Author: Mr A
Location: Kendalls on the Beach, Kiama
So today was the day when our preparations came to an almighty climax…steady…and we left Sydney for Phase 1 of our Second Big Trip. Our new tenants arrive tomorrow, the house was being inspected this afternoon, and we thought we had everything pretty much under control with only our bathroom to clean after our showers this morning. So perhaps the house sensed we were deserting it, leaving it to cope with the vagaries of another bunch of strangers moving in. Whatever it was, Murphy’s Law operated and as I turned the shower tap on Catherine shouted out from some distance away “Why am I getting soaked?!” The shower head had decided it was a good time to play up and water was spurting all over the room.
A quick text to our property manager, who wasn’t even supposed to be working today, and their plumber turned up less than an hour later. Now that’s good service! He soon had the problem under control and we left the house a little behind schedule at midday feeling a little nervous about what we will find when we return in October.
Casting doubts aside we drew away and headed through reasonable (for Sydney) morning traffic. Tassie was a little restless (for new readers she’s our other family member – the Burmese camping cat), but some serious brushing from Mrs A sorted her out.
We only had a short trip today and we were soon pulling into our home for the next two nights in a small caravan park in Kiama. We haven’t stayed here before but first impressions pretty good, especially when we saw a poster on the check in desk advertising a farmer’s market tomorrow! We set up on a nice grassy site and then found the beach within staggering distance. Just what we needed after the stresses of the last few weeks, trying to get everything organised.
So here’s the plan in summary.
Phase 1: NSW South Coast Wanderings. We are planning to just amble down the coast, meeting up with various friends on the way, taking our big double kayak as we plan to stick to tar and the coast. We just love Southern NSW and always seem to be rushing through, so wanted a chance to spend longer at some places we have enjoyed previously. Then we are returning to Sydney for a wedding in a few weeks, putting the kayak back in storage at our place and collecting the packrafts so we can hit the dirt when we want. At 7.3 metres the double is just too big a beast to cart around bumpy roads.
Phase 2: Keep the ocean on our right. We will then start heading north up the coast, with very few fixed plans other than catching up with friends in Newcastle, meeting some other Zone RV owners just north of Coffs Harbour, and then calling in at Zone’s HQ in Coolum in mid April for a service. We think we then carry on heading north, and just see how far we get with the only constraint we need to be back in Sydney mid September.
Phase 3: Off to the US of A. So once back in Sydney we will store the van, leave Tassie with foster parents, and fly out to the US. Catherine is presenting the medical research she has helped run at a conference in Atlanta in October, so we thought we should take advantage of her having her flight paid and me go with her this year. Take a couple of weeks to visit friends and do a short road trip, back in the house mid October.
So that’s the idea. Hope you enjoy reading what actually transpires!
We concluded our day post dinner with a sunset cycle along the coastal path to raise the heart beats a little and see some more of the area.
It is truly a beautiful coastline and we look forward to exploring some more over the coming weeks.
Thankfully once you are in the Canobolas Caravan Park the aspect brightens up…a little. We decide to only pay for one night and see what we think.
All packed and ready to go – or so we thought – until I try to level the van – the air suspension had sprung a leak again. Not thinking it was Saturday I called the service line at Zone and immediately got a perky voice on the line asking how they could help. Now that is super service for a manufacturer to provide weekend service cover as well. Warms your heart it does.
The hosts Keira and Glenn were so helpful and welcoming, nothing too much trouble for them. Now why can’t every park be like this? A real cracker.
We then went on to the POW camp itself. Not much was left to see, the info boards again though told a harrowing story of several thousand POWs crammed in to the camp, with the last prisoners not being repatriated until 1954!
The Hay Plain drive was a lot more scenic than we remembered, or perhaps we’re getting more attuned to the subtle variations in the Australian landscape. We stopped for a couple of quick breaks, and by mid afternoon we are pulling up at our camp for the night at the Weethalle Showgrounds – home to the country club (a tennis court, bowling green and a makeshift golf course) and three or four horses. 
This is Tassie’s expression after spotting the horses – she’s such a city slicker:
We called the caretaker and she came to open up the power box and the toilets, all for $10! She was so welcoming, and after walking around the small settlement of Weethalle, indicative of the friendliness of this isolated little place, and typical of what we have experienced in all these country towns (since leaving the tourist spots in the Kimberley!).
Clearly times are tough here, boarded up shops and run down property, but looking in the window of the local café (The Road Kill Grillz!), there is lots of effort being made to organise community activities.
Let me explain in my defence, I had been wondering, in idle movements (of which there had been a few), if I could get my bike on the packraft, thereby opening up more route possibilities. I’m not convinced yet.
We were immediately immersed in the forest, towering river red gums dominated the landscape. Small flocks of parrots scattered as we rode through this magnificent scenery. We were heading into Yanga National Park to see a historic woolshed, and had a short bit of deserted tarmac to ride down on the way.
We explored the woolshed buildings which operated until 2005 and are now a museum. These buildings hosted a number of B&S balls in their time (bachelor and spinster parties), and employed numerous locals involved in shearing the 5,000 sheep here three weeks each year.
I was particularly intrigued by the explanation of how Balranold was at the heart of such an extensive river transport network reaching right across the southern part of Australia. Apparently 5,300km of navigable river was utilised when the water was up.
Now the rivers are so quiet, in four days camped by the Murray we saw three tinnies and a houseboat.
