Thomas Family Road Trip: February 2012

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Port Macquarie (21/2/12 - 23/2/12)

We arrived in Port Macquarie on Tuesday morning, only 80kms from Wingham. We checked into the caravan park right on the water. Perfect location - close to the water, short walk to town and a great walkway that follows the coast in both directions. Plus the sun was shining. What more could we ask for!

The breakwater in front of the caravan park was full of painted rocks. Anyone is allowed to pick a rock and paint it. The kids loved looking at all the different ones and even found a "Thomas Family" one.

We all loved Port Macquarie - such a nice location and it had a great feel about it. A relaxing couple of days. Plus what a sunset!

Next stop - Coffs Harbour.

An after dinner walk (in PJ's) along the breakwater

What a sunset!

Hunter Valley & beyond (20/2/12 - 21/2/12)

We left Shoal Bay on Monday morning and drove 100km west to Cessnock in the south of the Hunter Valley. We spent the morning with Natalie (Wal’s sister) and her son William. The kids had a great time playing with William and his toys!

Natalie then took us to her husband, Matt family’s winery, Drayson Family Vineyard. Matt took us on a tour of the winery which was great, especially the cellar which was home to bottles of wine almost 50 years old! We had a lovely lunch and then some wine tasting (and buying!) to finish the day off. Thanks Natalie, Matt and William for your hospitality – we had a ball.

From Cessnock we thought we would take the “scenic” route north to Singleton and Gloucester. The scenery was stunning, but the roads were terrible – the worst of the entire trip. So instead of heading north to Gloucester we headed east back to the highway and north to Taree. Then the rain decided to start. We spent the night at a free camp at Wingham, 10kms north west of Taree. Gorgeous spot next to the river. Once the sun went down the sugar bats came out – in the thousands. What a site, we have never seen anything like it. Noisy things!

We plan to head to Port Macquarie tomorrow.

Simon and Natalie

Natalie, William & Chloe at the winery

Lots of old wine!

Ben, Chloe, Simon, Natalie, William & Matt

Our campsite at Wingham

Our view

Some of the bats

Port Stephens - Shoal Bay (15/2/12 - 20/2/12)

From Sydney we headed about 200kms north to Shoal Bay at Port Stephens, 60kms north of Newcastle. What a spot – a number of protected bays along the Port Stephens Peninsula. It is not far from Nelson Bay, the main town site. But busy, we were so surprised. Apparently the grey nomads check in here as soon as school holidays are finished. We managed to get a site at Shoal Bay Caravan Park for three nights and were then able to extend two more nights, but that meant moving sites. Despite this we had a very relaxing 5 days.

Two mornings were spent at the Stockton Bight Sand Dunes at the Worimi Conservation Lands, about 15 minutes from Shoal Bay. Wow – they were awesome. These dunes are up to one kilometre wide, 32 kilometres long, cover an area over 4,200 hectares, climb up to 40 metres high and are the largest dune system in Australia. Beautiful white sand and steep, making them perfect for sand boarding. We had a ball, although it would have been more fun if our sand boarding buddies - the Guilles and Camerons were enjoying them with us.

On one of the days we continued driving along the beach toward Newcastle. And no we didn’t get bogged. Only 50m offshore is the Sygna shipwreck, which was a Norwegian bulk carrier that ran aground in 1974. Great to see. Then onto Newcastle for a quick look around.

We went to the beach every day for swims and it was so lovely to feel warm. Low 30’s each day and not one drop of rain! About time!!

Donna, Chloe and Ben did a great walk to the top of Tomaree Head, which is at the easternmost edge of Shoal Bay. Only 168m high but so steep. Well worth it - what a view! It was hard work getting up there so the swim after was well deserved.

From here we will head to the Hunter Valley and then towards Port Macquarie.

The view from the sand dunes

The horrible climb back up

Chloe the daredevil (it took her 5 minutes to get up the courage - Ben did it without hesitation)

Sygna wreck

Ben the poser

Fingal Bay Beach (near Shoal Bay)

View from beach opposite caravan park (Tomaree Head in the distance)

Ben and Mummy time - love this photo!

The Hikers at the top of Tomaree Head

The view

Shoal Bay from Tomaree Head

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Goodbye Sydney (15/2/12)

After 9 nights and 8 busy days in Sydney, we will head north on Wednesday, exact destination unknown.

We all loved Sydney - such a beautiful city. So nice to see and do all the “Sydney” musts. We became experts at catching public transport (even the kids knew our stops), did so much walking and remarkably the kids adapted quickly to the fast pace of a big city. Slightly busier than Albany!

Chloe and a few of the locals at Lane Cove Caravan Park

SYDNEY - The Blue Mountains (14/2/12)

On our last day in Sydney we did a day trip to the Blue Mountains. After massive hail storms the previous day, we weren’t sure if we would be able to see anything. We went anyway and when we got to the 3 Sisters we could see nothing but fog! Not a great start. So we headed to Wentworth Falls Lake and went for a nice walk. Next stop, Wentworth Falls. No fog to be seen and the view from the lookout was beautiful. We did a great walk down, over and around the falls. Stunning.

We thought we’d give the 3 Sisters another go and the fog had gone – WOOHOO! Perfect view.