HOLIDAY TIME

It is such a busy time of year, and I thought I would jump on here quickly to let you all know what's going on while the little dude is playing quietly and sleeping (as this was written over a few days) :D I didn't post on the last few days of November simply because we ate at friends places or bought a cooked chook and made a quick salad when friends popped over and we needed to duck out quickly. The veggie patch is going great guns and I'm trying to get it ready for when we go on a 1 months road trip holiday which I am super duper happy and excited about! I have got heaps of cabbages nearly ready to be picked it's a shame we won't be here to use them! I picked one today which I will freeze for soups or bubble and squeak  and will try and pick another before we leave for a salad or two. But I don't want to pick them just for the sake of it, I would rather out house sitters get the pleasure from the garden.  I will try and add up Novembers tally soon and post that. I wont be doing a December and January tally as we will be absent for a good part of each month!

Now to the exciting part - the holiday itself. I know this is a gardening and cooking blog (but travel is just as big a passion of mine) so I will try to blog about our holiday while it happens or maybe just a big post when we get back! BUT WE LEAVE IN A WEEK TODAY!

We are planning on seeing Kosciuzko National Park and some of the caves withing that park as well as the hot springs which are located near the caves. I have never been caving but I am so looking forward to this even though I am slightly claustrophobic eeeeek! These caves are really good value compared to the ones located at the blue mountains which are double in price and when you are planning to see a few caves it all adds up!

Next we will head up north approximately 6 hours and stop into the glorious soldiers beach and caves beach. I think it is named caves beach because of the caves formed by the ocean which can be explored at low tide. And soldiers beach was recommended to us last time by a local when we were in Sydney for business. These beaches are just before Newcastle. Then just after Newcastle is Stockton beach which we also visited last time we were in Sydney. Last time we took our Nissan, which struggled through the sand and dunes and started overheating every time we drove more than 10 minutes. So we had to cut that part of our trip short.

The amazing shipwreck that can be seen on Stockton beach

This was a very funny moment. We were driving along Stockston beach and saw a couple of cars stuck my husband and I look at each other and laughed, I asked if that was a Toyota Kluger (a mummy car) he confirmed. So we decided to turn around and help the guys out. On closer inspection they were both wearing suits and were older gentlemen on their morning tea  break. They were just given a new work car each (i can't remember what the other one was in but it was a Hyundai something) And the other guys in the office we hanging it on them and egging them on to take it on the dunes (they worked in management at the local Boral mine which bordered on the beach) So we ended up pulling them out and found it quite an amusing 45 minutes, in which they were quite concerned that they wouldn't make it to their 2 pm meeting (this was at around 10 am) :D

Our Nissan didn't like the soft sand at Stockton

After that it's off to Anna Bay and the surrounding beaches. And the Spit at Fingal Bay which is like a massive sand bar which you can walk to Fingal Island at low tide.

Next Is Barrington Tops national Park for some 4x4ing and waterfalls and beaches (can you tell we like 4x4ing waterfalls and beaches)

Some of the towns along the way are Seal Rocks, Pacific Palms, Forster (where we plan to hire a boat and explore the inland waterways around here), Halliday point, Diamond beach, Taree, Wingham, Tapin Tops NP, North Haven, Wauchope, Port Macquarie, Werrikimbe MP, Willi Willi NP, Trial Bay, South West Rocks, Macksville, Nambucca Heads, Urunga, Belligen, New England NP.

At Dorigo, there are amazing waterfalls, rain forest and a free sky walk (these are usually $20-30 each with 4 adults this really adds up!) This is a world heritage area and I am really looking forward to this National Park.

Then there is Bongil Bongil NP, Sawtell, Coffs harbour, Grafton and Yamba. At Yamba there are these 'natural' spring pools. When we traveled around Australia in a purple kombi 5 years ago for our honeymoon we pulled into the glasshouse mountains township, and walked into the info center (a shop with a wall of brochures) and this guy comes running in after us, turns our his wife and himself traveled Australia in a yellow kombi 5 years before us. They were lovely and struck up a friendship with us, inviting us back to their home, offered for us to stay there (we declined as we were planning on working in the area for 6 weeks and didn't want to impose). During one of the times that we caught up they told us about some of the amazing places they had discovered. This was one of the places although they could not remember the name of the place or the location. They described it as the blue and green pools. Their story was that someone was excavating (turns our it was a quarry). One day everyone knocked off work and left the machinery at the bottom of the quarry, which was usual practice, And overnight they quarries filled up from a natural spring that they had hit. They are blue and green in color and are very deep. I have been searching the internet for 5 years trying to find this place and accidentally stumbled across them as we were planning this trip, These are at Yurayir NP and are called Angourie Pools.

After this is Byron Bay, Night Cap NP and Nimbin (a hippy township). Last time we visited here a girlfriend of mine recommended it (she had visited here with her parents when she was a teenager). All she said was it was a hippy town, but I did not expect to see what I saw. Hippy town is an understatement! So we drive in expecting to see a normal town with normal people and maybe some of the typical shops. Yeah. So like I said we drive in we're in our Kombi (so we fitted in I guess) and there is a festival, I got excited because I love festivals. The festival was Mardi Grass. No not Mardi Gras, Mardi Grass, the festival on making Grass/Marijuana/Pot/Weed/Gunja/Dope/whatever you want to call it legal festival. Ok. It was interesting. There were lots of cookies and brownies for sale. Wasn't quite game for the coffee and cake special either. So as we traveled up north more and more people were asking us if we had been here. They told us of their experiences here and how 12 year old kids would blatantly walk up to them on the main street and sell to them. So I want to see Nimbin in it's true 'glory'.

Then we move onto Mt Kaputar NP (where you can see 1/10th of NSW and there are some amazing rock formations here as well), Narrabri and Pulligi Forest, where there are some thermal pools which I am really looking forward too as I think we will be here for our 5 year wedding anniversary and before we head on the long journey home.

So that's our planned trip, weather we see all that or not is another question. Is there anywhere you would recommend that I haven't mentioned and is on the way?

 I am really looking forward to travelling. I love road trips and prefer this to 5 star hotels (which are lovely but I always get a little bored staying in one spot or too long).  CRAZY I know.

*********DISCLAIMER JUST IN CASE HUBBY READS THIS - YES I DO ENJOY HOTELS EVERY NOW AND THEN DOESN'T MEAN YOU NEED/CAN STOP TAKING ME!!!!**********