All up early this morning and off to Nelson Bay at Port Stephens. Barb read the travel brochures and has been sucked in by what she’s read. Advertising works very well here. 350 km today and about 3.5 to 4 hours in the car, which is a big one for Poo Poo Head.
Before we left South West Rocks Ross spotted one of our neighbours camped in a old 16 ft Viscount Aerolite. That was the caravan that Ross’s close friend Darren had that convinced Ross many years ago to sell his beloved tent and upgrade to his camper trailer. They look a little dated now …. But Ross assures Barb they were a pretty special unit way back when !!! (even though the Aerolite concept was crap and they leaked a little, hey Darren)
Just for the record, on a trip the average speed over a days’ driving is about 70-75kmh. It all sounds great on paper that 100km should take an hour, but the reality is it will the best part of 1 ½ hours; more with little kids.
Katie (our gorgeous travel companion who supplies us with directional guidance) told me that we would be in Nelson Bay at 11.38am. We stopped a Taree roadhouse for a twinkle ….. andw hy not a coffee (any excuse for Ross even in 39 degree heat)
Katie stayed in the car, and without a single compliant diligently added our stops and slowdowns along the way. When we arrived in Nelson Bay it was within 2 minutes of Katie’s estimate of the original time almost 4 hours earlier. Katie is a champion, and Ross can feel tension building between Barb and Katie. Ross loves them both in different ways.
Barb, always helping and encouraging me ……………. By sitting in the back seat watching DVD’s with Poo Poo Head. We only use the word “holiday” for some of our travel party (you guess which ones) It does keep Poo Poo Head content with some company. If Ross listened very very closely, he could almost get all the jokes and almost follow the movie, and almost feel like he was joining in with the fun.
It apparently reached high 30’s here in Nelson Bay today. It was hot, but it didn’t feel that hot. According to the weather channel it’s still 31 degrees here at 7.30pm.
We spent the afternoon at the beach with Poo Poo Head. The beaches around Nelson Bay are inside Port Stephens … so nice beaches but no surf. The surf beaches are in a different spot about 15 kilometres away. We check out One Mile Beach, which is one of the surf beaches on the way into Nelson Bay, but it was absolutely flat as a tack.
Had the surf been good we probably would have stayed there, but we thought it was a good opportunity to check out Nelson Bay for a couple of days then stay a night at One Mile on the way out, hopefully the surf has pumped up by then.
The opposite head of the entrance to Port Stephens is Tea Gardens; the small town we left when we travelled through to Myall Lakes National Park a couple of weeks back. There is a ferry to Tea Gardens that pops back and forth across the bay from Nelson Bay.
We had a late wander around the wharf area and water front before dinner. Poo Poo Head had a blue and pink ice-cream … when did they invent blue and pink ice-cream? We may have to try the best fish and chips in NSW …. just for research.
And you thought they were called Sea Horses. We’ve been trying to pronounce it all afternoon … not a good idea to start drinking and try agian.
The local coopers taking the dingy out for a paddle
The Captain who was in charge of the blue boat in the foreground, is discouraged from taking out the larger white one behind it.
Port Stephens entrance, which is at the other end of the Shoal Bay to where we are, which is the photo showing the entrance above. Great backdrop to the town of Nelson Bay.
Our caravan park is in a pretty good central location 
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