A wet and cold day kept us indoors until mid afternoon, when we went for a short drive to see if the Blowholes were blowing. We checked the Little Blowhole first – nup. Not enough ocean swell to cause more than a few minor splashes. Back to the main Blowhole. Yesterday it was full of […]

Our wish was granted – a sunny morning. After several days’ driving, we were happy to leave the car behind, and set out on foot. Our goal was to follow the Kiama Coastal Walk north as far as Bombo Headland.  Starting from the small surf beach across the road, we picked up the path and […]

Travel days are often tedious – up early, pack up, drive for hours, grab a quick lunch at a roadside stop, and press on.  Arrive, figure out how to get in, unpack, familiarise yourself with new surroundings, shop for food. Rinse, repeat. Today was no real exception.  It was gloomy, windy and humid, which made […]

Many years ago, I worked for a mining company that had a smelter and research centre in Newcastle; I used to fly up reasonably regularly for overnight business trips.  So I was interested to see what Newcastle is like 25 years on.  A you’d expect, it’s larger and more modern, with less of an industrial […]

Thanks to the ever changing border situation, we changed our travel dates for this trip no less than five times; every time I did so, the owner of our Nelson Bay accommodation texted me with a friendly message to say “hang in there – it will be worth the wait!”  She was so right. This […]

I woke at about 3.30am and didn’t really get back to sleep, anticipating the alarm. It was a clear, still morning. We got ready quickly, and by 5am were on our way to our ballooning rendez-vous. I could hardly believe it was going to happen.  Formalities and paperwork dispensed with, we were divided into groups […]

Seven hours on the road to get to Cessnock passed uneventfully; we stopped briefly at Goulburn at the Grit Café which did very good gluten free burgers (and will probably earn a return visit); the Big Merino was as weirdly impressive as ever (though nothing will ever beat stepping off a Greyhound bus at 4am […]