on going. Billy has since been born - big congratulations to Kristen and Jeremy! 

My earrings at the market stall

N & G

Me at the Market Stall, Bateman's Bay

The whiting Gav and I caught on the children's rods Tys gave us for Christmas

I caught a cuttlefish! 

 

Cleaning the roofs at the resort !