FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Covid Coastal Caper Part 2

The South Coast of NSW

Happy New Year and welcome to the first post of 2021! The fact that I am writing this post means that Part 2 proceeds!

Last I wrote, we were at the end of our Covid Coastal Caper Part 1 trip to explore our beautiful home state of New South Wales. Part 2 was hanging precariously in the balance on account of a new coronavirus outbreak. 10 second coronavirus update...the Northern Beaches cluster had ballooned and then was controlled, but unfortunately NOT before seeding clusters elsewhere. These include the Western suburbs of Sydney and Victoria. Fortunately INTRA state travel is still allowed. However, INTER state borders have slammed shut again...which brings us to having to cancel our overnight stay at the new and swishy Ovolo Nishi in Canberra (curse you ACT)...which in turn brings us to our new overnight destination of...Kiama!

As part of the grieving process, it would be remiss of me not to mention that we would have been running our first family 5K race at Walt Disney World were it not for Covid. I think I am finally nearly over the emotional fallout from the year of cancellation that was 2020. Moving on...

We drove south along the Grand Pacific Drive, stopping at our customary breakfast stop of McDonald's, before reaching our first stop of Minnamurra Falls. It was almost like running a 5K race...We did the Falls walk which was advertised as taking 2 hours for a return loop in 48 minutes! We finished hot and sweaty despite the weather being cool. The last part of the walk to the Falls itself is steep and would require at least an average level of fitness. The rest of the walk through the lush rainforest, though, was amazing well set up, being fully boardwalked (Is that even a verb?!?!). Definitely a highly recommended stop if you happen to be in the area. The drive to the Falls itself is also pretty.

Wait...did we take the same photo a few weeks ago?!?!

The obligatory McDonald's breakfast calories

A great visual representation of today's weather. Beautifully bright and sunny in some spots, grey and drizzly, in some spots and bucketing occasionally!

Part of the Grand Pacific Drive

Walking to Minnamurra Falls. Lots of suspension bridges

A rare sighting of a non-native species. Bright red Disney jumper, shorts and thongs...interesting

Very large trees...

The Loop walk is boardwalked all the way

From Turramurra to Minnamurra...spectacular falls at the end of the challenging trail!

Beautiful countryside

We opted for a lighter option for lunch at the Fish Tribe Project. It was a local slightly glammed up fish and chip shop with the added options of things like poke bowls, fish tacos and crab salads. We didn't try the battered fish, but the chips were great with real potato skin and lots of salt and the fancy options were all pretty good. Not a bad place if it is en route. Seating is sparse, but Jones Beach is a stone's throw away.

From lunch, it was only a short drive to Nova Kiama, where we stayed overnight. We were too early to check in, but they kindly let us park our car in the undercover carpark. From there, we walked to the nearby Kiama Blowhole. Patience was obviously not an Albany forte, we didn't wait long enough and missed taking a photo of the big spray when it finally came...Swimming with sea slugs was also obviously not our thing. We unanimously voted against swimming in the otherwise very inviting looking swimming hole. The sun had been playing peek-a-boo the whole day. Fortunately for us, the timing aligned with our activities. We found ourselves to be undercover during the short bursts of absolute downpour, with only at most a light drizzle whilst out. By the time we finished our walk and inhaled our afternoon tea from the nearby patisserie, our rooms were ready. The Nova Kiama was new, clean and funky. Rooms were on the small side but service was good and friendly. Most importantly they had a coffee cart right in the lobby.

Dinner consisted of mediocre Chinese takeaway. I hope my parents are not reading this blog because they would be ashamed of me. You know you're in regional NSW when you order the char kway teow (on the board) and the guys replies with "What's that?!". His boss had to show him that it was number 12...We ate three rather substandard noodle and rice dishes but they somehow hit the spot...it must have been the MSG! Time to rest our weary legs...