Roooaaad Triiiiiiiiiip

What a weekend! My first aid course on Friday afternoon was awesome but I was so tired after dinner that I just came home, passed out, woke up at 11pm to floss my teeth, then went back to bed until 7:30 the next morning. This was great because I was rearing to go when I got up! We picked up Jenna and Willy (ate some deeeelicious breakfast) then continued on our way. I was quickly demoted from directions and just enjoyed the scenery instead.

Our first stop was in Jambaroo at the Minnamurra Rainforest. It was really beautiful and we hiked, climbed stuff, and made it up to the waterfalls at the top. We saw our first “Lyrebird” which is a bird that mimics all sorts of noises, not just other birds. Another interesting fact about the Lyrebird is that it’s featured on the Australian 10cent piece. Who knew?

After that we made our way through Kiama, where we saw a sweet blowhole. Many people come from far and wide to see the blowhole, but we were more interested in the surrounding cliffs and fantastic tidal pools where we poked and gawked at all the mini sea creatures for a couple of hours.

We decided to stay at a cool ranch in Kangaroo Valley that Colin had found online when he was researching. Jenna called them up to book a cabin and was met on the line by a rude Canadian woman who complained that she’d have to clean the place before we got there. To ease her troubles, Jenna assured her that we were still at least two hours away. We stopped off at Berry for some Italian food and then began the trek to Kangaroo Valley. I can’t really describe the drive to our accommodations in the dark, you really have to try it someday. We had to drive quite slowly because there were SO MANY wombats crossing the road, 359 degree turns on a dime, and rollercoaster hills, all while driving in the pitch black on a two way road only wide enough for 1 car. The only reason we even found the place is because Colin remembered that it was 11km off of the last turnoff, and that they also offered trail rides, so we just turned at the tiny sign that read “horse trail”. Good thing it was his driveway! When we pulled up at the house I was so excited to tell the owner that I was preeeeeeetty sure I had seen two kangaroos in his yard. I guess it’s like telling someone in Banff that you saw a deer. He smiled. The cabin was uber nice and we played games & drank wine for the evening.

In the morning we went for a walk and saw about 15 lazy kangaroos off in the distance lounging around in the sun. We stared at them for a long looooong time. But there were places to be seen still, so we packed up our bags and drove to Callala Bay where we played on the beach with our soccer ball and other people’s dogs. We didn’t really know where we would stay that night and ended up in Nowra at a motel.

Monday morning we had planned on going back to Callala Bay to do some whale watching, but we didn’t get up early enough and wanted to go somewhere new anyways. So we drove down towards Jervis Bay and came across a place called Booderee National Park where we found a family of 6 small kangaroos that were so used to seeing people that we got close enough to aaaaaalmost touch them.We didn’t try though. I think we spent 45 minutes staring at them and taking pictures. After that we found various BEAUTIFUL secluded beaches where we played in the sand, and Colin & Willy swam. It was freezing so Jenna and I just watched.

Alas, it was eventually time to come home, back to reality. The wagon passed our first road trip with flying colors and we’re excited to go on another adventure with it.

E.