Sublime Point view
We started at 8:09, stopping at Crows Nest to buy this book [that this diary was originally hand-written in]. The new Eastern Distributor was good - we got all the way from Falcon St to Ramsgate without slowing below 60 km/h. After finally getting through the southern suburbs of Sydney we hit the Princes Highway freeway south to Wollongong. We stopped at Sublime Point where there was a lookout with panoramic views of Wollongong. We ate some muesli bars.
Sublime Point view |
We took the road down into Wollongong and drove through to Port Kembla, where we took a marked "Tourist Drive" past the BHP steelworks. The tourist drive basically went past a big steel mill, in a big loop, and joind back up with the main road.
 Steelworks, Port Kembla |
We went on to Kiama. Just before we got there we had to stop for a coal train at a level crossing. In Kiama we stopped to look at some heritage shops, then got some bread rolls to eat. We saw a cool blue cow outside a craft shop and had to take a photo.
Then we drove out to the Kiama blowhole. Unfortunately the weather was too nice for the hole to blow much and it was pretty boring. The lighthouse there was okay though.
 Kiama Lighthouse |
Continuing the drive, we passed a town called Yatte Yattah, then coming around a corner saw a neat little white church on a hill and stopped to take a photo.
 Church, Yatte Yattah |
We stopped in Ulladulla and checked out the Tourist Information place. We got some good brochures on the National Parks around here. We had the rolls we bought earlier - carrot and herb, yum.
 Ulladulla |
We drove on - taking a turn off the highway on Pebbly Beach Rd to the Murramarang National Park. It was a very bumpy gravel road. The road eventually joined the next road along and became a lot smoother - we should have taken that one instead! We ended up at Depot Beach in the National Park and did the short rainforest and beach walk, trying out our new walking shoes.
 Depot Beach, Murramarang National Park |
When we left there it wasn't far to Batemans Bay, which is a cute little town on a nice river mouth. Our motel was a short way down the main road, right on the waterfront. We actually stopped first for some hot chips before we checked in. Michelle got $2 worth of chips, thinking it would be a small bucket/bag - we got a huge pile of chips wrapped in paper!
 Fishing boats at Batemans Bay |
After checking in, I took a swim in the pool at the motel. The water was cold and the pool was really small - I swam some circular laps and then got out.
We had dinner at the Starfish Deli, sitting on an outside table on the waterfront. We had wood-fired pizza - smoked chicken and Italian, then I had a baked ricotta crumble for dessert. We walked back to the motel along the water - with the stars out after a beautiful pink sunset while we were eating.
We also saw a dolphin in the water right near where we were eating!
Oh, and we saw kangaroos on the beach near the rainforest walk too.