Sawtell to Bowral

2 to 14 September, 2008

Sadly we leave Sawtell, where to now ....

We left Sawtell in fine sunny conditions and decided to head for South West Rocks for a couple of days.  We didn't make it however and ended up at Nambucca Heads and booked into the Big 4 park located just out of the town but right on the beach.  Being such a nice day we decided that a trip up to the Dorrigo Plateau would be in order.   Our first stop was Bellingen which is very much an alternative lifestyle village with an abundance of  craft and gifts shops; right up Liz's alley.  We spent time in "The Old Butter Factory"' the hub of much of the arts & crafts and then headed further inland along the Waterfall Way to the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre.  This centre run by the National Parks & Wildlife Service and is free to all visitors.   It includes a skywalk which takes you out above the rainforest canopy, walking trails to view lyrebirds, a gift shop and cafe.  Certainly well worth a stopover if you are in the vicinity.

Dorrigo, interesting ....

From the Rainforest Centre we travelled on to Dorrigo, a township that time has almost forgotten.  In the centre of town is this huge "antique??" shop which has the most amazing array of historic memorabilia and "junk" that you will ever see. We spent time in the shop talking to the friendly owner and reminiscing about all the ornaments, kitchen implements, tools and other items that we vaguely remember from our childhood and in our parents and grandparents homes. The other amazing sight in Dorrigo and should not be missed is the massive collection of railway rolling stock in storage awaiting the establishment of a railway museum.  There are 65 locomotives, 280 carriages and wagons,19 railmotors and thousands of other items and is the largest collection in the world.  Members have outlaid $7 million from their own pockets to save the collection from the scrap heap.  Just incredible.

Back to Port Macquarie ....

We left Nambucca Heads in fine but overcast conditions heading for South West Rocks but en-route decided that the weather looked a bit iffy with storms and heavy rain forecast so we decided to head straight to Port Macquarie instead. On arrival in Port Macquarie we were greeted by a bright sunny day and a mild 22^oC and a light breeze.  Once again we selected the Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park adjacent to the city centre and located directly next to the river mouth.  This park is in an ideal position to make the best of the city centre and the town beach.  For once the weather forecast turned out to be right and come Thursday night the rain and wind started and continued through Friday, our planned day of departure. We decided to stay put and spend the day around Port Macquarie, reading and just catching up on things in the van.  A very casual day.

And on to Forster/Tuncurry ....

The following day the weather had improved so we headed to Forster in the "Great Lakes" area. This is a beautiful area surrounded by lakes and surf beaches and is a playground for people from Sydney.  The weather fined up and we spent the day sight seeing around the region.  The following day we were unable to venture too far from the caravan as St Kilda were playing Geelong in the first round of the finals.  The bottom line is we should have gone sightseeing.  We left Forster on a fine and mild day and travelled to Cessnock in the Hunter Valley with a minor detour via Hawks Nest.

The Hunter Valley, tastes good ....

Cessnock is in the heart of the lower Hunter Valley and an ideal base from which to explore the region.  There are more than 120 wineries in the Hunter Valley along with breweries, chocolate and dairy factories, restaurants galore and a host of other gift shops.  We stayed at the Big 4 Valley Vineyard Caravan Park right on the edge of the Hunter valley wine area. The weather by now had fined up so we spent a couple of days in the area. Potters Brewery was an interesting boutique brewery, one of the Hunter's first microbrewery.  The beer is bottled in champagne bottles which was a novel idea and it tasted good as well.  Another interesting spot is the Hunter Valley Gardens Village located right in the heart of the Hunter Valley with lots of small boutique shops, eateries and beautiful gardens.

Lake Macquarie; here we come, there we go ....

It was onto Lake Macquarie and to a caravan park that read very well in the book, but on arrival it was not quite what we had expected so we didn't even get passed the front gate before deciding to drive on to The Entrance and then on to Sydney.  In Sydney we found a fantastic Big 4 caravan park run by NRMA at Parklea, north west of Sydney and close to the M7 Motorway.

What a surprise we are in Sydney ....

Sydney Gateway Caravan Park was improved for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and so we had three nights there.  We drove to Rydalmere ferry wharf and caught the Rivercat into Sydney.  This was a great day.  The sun was shining and we enjoyed the ferry ride which took 50 minutes stopping all along the Parramatta River picking up passengers.  We had bought an All Day Travel Ticket for $2.50 each and this enabled us to travel on all public transport for the day.  We caught the bus to Bondi Beach had coffee on the Esplanade and then walked to Seven Ways, North Bondi.  Rob's Aunty Jenny used to live here and Rob spent many holidays visiting his aunty and uncle here. 

Watson's Bay, perfect day ....

Another bus took us to Watson's Bay and The Gap with beautiful views of the ocean and The Heads from the lookout.  Doyle's Restaurant was the place for lunch, so we had a seafood platter overlooking Sydney Harbour and the Bridge.  We then returned to Circular Quay and had a tourist walk around The Rocks and George Street before going onto Birkenhead to the fashion outlets.  It was then home to Rydalmere after such a fun day.

Southern Highlands, here we come ....

We were meeting our friends Liz and Bill Binns and Jan and Ian at Bowral but before leaving Sydney we visited the Parklea Markets just adjacent to the caravan park.  This a huge vegie, meat, fruit and retail undercover market. It was an easy drive out of Sydney onto the M7 motorway heading for Bowral.  We detoured and visited Berrima, an historical village not far from Mossvale where we were staying.  Berrima is a picturesque historic village full of some very expensive gift shops and eateries, some beautiful old houses and the old gaol; still used as a Correctional Centre, a court house and galleries.  During weekends the place becomes very busy with tourists. It was lunch at the park and then on to Moss Vale Caravan Park.

We arrived at Mossvale And were met by our friends . St Kilda was playing Collingwood in a Saturday night semi final so we enjoyed a meal at the RSL Club and then the six of us watched St Kilda successfully win and move onto play Hawthorn the following week.  Jan and Ian left the next morning for Canberra and the four of us spent the day sightseeing around Bowral.  Unfortunately heavy rain had been falling from the night before but started to clear late in the afternoon.  The Southern Highlands of NSW is a beautiful region and is best visited in mid to late Spring or Autumn.

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