Slow Camper : Continuing Professional Development

It’s a chilly wet day so I’m taking the opportunity to write an update. We are currently in Narooma on the NSW southern coast.

After leaving QLD we headed directly to Byron Bay, so I could tick off mainland Australia’s most easterly point. We drove out to Cape Byron, mainly trying to find a parking spot and finally gave up. I just jumped out and took a happy snap and caught up with Lawrence on his next lap.

Almost at Australia's most easterly point.

Had a decent lunch in Byron Bay and headed to Mullimbimby for some hippy spotting. Next stop Coffs Harbour for a few days, then lovely Nambucca Heads.

Our next stop was surprising Crescent Heads – a place we’d never heard of until that morning. We snagged the last spot in the enormous caravan park and enjoyed walking around the beautiful river mouth. A really nice pit stop. Did a few more one nighters in lovely spots heading south. Next stop Newcastle to catch up an old friend of mine from my job in Sydney. Had a fun night and drank some delicious wines.

We then left Boris in Maitland for a few days to have some work done whilst we went to Sydney on the train. We’d booked an apartment in North Sydney that had fab harbour views – can never get sick of that harbour.

Spent most of time catching up with fabulous friends from my time living and working in Sydney, eating and drinking too much. Went to a few favourite haunts and did loads of walking. Still love Sydney but don’t want to live there anymore. We were really impressed with the new metro system. Us oldies can travel for 2 dollars a day!

Catching up with friends

Took the opportunity to take in Sculpture-by-the-Sea

After leaving Sydney we focussed on our professional development by visiting Hunter Valley, Mudgee and Orange. Caught with another lovely friend from Sydney days for lunch in the Hunter. Loved all 3 regions but Orange was a real standout. Bought way too much wine and sent about 2 dozen home to our cellar (being looked after by a trusted friend). Boris’s wine cupboard is also looking very healthy. Had to break out the good wine glasses to do them justice.

Ross Hill was a highlight.
These 2 Margaret River chardonnay snobs sent 6 chardies home!

From there we did the Nation’s Capital. Aussies love to knock Canberra but I’ve always liked it. I would travel there 2-3 times a year with my job and loved it. A small city with big city infrastructure. Unfortunately they are extending the wonderful light rail system so the city centre is dug up creating havoc. We oldies can travel for free, with a stop right outside the caravan park.

Not only did we do the main attractions (Parliament house, Australian museum, War museum etc) we of course discovered the local wineries. I was amused to find that most ‘Canberra District’ wineries are located in NSW. Some great wines, some fantastic tasting experiences – more purchasing, despite trying to limit ourselves.

The caravan park is within the very large exhibition/showground space which hosts a farmer’s market every Saturday morning – the best I’ve seen outside France. They also had a ‘Geek Market’ – not entirely sure what this is, but there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people coming and going.

From Canberra we headed straight to Batemans Bay, sadly missing Blue Mountains and the Kiama area. We’ve found over the years that despite how long you have, you can never see everything, so decisions have to be made. We opted for places we’d never been.

Seal watching in Narooma

So now we are in Narooma and enjoying this whole part of the coast we haven’t explored before. Next stop??? not sure - but we’re heading towards the Victorian Border.