The Gibbos' Tour of Oz: Anna Bay, Ulladulla & Mallacoota

2 weeks since we’ve been on the road…. Woo hoo!!! We’ve essentially been in each other’s company 24/7 and there have been no major death threats or injuries… win/win!!

Last week we left Minnie Waters and reached our next destination, Anna Bay (Port Stephens). When we arrived at the caravan park, it was just starting to spit with rain and we could see the clouds rolling in. I think we did a P.B. getting the camper trailer set up and functional, we were VERY focused. There was a bit of thunder and lightning whilst the annexe was being erected. Thankfully, the poles are plastic and not metal, so I was very enthusiastic with my help, otherwise Dave would have been a sole lightning rod.

We did a day trip driving around all of the Port Stephens region and through the little towns along the coast. They’re pretty much like any other seaside coastal holiday towns and a lot like the areas we both grew up in. One Mile Beach and Boat Harbour were the places we both liked the most and the landscape of Boat Harbour with its’ rocky outcrops were the most interesting.

Blue Bottles washed up on beach at One Mile Beach

Looking back to Boat Harbour from One Mile Beach

On Australia Day we went into Nelson Bay and walked along the foreshore. It was bit of a happening place, lots of people set up along the waters edge, vintage cars on display, live music playing and a market humming with people. We bought some organic Ginger Beer (yum) and I bought myself a second hand book (can’t help myself, the book stalls always get me in). As we were leaving the foreshore for the car park, there was a flyover by the air force in some very loud and fast aircraft….. it was coooooool!

some of our neighbours at Anna Bay

Wednesday 27^th Jan, we left Anna Bay and made our way south around Sydney and stopped at the Info Centre in Mittagong. What a lovely town, we had a proper pie from the local bakery for lunch (yum) and then continued our way south and east to reach the coast at Ulladulla. This was an unexpectedly beautiful drive through some very lush farming country.

We reached Ulladulla in mid afternoon, and lo and behold, it was starting to rain again…… so camper was set up rather swiftly. It did stop raining though and we drove out to the local lighthouse at twilight and had an ice cream looking out over the water, noice.

Next day we drove north along the coast to Kiama and viewed the Blow Hole and had some lunch at Gerringong and continued the tourist drive south along the coast through Jervis Bay and back to Ulladulla. It is a very pretty region.

Blow Hole at Kiama

Lighthouse at Kiama

more views of the coast from Kiama

View from our lunch spot at Gerringong

Following day we drove to Batemans Bay and stopped at the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens. Walking around the gardens we came across some locals having some morning tea, so we thought we’d do the same and we had a Devonshire tea at the Café, except we had a flat white instead of earl grey.

close up of moss

We continued south along the Princes Hwy to Moruya and then took the Tourist Drive (7) back up north along the coast through those coastal towns and stopped for lunch at Batemans Bay.

Saturday 30^th Jan, we left Ulladulla and headed south on the Princes Hwy for our next destination, Mallacoota. The drive, again, was absolutely beautiful (I need to find another descriptive word). It is such a rich and lush region with mountains close to the coast and forests line the highway full of eucalypts, ferns and cycads. The smell of the area is hypnotic, a combination of fresh eucalypt and musky forest - worth bottling!!

We stopped at Bega for lunch and continued to Eden to visit the Killer Whale Museum. If you ever have a chance to visit Eden, I would highly recommend this Museum (definitely not like the ye olde worlde ones we’ve previously visited, this was about nature & animals and was Cool!!) It tells the story of “Old Tom”, a killer whale who, with his pack of killer whales, worked with the local whaleman of Twofold Bay for decades during the later 1800’s and early 1900’s.

The killer whales would herd baleen whales into Twofold Bay and they would then alert the whalemen by thrashing the water with their tails, the whalemen would then chase the whale and harpoon it. Some of the killer whales in the pack would speed up the death of the whale by rolling over its blowhole to stop it breathing. Once the whale was dead, the killer whales would take the tongue and lips of the whale and leave the rest of the carcass for the whalemen to bring ashore for processing.

http://killerwhalemuseum.com.au

It might sound a bit macabre, but it is really fascinating and there is a skeleton of the killer whale “Old Tom” preserved in the museum and it’s amazing to see the size of these animals close up.

So, onto Mallacoota. No rain setting up camp this time and we had plenty of time left over to walk around the waters edge and look over the inlet. Pelicans gliding just over the water everywhere and the potential for flat head to be caught gleaming in Dave’s eyes. And he did, he got 2 just before an almighty storm came in and we were hit with copious amounts of water, lightning and thunder. This was worse than any other rain we’ve had so far whilst in the camper trailer and once again, it held up. We had a few little leaks inside along the zips, but realistically, with the amount of rain and wind that was thrashing around out there, we were very comfortable and dry. Woo Hoo for our camper trailer!