Canberra

Off to Canberra today we are all excited. The weather is blessing us again with 20-23° everyday. It is starting to get colder at night and Kirsten is feeling it the most. Maybe she could put on some muscle to keep those little bones warm.
We arrived around lunch time and headed to the Exhibition Showground to set up camp. We are staying for 9 nights which is the longest time we have stayed in the one place. A pretty quiet afternoon watching a nearly pathetic Carlton lose to Sydney.
There are so many things to do here today we went to the Australian Mint it is currently in the process of moving so the displays aren’t all viewable. Next on the list is the Canberra Museum. It would take about 3 days to read all the stuff they have there. The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex which ahs been listening to space and assisting NASA since around 1961 and was pivotal in sending the first pictures form the moon. They have a great display about the history of space travel and communications. There are 2 videos and they are both very interesting.
Next we head off to Tidbinbilla NP. Unlike everywhere else in Aus it is free. It was nearly completely wiped out in the 2003 fires. The landscape around Canberra on this side still has many scares of the fire damage. The NP has a great display and we got to see a Python eat a rat.

Canberra certainly has lots to see. We have been to the National Museum, Art Gallery, Portrait Gallery, The Zoo, Dinosaur Museum, old & new parliament houses, Telstra tower and others. My favourite was however the National War Memorial. I had no idea that it was such a large museum and it took 2 days to get through it all. I think I would need another 2 weeks in Canberra to go back and read all the stuff I missed.

The kids are going home today so it is a little sad. We are off to the Airport and I flew back to Adelaide with them. Its my first flight on Tiger and they seem fine. Arny picked me up form the Airport and we headed over to visit Cheryl and catch up.

It is quite cold and raining in Adelaide and not much nicer back in Canberra where Tina is staying. I catch up with Michael and go to goody oval to watch the saints take on the Rocks. They win in a low scoring affair it is bloody cold. I got to catch up with Stevo & Pepe. Off to Mel & Glens for a wine tasting night so I stop off to pick up a 6 pack of mixed imported beers. The wine tasting is quite fun actually, however it did lead to some excessive Song star performances until 3am when Mel and I both ran out of voices.

Back to the airport and off again back to Canberra second Tiger flight and once again no issues. It is cold in Canberra and its nice to be home again only a couple of days apart but I really missed Tina.

Bottany Bay

A beautiful morning and it is warm early again. We are off to a local park near by in Botany Bay called Gym point. It is not far it has a boat ramp with the most amount of boat trailers I have ever seen. Kirsten & I try some fishing it is pretty quite. Kirsten gives up but I keep trying. There are lots of little hits. Then a couple of big hits and I’m on it’s a Trevalley and he puts up a good fight. I get him and he is a little beauty 30cm which is legal size. Carol took over Kirsten’s line and only took 30 seconds to catch a fish a Bream. He is to small and we caught a couple more of them. A school must of swum past because we got some good hits for about 5 minutes but could not land another.
We had lunch here on the BBQ it is a cool little spot on the Hacking River. We had some nice smoked Cod for tea.

Today we are off South to the Royal National Park. It is the oldest in Australia and hugs the rugged coast in between Sydney and Wollongong. It is packed and the drive around until we reach a picnic spot in a bay on the beach. It is a bay with a river leading into the bay. The Kids and I climb around the bay on the rocks the view is awesome and there are millions of rock crabs. We have some lunch and drive home. It is Pizza tonight for tea and Big Al’s deliver us a

Carol flies on to Brisbane today so we are organised early and off to the Airport, not much traffic so it is a quick drive today. We have a coffee a chat and of course Tina has a bit of a cry. We are not sure when we will see Carol again it could be up to 5 months.
We head back to the CP and get ready to go to the movies. We see Monsters V’s Aliens which is quite funny. Not so funny are the prices but that’s life.


Today we are heading into the city so we walked to the train line. It is closed but they have express buses running to the city instead. We got off at central station and caught the train to Circular Quay it’s a little like the underground and the kids really enjoyed it. It actually looks like it will rain today and it starts to sprinkle while we walk around the Opera House. Then we are off to the Harbour Bridge to do the Pylon climb. The view of the harbour is great. Back to the Quay and we are on a ferry to the Maritime Museum. Jason is most excited because the naval ship is called the Vampire as well as the submarine and a replica of the Endeavour, it is a great ship. By the time we get back to the Quay it has started really raining and I mean raining. We catch the train back to Central station and then the express bus back to Miranda it is pissing down. We get back to Miranda and then walk, well run back to the CP in the rain. We all got soaked but is wasn’t cold.

