On the road...again

After two two-nighters in a row (almost like being permanent!), it was time to seriously start heading for Melbourne.  The plan (for now at least) is to follow the coast route (Princes Hwy) all the way to Melbourne with side-spurs to the coast or inland as the spirit moves us.  This decision leaves out Canberra, the capital, but we opted to not dive into another large city (well, it's not quite Sydney as it's only Australia's 8th largest city, but it is the largest inland city).
Instead of retracing our steps on the Great Western Hwy back towards Sydney, we sent a little farther west and north and returned  via a parallel highway with the odd name of Bells Line of Road.  It had much less traffic and also passed by the Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens where Wesley particularly wanted to see a very rare, recently discovered (1994) pine called the Wollemi Pine.  The garden is quite extensive, very beautiful and it was also comfortably cool.

Susan in a more formal floral display at the garden.

A photo of the Wallemi Pine.  It's needles are much broader than pines we are used to.

We accomplished our goal and then continued east and south, skirting the western suburbs of Sydney to return the Hume Hwy for a short while.  (The Hume was the first highway we were on heading north out of Melbourne three weeks ago.)
We stopped briefly for lunch in Campbelltown, a fairly unremarkable town from first impressions, but we never stopped at the information office and were only there for about an hour, so we never really gave it much chance.  The reason that I mention it at all is that I did something very rare, something that I had not done since May of 1982, to wit, I went to a barber for a haircut.  My 1982 experience was a disaster, which Susan had to repair before I was in Scott Walden's wedding, hence Susan has done my hair ever since (although not always cheerfully).  We will be attending my cousin Sally's wedding in Vegas on our way home and as my hair was becoming a bit shaggy, I impulsively decided to stop at a barber shop we were passing which advertised A$15 haircuts, sat down, and 10 minutes later stepped out an unscruffy neck.  The really cool thing is that I was only charged A$12 (US$9), I presume because there wasn't much hair to cut!  Quick summary:  much better experience than 35 years ago.
Near Colo Vale, we left the motorway and headed generally SE on two-lane roads.  Along the way, we stopped at a couple of interesting spots.  First, we visited Fitzroy Falls at the far northern tip of Morton National Park.  It seemed geologically similar to the Blue Mountains:  rolling plateau interrupted by a sudden escarpment with a waterfall.  It was lovely, but not significantly different from our last couple of days.  More significant was that we finally saw a lyre bird (although only with folded tail).

Fitzroy Falls from the top.

The elusive lyre bird.  I think the birds at this location are acclimated to humans so they are easier to see.

We also had a bit of an adventure leaving the visitor center as a woman had just tripped and fallen on the driveway.  She was in great pain with ankle injuries, so we stopped, Susan did her nursing assessment and then supervised our getting her into her car.  We do have her contact info (unlike the young woman in the laundromat), so Susan is going to check on her progress.  Susan thinks it's only a sprain, but she and her husband are going on a cruise in a week and she may not be doing much dancing.
After the excitement, continued on towards the coast and ran across an interesting bridge in Kangaroo Valley, the Hampden Bridge.  It is the oldest suspension bridge still in service in Australia, so we had to stop for a bit, read the signs and take a few photos.

Susan and Wesley walking across the Hampden Bridge.  It is one-way (yield sign in the background) and has a wooden deck;  only one truck at a time can be on the bridge.  It was refurbished about 12 years ago in lieu of replacing it.

Hampden Bridge from the river bank below.

Finally, we arrived in Nowra after joining Princes Hwy and decided to call it night there.  As it was Valentines, Susan and I went out to a nice little Thai restaurant situated in an only fire station.  We now have about 860 km (direct) to cover over the next five days or so.

