2018 Road Trip 2 Week One

On the road again, our second road trip for 2018 saw us heading south to visit family and then to see where the road takes us. First stop was Billinudgal, and the patrons only camp out the back of the pub. It was pleasing to see that the area was not as crowded and certainly not as much little 'campers litter' (squashed cans, cigarette butts, little wrappers etc.). We checked with the bar staff before parking, and were advised it is now only for 55's and over. Makes a big difference. We had a wonderful dinner, way too much food, so it did us for lunch the next day as well.

Day 2 we had planned to stay around Coffs Harbour, however Peter decided to keep going. We did stop at Sawtell for lunch, with an ocean view,

and ended up at Coopernook behind the hotel, in our usual spot. This is also a patrons only camp. Peter and Jonnie had a few drinks, well Jonnie had a lemonade, and Peter had a few beers.

Next stop and day 3 was Tea Gardens Country Club. We joined the club January 2017 as social members and this gives us two nights with power in their car park. We used it twice last year, so renewed our membership again for this year. Really good value, and the people at the club are great and so is the food. It is a shame that some people take advantage of the rules. One of the rules is to be fully self-contained and not to let any water run onto the car park. The van next to us, not only allowed their grey water to run freely on the car park, but actually ran their washing machine, so soapy grey water. Sadly this why some places are stopping over night self-contained travellers. Anyway, we unhitched and went for drive around Hawks Nest as Jonnie has never been here.

We had not planned to stay in Sydney, so decided to drive straight through the middle, which was surprisingly easy this trip. We got to where we had planned to stay and decided to keep going to Kioloa. We did stop for lunch at Sublime Lookout, which was absolutely sublime!

At Kioloa we stayed four nights with my Auntie. We had a morning trip to Ulladulla for grocery shopping, and on the way home we had a drive around Willinga Park at Bawley Point. There was an event on the weekend, but they let us in to have a look around, and it is beautiful. The park is all about horses, and appears to be growing all the time. 

Kioloa is a place we have been to many times over the years, I think our first visit was 1991, when we were living in the Australian Capital Territory. Kioloa is on the south coast of New South Wales and has heaps of kangaroos. Kangaroos are considered a pest there as they eat gardens and break fences, but we loved seeing them as they as they are a novelty to us. There are so many kangaroos in this area at all times of the day. There are aboriginal middens at Racecourse Beach and evidence of axe and spear grindings at Pretty Beach. We visited 'Poppy's Rock' where my uncle would go to fish, just so pretty. We had a lovely visit with my Auntie, and I enjoyed sitting in her sewing room sewing together. We look forward to the next visit. This is my drinking view from Auntie Margaret's verandah.

Let the adventure continue.....

80th Birthday and Highway One home

A mid morning start to go the short hour and a half to Tea Gardens to catch up with family and celebrate three family birthdays. We stayed at the Country Club again, as we are members and can stay two nights with or without power for free. The meals are great in the club, but this time we only had drinks and snacks (and coffee for Peter) as the evening meal each night was with family at their holiday units.

We didn't do a lot of sight-seeing as time was enjoyed with family. 

 

 We did frequent the local Ice Cream Shack.

  

It had great coffee and chocolate milkshakes, and the kids loved the variety of old style lollies.

I did have time to visit the local quilt shop and bought a couple of scrap bags for my hexies. We had a wonderful time, as we always do with family, but after two short days we all made our way in different directions to head home. You can read about our previous visit to Tea Gardens here.

Our first stop was to Bulledelah to top up with water, and visit the dump point then up the Pacific Highway to Coopernook. This is another place we have been to before, not far from our favourite caravan park at Croki.

Coopernook is 24 km north of Taree, and the pub is located on the old Pacific Highway, on the Lansdowne River. It was established as a river port in the 1830's, when settlers began to arrive. it was proclaimed a village in the 1890's. The name Coopernook is derived from the Aboriginal word for 'elbow', reflecting the elbow of the river where Coopernook was established.

The hotel was built in 1928, and five years later a two lane steel bridge was constructed. Behind the hotel was once a golf course, and beside the hotel was a working dairy farm that closed in 2014. This is the boundary fence between the hotel and the dairy farm.

In 2006 the town of Coopernook was by-passed in 2006.

There are over 300 km of waterways in the Manning area, and Coopernook was one of many shipping ports along the Manning  River and its tributaries. This is all that remains of the old wharf.

We had time 'up our sleeves', so decided to spend two nights at Coopernook. Here is our van the second day. The dairy farm is behind the van and the site of the old golf course is in the background. There were three other vans the first night, and only a backpacker camper the second night. Camping is free for patrons of the pub.

We had a drink the first night, and lunch the second day. Lunch was great. 

I had fish and chips - of course - and Peter had steak.

After a walk along the river to the old wharf, we headed to a new camp in Coffs Harbour. We have often stayed 20 minutes north and south of Coffs, but never in Coffs itself - too expensive - however we saw on Wiki-Camps a sports club near the airport that has $10 a night camping, so thought we would try it. We only stayed one night as we had to get home by Thursday, and it wasn't bad. There were many vans already there, so all the shade had gone. Luckily it wasn't a hot day. We had a lovely dinner at the sports club and watched a little of the footie practice. Great place to come back to and spend more time exploring Coffs Harbour.

Leaving in the morning, and not quiet sure where we would stay the last night of this trip, we continued along what I consider to be the loveliest part of the highway, soon to be by-passed. We pass many old farm buildings and wind our way along the great rivers. I think once the new highway is opened we may still use this road occasionally. 

We had a look at a few different free camps on the way north, and stopped for the night behind the Billinudgal Hotel. Again, there were already a number of vans there and a lot of backpacker campers. We had a drink at the pub, spent two minutes walking up and down the main street (it is not very big) 😃, and spent a quiet night. This is the back of the pub, and the view from the van.

Northern NSW - beaches, rivers, rainforests

We left home mid morning to miss the peak hour traffic, and crossed the border after midday. We arrived at Yelgum rest area just after 1.30pm for lunch. We find it easier to stop and make lunch, rather than get fast food, and the break from driving is good. I was reminded why I don't use public toilets when I used the Yelgun toilets – rubbish all over the floor, water didn't work, toilet disgusting. Such a shame when this is a great lunch or even overnight spot. We continued on. We would normally stay at Halfway Creek free camp but it has been taken off the list, so we needed to try somewhere new.

Found it.... just south of Grafton at Hotel/Motel 5. It is a lovely place with green grass and level spots.

All one needs to do is buy a drink at the bar. However, we had dinner and drinks in the restaurant. Peter had a roast dinner and I had fish and chips and the food was pretty good. The total for food and drinks was $35.90, so a good choice for overnight. The owner/manager was really good, as were the bar staff. There was a little bit of traffic noise overnight, but not enough to keep one awake.

The next morning we continued to head south along the Pacific Highway and stopped at Valla Beach for lunch. One can always find the perfect lunch spot when driving down the east coast of Australia.

We had planned to stay the night at John's River, but it was still early when we arrived so we decided to continue to another free camp behind the Coopernook Hotel on the Landsdowne River, not far from our favourite caravan park on this part of the coast at Croki. Behind the hotel is a free camp for patrons only, and again it is a very grassy area surrounded by farms. The river is not too far away and there were people fishing. Next time we may have more time to stay longer and Peter can (maybe) catch dinner – LOL!! Peter had a couple of beers at the hotel and we had a lovely walk along the river and spoke with some locals. A lovely spot.

Now onto Sydney.