FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Covid Coastal Caper Part 1

The 3 teens (well one almost teen,, one teen and 1 almost adult) managed to wake up much earlier than their usual school holidays 10am

What didn't we bring?!!! Let's see if we'll end up playing frisbee golf, cricket, tennis, or the whole crate of boardgames

The pandemic continues. We carry on with our lives almost normally in our Australian bubble, while infections and deaths soar in the rest of the world. In particular, America is suffering. We were still not allowed to leave the country without an exemption. Unfortunately travelling to the world's covid epicentre to help Walt Disney World celebrate it's 50th birthday was not one of them. That meant cancelling our epic South American trip which was going to finish with marathon week at Walt Disney World. It hurt. No Amazon River pink dolphin spotting. No Machu Picchu to help tick off my parent's bucket list. No old fashioned luxury train journey across the Andes. No ecoresort on the shores of Lake Titicaca. No salt plains of Bolivia. No running a half marathon decked out as Disney characters. Curse you Covid. Years of planning went down the drain. The joy of travelling with Disney minded friends were cruelly dashed. We were fortunate to be fully refunded, and physically safe but depression and frustration still plagued us as our planned departure date came and passed. Further salt was rubbed into the wound when facebook threw "memories" of our international departures from previous years at us. We just had to hang on....until today.

Today was the day we would re-embrace the iconic Australian Coastal road trip. At the time of the conception of plans, we were only allowed to travel within New South Wales. The Americas was plan A. Tasmania was plan B (borders reopened too late and we were left with with too little time to organise a trip). And so we had to resort to Plan C...explore our local state of New South Wales! It was too hot in December to drive inland and so we were left with hugging the coastline. We let the bargains do the talking. At a time when few were willing to travel, we put our money down on refundable deals at resorts desperate for patrons. And so we find ourselves driving as far north as we can in NSW. We will return home for Christmas and embark on Covid Coastal Caper Part 2 in January when we drive as far south as we can in NSW...

Malcolm was less rusty on his Australian road trip routine compared to July. The bike rack didn't take as long to set up... He managed to pack the whole house into the car and we were only 5 minutes late meeting up with our travel companions, the Ongs, for our traditional early morning McDonald's.

It was a jam packed morning. By 1:45pm we had visited a waterfall, a lake, many beaches, had the requisite fish and chips and walked 7.5km. It was no mean feat when the children had to walk out to the end of EVERY jetty and stop at EVERY playground. This included one 17 (nearly 18) year old child...

Somersby Falls was the surprise package of the day. It felt a little bizarre to make our first stop under 40 minutes from home, but it was worth it! There is so much packed into such a short detour... a twisting walk with log crossings, mossy rocks to climb and then a larger than expected waterfall. I'm not sure why we never did it as a day trip from home. It would certainly be a hidden gem to show off to any visitors who come to stay. Inevitiably one child fell into the water which wasn't deep enough to swim in at the moment but enough to make him sopping wet. No harm was done and we all left in a good mood. A word of warning...whilst the walk to the falls from the carpark and picnic area was short, it was like having a stairmaster session. You get the idea...the bonus is that at the end of your visit you can reward yourselves with a fresh espresso courtesy of the mobile coffee truck at the carpark!

Yes we rope dropped the waterfalls. There was no one here at 8am...

The upper falls

The lower falls

Our next stop was The Entrance to do the 7.5km Coast to Lake Walk. We started on the Tuggerah Lake side and made our way to finish off with a another leg conditioning walk along the beach. Lunch stop was at the Big Tuna Fish. The food was fresh, delicious and the servings large (their grilled octopus were awesome!) There were plenty of shaded seats, a clean toilet and it was by the beach. You couldn't ask for more! The Entrance was also known for its pelican feedings. As both families had done this several times, we moved on.

Our 7.5km walk begins!

There were three of these extremely "long" jetties jutting into Lake Tuggerah! Parrys, Walkins and Long. The little ones HAD to walk to the end of each one. Long Jetty at 351m has the honour of being the longest jetty in NSW.

The bigger ones wait in comfort...

We stopped at a minimum of 5 playgrounds!

Lunch time!

Choice of grilled...

...or battered

Gelato after lunch was a must

Rounding the area where the Lakes system met the Pacific Ocean

Lake to the left, Ocean to the right

It is very un-Australian not to have an ocean pool

Making our way through Blue Bay and Toowoon Bay. We were fortunate that the public schools have not broken up for school holidays yet and it was still quiet.

Our base for the next three nights was Caves Coastal Bars & Bungalows conveniently located right on the beach. It was a complex of beachside villas, townhouses and bungalows serviced by a main building with a restaurant and bar. Our villa was comfortable and spacious with apt decor! Importantly it came with two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and a washing machine. The car space was large and undercover. We unpacked our earthly belongings and made a short trip to the local Woolworths for some supplies. Of course we needed Bundaberg Christmas spiced ginger beer...

Fiona, in her usual efficient self, had made reservations for our party of 10 for our whole trip. The December/January holiday season was expected to be unusually busy with everyone resorting to road trips. Many were also keen to help revive small communities ravaged by last year's bushfires. There may be no last minute space available for 2 families of five...It was a great thing she was so organised as many upmarket and popular restaurants were fully booked out 4 weeks in advance! Sheesh! And so it was that we found ourselves dining at the resort's restaurant. The food was generally good. Some were great and others just above average. Either way it was good enough for us!

We retired back to our villas to play Carcassonne, one of the gajillion boardgames that Malcolm had packed. We were now on a mission to use/play everything thing that we had brought with us between the two households. We briefly considered some early morning sunrise yoga to utilise Steve's yoga mat but opted for a sleep in instead.