A Road Trip in New South Wales

Starting off, heading north.

We were all packed and ready to go. Early. We'd got ourselves organised so the last day or two could be to complete work. On the Thursday before our planned Saturday departure I went to my obstetrician for a routine check-up. She'd given me the go-ahead to travel. However, things had changed since I last saw her, and the H1N1 threat had worsened. A locked cabin for a few hours on the way to Vanuatu was not her idea of a worthwhile risk for a 5 and a half month pregnant woman.

Some heavy decision-making followed. I had a deadline for the Friday and didn't have time to change tack.... Francis stepped in. We agreed to let the Vanuatu holiday go for now, and take a road trip north. He contacted the insurance people, and I got back to work.

Less than 48 hours later our suitcases had been re-packed with warm clothes, we'd thrown in some food and we set out on our Northern NSW road trip. It wasn't Vanuatu, but it was Australia, and we were to discover some of the lovelier places within a seven hour drive of our home.

For those not in the know, New South Wales is not a small place. It covers and area of 801,600 square kilometers (about two thirds of the size of South Africa or nearly four times the size of Great Britain) and has 780 national parks. The Great Dividing Range runs the length of the State from Victoria in the south to Queensland in the north, with the highest mountains reaching above 1000m. Most Australians live within 50km of the coast and in areas outside of cities, most Australians live even closer to the coast. The vast hinterland is not an area I am at all familiar with, but I hear that people manage the harsh lifestyle and the vast distances.

We set off North on Saturday morning the 1st of August. The short version is that we shuffled back and forth up and down the Great Dividing Range and the coast for just over a week. We saw some fantastic scenery. Lots of what I was seeking and what I like to call Bluery and Greenery. And animals - my first koala in the wild, whales (including getting involved in an exciting binocular search with national parks staff to find a whale that had become entangled in some fishing line and a bouy), porpoises, dolphins, black cockatoos, domestic dogs, a wallaby, some fenced-in kangaroos, a dead wombat or two, and a lot of non-city folk.

We stayed in some funky accommodations, most of which I can recommend and which I have a list of if anyone needs it:

• Saturday and Sunday: Bellingen (a great mountain town on the gorgeous Belliger river, and home of a great music festival, headlined this year by the famous South African musician Hugh Masekela who I am going to see in October)
• Monday and Tuesday: Woolgoolga (yes, all the t-shirts say 'where on earth is Woolgoolga', and most people just fondly call it Whoopi. It's just north of Coff's Harbour and has a good whale watching headland)
• Wednesday: Dorrigo (a mountain town, at almost 1000m altitude)
• Thursday: Armidale (a University town reminiscent of Pretoria)
• Friday and Saturday: Tea Gardens (the twin town of Hawks Nest on the Myall waterways just north of Nelsons Bay, and my idea of heaven - I'd be happy to go back holiday after holiday after holiday)
• Sunday: back home.

We traveled 1850km. The highlight was in Tea Gardens. We'd read a local book that said that if we went to the top of the bridge between Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest at 9.30pm we'd see dolphins playing in below. This seemed a bit too specific, and perhaps a touch implausible. But we dutifully drove to the bridge (embarrassing as we realised it was just 200 m away, but it was cold out!) and walked up to the top. It was freezing. We heard a large splash, and could not quite place it as the river is way too far upstream for waves. There, in the disturbed water, was a large dolphin surfing on it's back. It was fantastic - fully visible in the street light from the bridge. Then, after a cold wait, we saw two more dolphins, and another. We shivered and watched, and they came and went in through the light and the bridge shallows. We headed for our accommodation to to rug up some more, but it was too cold to get back out.

The next night we thought we might be a bit late. We put on loads on clothes and in our best imitation of Michelin Men walked to the bridge and took up our vantage points, Francis on one pavement and me on the other. And there they were - three dolphins. A very large mum and her juvenile (we later heard it was probably Nicky, a well known matriarch in the area). She was teaching her young one to fish. They dashed in and out of the well lit shallow waters, and disappeared for up to ten minutes at a time. It was magical, just magical. When the dolphins wer elsewhere we entertained ourselves watching silent pelicans paddling by on the nightly fishing expedition, and some rather haunting black swans whose red beaks gave them away against the shadows.

