Mar 9, 2012 - Merimbula, New South Wales

Well our next place to visit was Lakes Entrance but we spent most of the time sheltering in an out building trying to escape the rain so we'll skip most of that. The highlight was on our journey as we left Healesville and headed to the coast we drove through some forest or bush country and a kangaroo crossed the road in front of us. Pretty cool! We did take in some of the best vineyards in that part of OZ and called in to Yarra Yering as well as Dominique Portet yo sample some of their lovely wines after we had been to Innocent...

Jun 20, 2011 - Merimbula NSW - June 19 - 22

Leaving Lakes Entrance, we faced over 3 hours of winding "switchback" travel - and at the end of it, we were both suffering mild effects of motion sickness!! A really lovely drive, though, and we stopped for brunch about halfway at Cann River, where we sat out in the sunshine to enjoy our break. The drive through Eden was spectacular - what a gorgeous view out over the various waters. We arrived in Merimbula and got set up in the very scenic Big4 Park overlooking the Middle Beach - though the beach is at the bottom of steep cliffs so...

Aug 25, 2010 - Merimbula

Hello, When we left Kiama at a leisurely pace yesteday we had thoughts of stopping at Batemans Bay for the night. We arrived at Batemans Bay 2.5 hours after we left Kiama, so kept going and ended up at Merimbula. We are on a the site opposite where we were at the beginning of our trip - better for the sun. Very quiet here, which is nice. We have been sitting outside all day even though the breeze is a little cool. We planned to stay for two nights, but as the wind speed in Lakes Entrance tomorrow is predicted to be 50+ km we think we may...

Mar 11, 2010 - Any which way ....

you are tempted to roam ... it's a long, long, long, long way... way to go home .... G'day! Travelling around beautiful Australia taking in the sites and sounds has been fabulous so far. We, my friend Kevin and I, finished checking out the City of Melbourne and hopped a train down to our friend Nic's house in Jan Juc. Which is down the Surf Coast Highway near Torquay at the start of the Great Ocean Road. For all you surfing fans out there Torquay is the home of many surf company's including Rip Curl and they hold the Rip Curl Pro at the...

Jan 18, 2009 - On The Road To Gipsy Point And Merim-bulas Day Off !!

OK. lets get the standard stuff out of the way. more sunshine, more beautiful scenery. rolling hills, fabulous coastline with turquiose ocean and crashing surf and golden sandy beaches (with the odd human being here and there). Today we also added Lakes, Rivers and a rainforest. What is amazing is that today is Sunday, it is mid-summer here, school holidays and all these wonderful places seem largely quiet. Today we did beach walks, a temperate rainforest walk (McKenzie River), picnicked by a lovely river/lake at Gipsy Point about 45Kkm...

Feb 19, 2007 - Eden

Eden is where the abalone fisherman got chewed on recently by a great white. Had it not been for his lead weight vest, he would have been a goner for sure. Instead it protected him from the shark's teeth and bought him enough time to feel for and grab the shark's eyeball, which is one of the only vulnerable spots on the animal. It chomped down one more time on his face, smashing his mask and nose, then released him. I caught his interview on Letterman right around the time I was there in Eden. To hear it in his own words was riveting and...

Oct 30, 2006 - Sydney to Melbourne, Coast Road

We hired a car to drive from Sydney to Melbourne over four days which meant we could take our time. The car we got was fine and wasn't as much a gas gussler as our NZ motor! The couple of days was great, along the way we got very excited when we saw our first Kangaroo, right on a beach on Jervis bay. We also spotted many other species, Wallabies, one Wombat (was on deaths door at the side of the road but counts anyway), Cockatoos, Echinas, Iguanas, dolphins and humpback whales. We were so lucky, each day we were blown away by the animals...

Nov 17, 2004 - If you can't free Willy, enlist his help...

Had a green parakeet for company at breakfast this morning. He/her first appeared at the bird feeder, then on the ground near the table. While I was pondering whether it would be tame enough to come any closer it had hopped up onto the table and started helping itself to my muesli. 1st stop of the day was the Killer Whale Museum in Eden, which was absolutely fascinating. They used to do shore whaling here, and it's the only known instance of men & Orcas co-operating together on a hunt. The Orcas would herd a whale into the bay, then 'Old...