Update from the last post:  The woman that we helped after her fall reported that she did indeed break one foot and sprained the other ankle, but appeared to be in good spirits based on her email.  It looks like she will definitely not be dancing on her cruise.
From Nowra, we decided to first visit the nearby Booderee National Park.  This park is unusual in that it is one of only three national parks in Australia that are operated and administered by aboriginal people.  In fact, the land for the park (and some adjacent non-park land) was ceded by the state of New South Wales and and is now called the Jervis Bay Territory under the umbrella of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT)--it even has its own license plates.
We first drove to Cave Beach and had a short walk from the car park, past the lounging wallabies to a beautiful, white beach with rocky cliffs at each end and 2-m breakers coming in.  There were a dozen or so cars in the lot, but the beach seemed almost deserted due to its size.  There were a number of people surf- and boogie-boarding and others just strolling or reading.  The water was a similar blue to Heron Island as we looked out onto what the map calls the Tasman Sea (part of the S. Pacific).  On the way back to the car, we spotted our first "up-close" kookaburra, although we hear them frequently.

The "mob" of wallabies hanging out at the campground.  They were extremely acclimated to people.

Wesley and Susan on Cave Beach.  There was a shallow cave in the cliff just to the right of the photo.

A couple of Aussies sunbathing at Cave Beach.  It seems odd that they are so exposed to the sun, but still wear wide-brimmed hats.

Back in the car park, a couple of wallabies seem to be supervising the surf-board rental van as boards are distributed.

Next we went to the Booderee Botanical Garden, the only garden in Australia managed by aboriginals.  It repeated some of the things we have seen in other gardens and is in the formative stages of developing a garden of plants used by the aboriginals for food, medicine, clothing, etc.

Wesley and Susan at a plant that looks like a gigantic yucca, but it was listed as a type of lily.  However, flora/fauna in Australia are often named after European plants and animals with no concern for actual relationships.  In other words, it may not actually be a lily, but it was certainly impressive.

A short drive further into the park brought us to Cape St. George, the site of the ruins of an old lighthouse.  We had a scenic picnic on a rocky promontory near the lighthouse, then hiked a bit farther to the ruins.  It is an interesting 19th century case of bureaucratic bungling.  The designer chose the site based on ease of construction and never consulted with mariners as to a good location.  After much debate and spinning of wheels, the light was built in the easy location and operated for 20 years of so.  At that point a new light was constructed a short distance away that met the needs of sailors much better.  Unfortunately, even unlit, the old light-colored sandstone was distinctly visible on moonlit nights, confusing the mariners and causing a number of ship wrecks.  In the early 1900's, they dynamited the old house to eliminate the problem.

Cape St. George overlook point where we had lunch.  Tough to find a better view for a lunch!

Ruins of the ill-fated lighthouse at Cape St. George.

We ended with a final stop at another beautiful spot called Murrays Beach. This beach was also very uncrowded, but big on the Jervis Bay side, rather than Pacific Ocean side (like Cave Beach), the water was much calmer.  With the white sand and gentle slope to the beach, it had that beautiful aqua-marine blue color that always appears in the ads for tropical paradises.

Murrays Beach.  The small island is a wildlife sanctuary with no access for people.

By this time, it was 2 pm and we'd only gone 35 km (and most not in the direction we need to go), so the rest of the afternoon was spent making time towards the south finally ending up Narooma, right on the coast.  We "celebrated" our progress with a fish-and-chips dinner from a local fish market and Susan was determined to swim in the salt water, so we walked down to the beach after dinner.

Susan taking her evening swim at the beach in Narooma.

Susan forced me to get in the water as well.  This is as wet as I like to get.

Back at the motel, we had a visitor--a large spider.  This guy is about 6-7 cm form leg tip to leg tip.  I did a catch-and-release to get it out of the room.  We later found out (to some relief)  that it was a huntsman spider from S-I-L Kathy, who reports that it eats cock roaches (and we had none at this motel, so it worked).

It's now Thursday and we plan to arrive in Melbourne on Sunday evening, so we need to average about 180 km of progress each day to meet the goal.  We got an early start out of Narooma and decided to take some tourist loops instead of exclusively following Princes Hwy.  Our first detour was to the small villages of Central Tilba and Tilba Tilba.  Both are quite picturesque, but geared almost exclusively for tourists:  B&B's, gallery, boutiques, cafes, etc.  Set among green, rocky hills, they have a bit of a Vermont feel.

