We have now left Canberra and are on our way to Ayers Rock, Uluru, Yulara - I don't really know what it is called. The section of the Great Pacific Drive we are going on runs from Bateman Bay up to Sydney. We start by driving through Braidwood. This is a small town encapsulated in time like a fly in amber. It looks rather like a US western town, small stores and old bars along both sides of a straight main road. Most of the bigger buildings appear to be preserved, perhaps by the equivalent of our National Trust. The roads running into town are lined by poplar trees, a bit like France or Italy. They look beautiful in the clear sunlight, covered in their autumn gold foliage.
The drive runs over some high hills and down into valleys along steep winding roads to arrive at the coast at Bateman. We continue north through Ulladulla - sounds like a character from Star Wars - but is in realty a nice seaside town, and onward toward Nowra. We detoured down into Jervis Bay, which is a National Park and lovely bay. Its a bit chilly here, definitely Autumnal with a stiff breeze blowing. Nowra is a much larger town and went straight through this looking for somewhere to stay in Berry. Berry is very chintzy, with the usual Aussie bars but many small shops selling arts & craft stuff and antiques. The only motels we could find were "boutique" or pretty basic. I don't shop in boutiques, so off we went to the next town, Kiama, where we found the usual reasonable motel. It is getting a bit more pricey because it is Aussie Easter school holidays ( I know, I know its not Easter, but don't ask me) - so not the great bargain we had in Canberra. Kiara is nice enough and we had a smashing Italian meal in a little restaurant we found in this coastal town. It was BYO, like many small restaurants here. Kiara is pleasant enough, but closes down at 5:30. It is famous for a blowhole? We saw this which was running very well in the sea running from that stiff breeze I mentioned.
We set off again and arrived in Woollongong which is a working fishing town, fishermen's co-op and all. A large range of steep hills runs behind the coastal strip here and we took a scenic drive around Mounts Kemble and Keira. Ascended the steep winding road, driving pretty cautiously, turning around one of the tight bends, we were surprised by 5 guys coming down the hill on racing skateboards. They must have been doing about 40mph, fully kitted out with leathers and helmets. The skate boards were the standing variety not the luge style you see in X games. I wouldn't fancy one of them running into the front of my car at that speed!
We continued on our way up onto Bald Hill ( Sandra - I'm not really sure how to pronounce that) Its a bit like Beachy Head, 200m high cliffs with a great view down the coast and the winding Great Pacific Drive. There were hang gliders in action, taking passengers for half hour flights. They simply stepped off the cliff and rose straight up a thousand feet or so. It looked so smooth and calm, that had we had more time there, I would have had a go. They flew around the hills and then glided down to land on the beach.
We ended the run with a drive through the Royal National Park that took us to the southern edge of Sydney and the airport.
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