Kiama - 26th April - 2nd May
Our original plan was to go straight from Gundagai to Sydney, but as we have set ourselves a rule of driving no more than 300km's per day, we had planned to spend a few days in Goulburn. Gary's reasoning was that Goulburn Valley fruit comes from there so it must be a nice place!
I booked 2 nights in the caravan park & were pretty excited to find they had a special on where you stay 2 nights & get a third night free. Winning!!
We then were talking to our campsite neighbours who said they were heading to Canberra. Canberra is usually pretty cold so it wasn't really on our to do list but after checking my weather app & seeing that the weather there was going to be unseasonably warm we made the call to spend some time in Canberra (then Kiama) before heading to Sydney via Goulburn as I'd already paid the deposit for Goulburn.
After talking to my brother Danny & then Gary doing a bit of research he found that the 'famous' Goulburn Valley is actually in Qld & the NSW Goulburn is more famous for its 'Supermax' prison, housing Australia's most dangerous criminals! To make matters worse, that's about all there is in Goulburn, not even any fruit!
So....... 10km's out of Canberra on our way to Goulburn we decide to forfeit the deposit & head straight to Kiama.
We took the 'non' scenic route from Canberra to Kiama. I don't particularly like hilly, winding roads under normal circumstances & am finding it a little more stressful while towing the caravan. I found on Google Maps that if we went via Woolongong it is 60km's further but it is main highway all the way & will actually take no more time due to not having to drive so slow around the winding roads. Less stress for both of us - Yay!
Kiama is a lovely little town. VERY hilly roads and two blow holes, the 'big' blowhole & the 'little' blowhole. The caravan park wasn't the best. The sites were all very uneven & a little rundown. They had a weird way of cleaning the amenities blocks. They use a high pressure hose & just hosed down the entire block, basins & all therefore the floors, walls etc were left in pools of water. I asked them about it & they said they didn't want to leave mop fibres on the non slip tiles. Very strange.
Gary loved riding his bike along the bike path as it went right along the beachfront to the big blowhole. He went on a couple of rides but found them a bit tough due to the hills.
We went to the big blowhole each day, sometimes twice, to see if it blew any bigger during high tide. The viewing platforms are excellent & would give a great view if there were lots of people around Unfortunately the big blowhole wasn't really 'blowing' very much. It did it a little but but was pretty underwhelming.
We decided to see what the little blowhole was like & finally found it tucked in a little unassuming street. Nothing like the huge fanfare the big blowhole gets. Well, what it lacked in size it made up for in force. It spouted water pretty constantly at about 10 metres high. very impressive!
Every Wednesday they have a produce market by the sea at the marina. It was really nice wandering along the stalls of fresh, local food. We bought a Vietnamese Pho soup kit in a tub & took it back to the van for tea that night. It was beautiful. The best thing about these local markets is you can try before you buy & usually get things you would never find in a supermarket. There was live music playing & I instantly recognised them. Lily & The Drum are a local Gawler duo who are friends of Mick & Annie. Small world.
On our last night in Kiama I didn't see a step on the road of the caravan park (it was dark). I took a pretty nasty tumble & grazed my elbow & knee, ripped a hole in my jeans & took a chunk out of my hand. I kept thinking, thank goodness I didn't break any bones etc. I patched myself up using our newly purchased first aid kit & went to the medical centre at Woolongong the next morning to have it properly cleaned & dressed.
As someone said, that's now Gary, me & the car that have required medical attention, so lets hope we need nothing more than a bandaid or Panadol from now on.
Next Stop ........... Sydney
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