Central Tilba view.  The building on the left is currently a B&B (and  for sale).  It was built as a post  office/telephone exchange.  All of the buildings in town seem to have served multiple purposes and most were a post office at some point.

We continued on side roads near the coast, stopping for some beach combing at Camel Rock.  This was our first beach experience not in a national park, so Susan was able to collect some shells.

The beach at Camel Rock.  The lighting is not optimal but I think you can probably see how the formation got its name.

Susan beach combing at Camel Rock, which is just behind as I take the photo.

On our way back to the car, we met a German bicyclist from France who was nearing the end of his year-plus on the road.  He was alone and self-contained with a total weight (bike+gear) of over 50 kg.  He's been in India, backpacked in Nepal, spent several months in New Zealand and will spend a couple of months in Australia before heading home.  He plans to get a job for three years or so, then head out again for another year.  Ahh, to be young again...   After about a half-hour delay, we headed back inland (in our car) and followed the main highway to Bega, a larger town and the economic hub of its region.  Bega is the center of a dairy region and its welcome center is located in a Cheese Heritage Centre.  Being from Wisconsin, we had no choice but to stop and have a look.  It is actually a part of the Bega Cheese  Company.  The displays had some interesting items, but it was more of a collection of what dairy farmers have thrown away for the past 80 or 90 years--it could use some curation.

A familiar sight in WI:  milk tank trucks delivering to the cheese factory.

Susan was not impressed with the cutesy labelling on the toilets at Bega!

The Australians have apparently come up with a sure-fire way to increase mild production.  There was no explanation for this display in the Cheese Heritage Centre.

From Bega, again deviated to a tourist loop and headed for the coast at Tathra, where we had our picnic lunch near the beach.  I'm beginning to find that beaches are affecting me the same way churches do in Europe:  they are all beautiful, unique if you pay attention to details, but they tend to run together after a while.  Tathra also had the oldest ocean wharf still in existence in Australia, although apparently only used for fishing these days.

The beach at Tathra with one of the famous Australian life guards.  When the guards are present, the flags go up and one should swim between the flags to expect protection.

From Tathra, we continued near the coast arrived in Merimbula just in time to visit the Old School House Museum.  It was staffed by a couple who volunteers and were very knowledgeable and articulate.  They even focused on US ties to the area (knowing we are from the US) such as the sinking of the Liberty ship William Dawes and the mutiny on the US ship "Junior," both taking place just off the coast of Tathra, where we had just been.

Schoolhouse Museum exterior.  It is one of the few old sandstone buildings still in existence in the area.  The teacher and family lived in the section to the right and school for about 40 students was in the single room to the left.

A life jacket from the sinking of the Liberty ship William Dawes.

The coast at Merimbula.

We then rejoined Princes Hwy and traveled as far as Eden--seemed like a great place to spend a night!  Since we arrived early, we took a drive to opposite side of Twofold Bay to visit several historic sights:  the old town of Boydtown, Boyd's tower (in Ben Boyd National Park) and the ruins of the Davidson Whaling Station.  Ben Boyd was an interesting character who set out from Scotland in 1842 with 1 million pounds to create a business empire at Twofold Bay.  He platted a town (Boydtown), built a church that was never consecrated and built a tower to use as a lighthouse, but never got permission from the state to operate a private light.  In addition, he went broke and ended up leaving Australia to seek another fortune in the CA gold fields. It seems strange that such a failure could have not only the town he platted named after him, but also a national park and a state forest.

Boyd Tower.  The man apparently had a good supply of vanity as the name Boyd is prominently displayed on the top side facing the sea.

All that is left of Boydtown is the ruins of an old church.

Site of the whale blubber rendering facility at Davidson' Whaling Station.  The entire building is outlined by the walkways.  The square tanks were cooling/holding tanks for oil and the capstan in the background was to drag the whale carcasses onto the beach to the right (out of view).

Part of the reason we opted to stay in Eden (other than the name making is sound like heaven) is that there is a Killer Whale Museum that closed as we arrived on Thursday, so we wanted to catch it first thing the next morning.