Judy & Brian Tour Oz

Cessnock NSW September 21 2016 A slight change to our travel plan sees us over in Cessnock, about 80km from Soldiers Point. The thing is, its raining again and we thought we might just take us that little bit closer to home and we can spend the day doing the wineries. We’ve been here to the Big4 about 6 years ago and it was a bit run down then, but now it is in the middle of being converted to a retirement village, or ‘lifestyle living’ as they would have us call it. It’s a trend that is definitely on the rise all through this area; caravan parks as such are quickly disappearing in favour of these pop-up villages. The thing is that you only own the actual building, and just as they are transported in, you can take it and go somewhere else, in theory. The appeal is that its a closed / secure community and that your costs are limited to less than a hundred a week, and you get a clubhouse and pool and the like thrown in. Anyhow, we chose the full day winery tour which includes 5 or 6 w...

Port Stephens NSW September 15-20 2016 Port Stephens, aka Nelson Bay, is our current location - actually we are a place called Soldiers Point, but it may as well be the same place. The first thing you notice driving around is that it's jam-packed people  and housing wise. Every square inch of land has been developed and exploited into huge mansions or multi-storey units or both, and the second thing is that all the roads are 50kph, except those through the shops, which are 40kph. It just makes it dull, boring and downright frustrating to go driving around trying to get a glimpse of the few natural features that are left. There's an added insult - in the towns such as Nelson Bay and Shoal Bay, it's pay parking, either 4 hour or 8 hour, which is too bad if you just want to take half an hour to stroll the marina and buy an ice-cream. The marina is the usual pretty place, and as usual, the piers and jetty are closed to all but those that own the boats. But a snap just becau...

Tweed Heads NSW  September 9-13 2016 This has to be the worst trip in Australia - Tewantin to Tweed Heads, 245km of high speed, 3/4/5/6 lane highway mayhem - and may the devil have mercy on your soul.  It’s just full on, from the moment you hit the Bruce at Cooroy to the moment you pull off the Pacific at Tweed Heads, it’s just go, go go. Mind you ,we nearly came undone when we stopped at some totally forgettable roadhouse for some nerve calming medicine. Picture this, you take the exit, go down the off ramp and into a big roundabout. You take the first exist, basically doubling back along the raceway to to the Golden Arches, which turns out to be a whole bunch of little outlets behind the servo. Having regained our composure with the aid of coffee and sticky buns, we headed out again, back down to the roundabout and wait to go straight across, blinker on ready to be taking the second exit. First you have to gun it to get into the gap, and then you back right off for the semi...

Tewantin Qld September 5 - 8 2016 What to do in our second week here in Tewantin? Well, the trouble really is that the weather is playing up, in as much as the sun keeps popping out then back in and the rain swirls in and out of our lives. On Sunday it was a bit miserable so we decided to drive down the beaches, starting at Sunshine and heading for Coolum for lunch. By the time we got to Perigean Beach the sun was out and shining brightly on what looked like yet-another-market. We lucked into a car park and wandered down to have a look around, and then circled the shopping block, picked up yet-another-pair of shoes and settled for lunch at what looked like a delightful place right in front of the car. I had a fish and scallop pie with chips and salad and I have to say that it was truly fabulous. Judy had a fish burgher, complaining the entire time that it had two huge full fishes on it, but I noticed the plate went back as clean as mine! Coolum is only a short hop further down, a...