Genoa , Vic 21-27th Jan 2010

 On our way to Genoa we stopped for  Morning tea at a nice park beside the river at Bateman's Bay. The Bridge was just to our right. It appeared to be a popular fishing spot with several fisherman  around just to the side of the bridge.

 It was a lovely day fairly warm but not too hot. For lunch we stoppped at Cobargo and had the best Fish and chips in a small serve we have ever had. 3 small pieces with just enough perfectly cooked chips .

 

 We met up with friends Maz and Dennis at Genoa and they regularly stop here on their way to Mallacoota each year so were very familiar with the area. They took us to Genoa Falls where you can see lots of water dragons. The one to the left looks rather brown because of the light but most of them have a greenish tinge to them.

 The falls are mostly quite small but the whole area is littered with pools and falls.

Day Trip to Kiama,Geroa& Gerringong 20th Jan 2010

While we were staying at Berry we took the opportunity to go back to some places that we had earmarked for further exploration last year when we passed through the area in early Jan 09.

 We drove to Geroa firstly and then at the top of the hill on our way out we stopped at the Kingsford Smith Lookout.

From there we continued on to Gerringong, to the Boat Harbour and rock swimming pool.  It looked a lot different from last year when we visited . There was a king tide that day and the water was to the top of the ramp and the rock pool was closed.

 Where Lynn is standing there whole area as underwater last year.









 From Gerringong we drove back onto the Princes H'way to Kiama. Here we visited the blowhole and then the shops on Collins  St . Last year with the van on we found it very difficult to get parking and had to travel on to Gerringong to get fuel. The Blowhole wasn't working very well but just as we were leaving the swell and wind was picking up and it got a lot better

Berry Jan 20th 2010

 To get to Berry from Broke we have done lots of winding narrow roads and some highways all with sttep hills up and down. We got a real test when we were coming from the Hume H'way to Berry via the Illawara Rd as when we had just passed Kangaroo Valley we turned onto a raod that said no vehicles over 12 ton or 7.5 meters . just beside it was analternative  longer route which we took but it again was narrow and very winding and not sealed all the way and to top it off towards the end it too had a steep climb. howevfer on the journey we were rewarded with lovely views of beautiful valleys and farming land as well as some lovely old houses and mansions.

The Hunter Valley

Little did we know that our visit to Cessnock and the Hunter  Valley was going to make some major changes in our travelling life.
 It started with a visit to Cessnock Toyota who were having a sale when we passed through on our way to Broke.   We arranged to see them again the next day and signed up for a new Toyota Landcruiser ute which would be delivered the following week after transfer of our gear off the Pathfinder  ie towbar ,plug lights and antennas.
 To facilitate this we moved into the Caravan Park at Cessnock and there we made some wonderful friends and gathered for "sundowners " most nights at the  BBQ area across the road. Lynn took the opportunity to get everything out of the back of the " old girl" and have a major sort out of things and where he would store them for travelling.

 Among our new friends at Cessnock were Marj and Jim who kindly looked after our herbs while we were away at Gosford over  Xmas with Adam and Tracey. We were also able to catch up with Robert and his sons Matthew and Nicholas when we all went to Sydney for overnight stay.

 On our return to Cessnock our group of friends expanded and contracted as people came and went but Marj and Jim and Mark and Joan  were still there when we left to  go back to Broke.  When we said that we were going back to Broke  Mike and Kerry decided to join us as they had done little "free camping" and thought it was an ideal place to start.

 We had a wonderful few days with them playing cards etc  before we headed north and they went  to Mudgee. We ended up at Bretti for 2 days before joining  son Micheal and his family at Manning Point.

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