It was a great nine days, and an incredible realisation that there are places just three hours from Sydney that are at least as gorgeous as Knysna in South Africa, my usual holiday haunt (which is five hours from Cape Town). I can imagine us taking our little Spud there, to the Myall lakes area at Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest, many times in the future. And nine days with Francis was just the best start to August - good company, good conversation and spontaneous travel decisions.

For pics of the trip on Picasa, click here

17 Degrees South

Picture at Sonasaili resort, Fiji, 2007 Honeymoon.

I passed my Citizenship test. First time. 100%. Boy, do I feel proud of that. One thing to remember is that the head of government is the Prime Minister and the head of State, yes it's true, is the Queen. Queen Elizabeth, that is. Luckily the guy who escorted me up in the lift at the Department of Immigration quizzed me on that one, just to play with my pre-test nerves. It paid off.

Something else to remember if one is not keen to give up Citizenship of your country of birth is to let them know BEFORE you apply for Citizenshipship in the New Country that you want dual citizenship. Otherwise they swiftly remove your original citizenship. Well South Africa does, anyway.

With the Citizenship test under my belt and a new-found sense of strayanism (that's "Australianism" to those not in the know) I embarked on a piece of detailed research about a one-week break (at five months pregnant it's apparently called a Babymoon!) on the Great Barrier Reef. After all, I now live in Australia and I can't be satisfied with just knowing Sydney and surrounds. There's 4,000km in width to play with and 3,700km north to South to explore (aren't I fabulous that I know the stats from my test - although I had to rely on an even newer arrival than me, Anita, to tell me that there are 37,000km of coastline - hah - add THAT to the study book, I say). So the Barrier Reef it was.

I learnt that there are three major sections I was interested in - the Southernmost islands - they have less mountains, and even have some backpacking options. Lady Elliot Island, Lady Musgrave Island, Great Keppel Island. With some snorkeling straight off the islands. Accessible from Rockhampton and Brisbane and the like. But those airports are not that well connected.

Then there are the middle islands - around Hamilton Island including the Whitsundays. The land resort area is Airlee Beach, and all are connected through Shute Harbour. One can fly straight onto Hamilton Island, but that means that everyone does. So it's very touristy, over-priced and crowded. Or so I hear. Daydream Island nearby has mixed reviews, but is another option. It's the one place one can fly straight onto an island, and that is tempting.

Then there's the famous north. Cairns, Townesville, Port Douglas. Port Douglas is very popular with people whose opinions I respect. But the reef is very far away and my dream of being able to walk out onto the reef is just a dream. It's a long time in a boat, and with my pregnancy heading up for month five and a half, I can just imagine getting really sick and that would be awful. The Southern Islands have some snorkeling right off the islands, but that is less likely in the north.

I stand to be corrected on all of this, having never been to anywhere that I am writing about, but hours (literally hours) of internet reading with Francis resulted in a general feeling of nuh-uh about our long awaited trip. The reviews, if one reads the detailed reviews, were filled with disappointment about the amount one pays for the amount you get. It's REALLY expensive. And we just could not find enough positive stuff to make us take the bull by the horns and book Queensland.

So at 1am we decided to give up on the complicated itineraries we had been constructing for an Australian break and choose either to go back to the Yasawa Islands in Fiji (where we honeymooned in 2007 and which we highly recommend - we'd assist anyone with ideas about those) or to take the plunge and go 17 degrees South. To Vanuatu.

And that is what we are going to do. We'll spend a week in Vanuatu - half of it at the Hideaway Island resort (what a picture!) where, yes, you can snorkel right off the sand I am told. And the other half wherever our noses take us. Or your recommendations lead us.

So while I love 34 degrees South (Sydney, Cape Town, Buenos Aires - and maybe one day Santiago in Chile... Francis and I have started lessons in their national dance, the Cueca, so we might land up there one day) this time I have to halve my usual favourite number and choose 17 degrees south. Let's see how it pans out!


Ps - I recommend www.travelonline.com for accommodation deals. Their deal was SO much cheaper than the one we used, but hey, I'd already booked. Nothing to be done about that. Just don't get caught out too.