We arrived back at camp to find Miss Tasmania enjoying the sun and ready for another sniff around the campsite. She had a big walk this morning with Catherine again. It just makes me smile every day to see how willing she is to explore the bushier camps like this one.
I’m loving a book by a Dutch historian Rutger Brekman, who we had heard on a podcast and both really enjoyed. He has collected together a bunch of research on social experiments that were tried in the US, Canada and the UK to see what would happen if we just gave money to the poor (with no strings attached) rather than set up an elaborate system of welfare with all the costs that go with overseeing and managing that bureaucracy. It’s fascinating and counter intuitive in some ways. All of the initiatives paid for themselves because when given money, and left to their own devices, the “poor” didn’t just quit work and spend it on booze and gambling, as many on the political right would think, but instead mostly carried on working, but changed jobs to follow their passion, spent more time with their kids, and generally made better decisions about their lives. Their health improved, their children’s educational success increased, crime went down, these social experiments showed incredible ROI.
Now…we are in the middle of the Riverina, one of the great wine producing regions of Australia. But apparently “the locals” don’t bother with wine much. Interestingly though, out of the four tables having dinner in the restaurant tonight, three were drinking wine. So don’t they really want a choice of good wine? Or is it that someone can’t be bothered to offer it?
So we decided to head off on the bikes into Renmark. We picked a route to avoid the main road, and regretted it, sinking deep into clinging, stinky mud. I managed to wrap a piece of wire around my chain and break a spoke. After some fiddling around, and the odd expletive, we were off again and made it to the car wash on the edge of Renmark. Even the high pressure jet shifted the mud with some difficulty. Stickier than an English toffee that stuff.
Making back into camp with a wobbly wheel, we cheered ourselves up with home made pumpkin soup. Absolutely delicious. Our neighbour then knocked on the door to show us two European carp that he had caught. Apparently they aren’t a good eating fish, very bony, so the pelican got an unexpected Sunday feast.
The wind continues to howl along the water, so there is no sitting outside for drinks tonight, instead we are cosied up (again!) in the Zone sipping a lovely Adelaide Hills Shiraz and tucking into a spag bol. Perfect…we’ve really loved this camp…in those words made famous in our favourite Aussie movie The Castle, “Ah…the serenity”.
It wasn’t a long day behind the wheel though, and by early afternoon we were pulling up. It was a great location on a bend of the Murray, with only a few other vans here.
It was good to get in the bush again after our caravan park. Tas was happy to see a bit of greenery she could sniff around in, and didn’t seem phased by us being right next to such a large body of water. She really is developing a higher tolerance for new things!
I had been looking forward to getting the Packrafts out on the water, but with drizzle and wind it wasnt too appealing. Our neighbours also wandered over to warn us about a large brown snake that had driven off the previous occupants of our pitch. Ah well, better keep our eyes peeled.
After a cuppa we headed out for a quick explore, with half an eye on the gathering storm clouds. We really have landed in a beautiful spot, a giant grey kanagaroo bounded off when he saw us, more cormorants were splashing in and out of a backwater of the Murray. We really like this location – it’s free to camp here too!
I supervised….
We got chatting, and sadly an all too familiar story emerged. After 18 months of getting the shop set up he was throwing in the towel at Christmas. Just not enough business. He told me that cycling participation in Adelaide and its surrounds is down by 20% this year. A similar story to Sydney. We both mused over the cause. I shared with him a little bit of research I had done this week. If you’ve read my Facebook post skip this bit. After reading about another cyclist being killed in Sydney I Googled on the phrase “cyclist dies” and set my search parameters to Australia and the last month. Eight deaths and another two left ‘fighting for their lives’. In three of the cases the driver didn’t stop but just left the cyclist in the road. As Evan said, there’s not much good news reported on cycling in Australia. Instead it is often tales of road rage from either the motorist or the rider, or reporting on these terrible accidents.
Catherine then got pulled over by the police for not wearing a helmet. Oh dear…more bad news for cyclists, you can’t just potter around the shops wearing a hat. You have to wear a helmet for every type of ride, including wandering along a cycle path to pick up an ice cream. So guess what, another reason people give for not taking their bike out for that quick trip to the shops.
Everywhere is kept so spick and span, it is a real treat to see after these struggling outback towns we have spent so many months travelling through. 
The scenery surrounding the town is just gorgeous, rolling hills frame the vineyards. Who needs the Loire Valley?!
A quick stop at the shops for some more supplies for dinner (so easy on a bike!) and we headed back for another fab meal, and the peace and quiet of no evening construction works, oh and no wine 🙁
The girls were turning a few heads of course…
Kim had the advantage of skinny tyres I must add in my defence:
Catherine just powers along: 
And the most common view for me was from the rear: 
I finally got them ease up for a lakeside stop:
And with not a scrap of lycra to be seen we had a great ride!
After some food shopping (we seem to go every day!) we had a Skype call with our financial planner, Paul Brady. Now I am going to unashamedly plug this guy as he and the amazing team he has hired at Brady and Associates have just been life changing for us. In an industry with its fair share of charlatans, Paul has been a standout quality advisor, who we now call a friend, and has helped us making some smart choices with our finances. But much more than that, we feel we share some common values about living and loving life that have made him so easy to work with. Having a safe pair of hands to help you plan your wealth creation is one of the most important decisions to be made I reckon.