Sydney

The Kids and Carol arrive today so we are off to the Airport. They arrive at 8.25am and with Sydney traffic we leave at 7.15am even though we are only 9km away. The first intersection takes us 8 minutes to get through. We arrive with plenty of time but the Tojo isn’t the easiest vehicle to get a park with most parks are to low and the Airport is no exception. So we drive through the height bar anyway. The flight was good and it was great to see them again. It is surprising how much they can grow in 3 months. The car park is $15 for 45 minutes but we are will have to get used to this while in Sydney where everything costs heaps.
We head straight down to Bondi Beach as the kids love Bondi Rescue. It is quite small and must be packed in summer and weekends. We drive over the Sydney harbour bridge and then back under the tunnel. After spending so much time in the country not only is traffic hard to put up with but especially Sydney traffic. It will be quite cosy 5 of us in a 15 foot van. Tina and I are sleeping in the tent.


Today we are off to OBA the company Tina used to work for. It is a bit iof a drive but it is good to have a bit of a look around the suburbs. Tina catches up with all the old work colleagues from the Sydney branch. Then we are off to the battery shop to get a warranty replacement for one the Deep cycle batteries which has died a bit.


After all that we head off to Homebush to check out where the Olympics were held. The Easter show is on so we can’t get a park and have good look around so we have to do drive buys. ANZ stadium is huge and all the athletes housing has been sold off as apartments.

Sydney here we come

Batemans Bay is 66km away and we are off to the locksmith to get the ignition repaired it takes 2 hours and $70 for repairs and a new key. This part of NSW is very green and it looks a lot like Myponga area with creeks, big trees, dams and cows. There road has been is windy and hilly and cuts in and out along the coast. Lots of forests and national parks which is great. We have now travelled the coast from Lorne to Batemans Bay but we will skip it now until Sydney.
Overnight is at Bendeela Pondage a free campsite on a lake. It is huge and all green lawn with toilets. There are a group of teenagers camping here which is always a bit of a laugh.

We are off to Sydney today but we are running a bit low on diesel so off to Moss Vale a little bit out of the way. On our way again and the drive into Sydney is quite spectacular with scrub everywhere. We arrive at Miranda which is near Cronulla beach and we set up the caravan and the annexe for the first time since Eyre Peninsula back in January. Off to Westfield which is apparently the second largest one in the Southern Hemisphere.

Bermagui & the Tojo Break down

Today we went to Bermagui to meet Joshua and his sister at the pub for lunch. Then while parked at a rest stop in town the ignition locks and will not come unlocked. Tina called the NRMA and after about 1 ½ hours he rocked up. This was a major operation with half the dash removed and the steering column disassembled. They do not want you to take these off and when installed in the factory they snap the heads off the bolts. So the only way to get them off is a hammer and chisel. This took a couple of hours. We are on the move again but no ignition, the car looks like a bomb shell hit it. Anyway I suppose I need to take the stereo out and take it to a store. We are having a bit of a bad run at the moment and logistics are hard on the road when you don’t know if towns have the services you need or how much they will charge.
We had a nice lunch and a chat and then headed off along the coast towards Sydney. A night stop over at another roadside rest area this one is in a state forest so it is back from the road and even has flushing toilets.

Tathra Coast

Aboriginal Water hole

Rats @ Mimosa NP

It rained a bit overnight and a rat or something ate its way through the backdoor seal on the Tojo which I leave not quite latched properly to let air into the fridge. I hope he hasn’t caused too much damage inside Tina had a look around and found him hiding behind the back seat. She freaked out and so did the gigantic rat. We had a fairly quite day relaxing at Picnic Point in Mimosa NP. There is a cool rock cave on the beach.



Well we thought the rat was out of the car but we were wrong and with the door shut properly the rat had no escape and therefore no choice but to destroy the car. A chewed dash mat, GPS cable, cordial bottles and sunscreen, but worst off all had completely chewed the rear door seal in an attempt to escape. We completely cleaned out the car and cannot find him.
We drove to Tathra and had a fish at the wharf where I caught a snapper that was just undersize. A guy caught a gummy shark and we helped in get it onto the wharf. Then off to Bega and spent the night at a roadside rest area.

We drove back to Tathtra and checked into the Wambiri camp ground a cheap camp that caters for caravans as well with powered sites for only $15/night. We bummed around today.

We washed the car and caravan and did some repairs on the car and van. The stereo has lost the front right channel but a search of the wiring didn’t reveal any rat damage and the speaker works OK. I fixed the rat damage tot the GPS cable as well.
Down to the wharf for a fish in search of big fish today no luck but no one was catching anything. Just before we left I got a cod but they are protected.
A special treat tonight with a meal at the local bowling club, a very nice fisherman’s basket. We saw lots of people who were at the wharf fishing at the fish and chip shop as well as here.