We’ve been on the road for a few days now headed south to Melbourne with two camper vans and it’s been great. Getting out of hot, busy Sydney was a much-needed breath of fresh air for us all. The two Toyota Hiace camper vans we rented from Britz are actually quite nice and I’ve been feeling a little spoiled because “roughing it” has come with a refrigerator, microwave and running water thus far.
Our route has been along the scenic Princes Highway which, for the most part, hugs the coast. About an hour outside of Sydney, shortly after the town of Wollongong, the land opens up dramatically into lush rolling farmland with horses and cattle grazing through the kind of green that appears to be glowing. Every once and a while we caught a glimpse of the inviting coast to the east and the horizon to the west is filled with flat-topped mountains thick with dark rainforests.
We spent the first night camped at a small, secluded beach called Merry Beach by the town of Kioala and were greeted at dusk by wild kangaroos littering the campsite. It was so incredible seeing kangaroos, more prevalent than squirrels back home, feasting on the grass and being able to get within 3 feet from the strange but beautiful animals. I went wild photographing them especially a mama with a little Joey cramped into her pouch.
This first campsite we found was perfect. Besides my first wonderful encounter with kangaroos we were only about 200 yards away from the ocean on a gorgeous beach. Plus, first thing in the morning Elena and I took a great run along a dirt trail that headed up to the surrounding cliffs and on to other tiny beaches with astounding views. And when we thought our morning couldn’t get any better these friendly rainbow lorikeets- big, colorful, parrot-like birds- came right up to us and we were able to feed them from our hands.
The following nights we hopped along down the coast staying at Mallacoota inlet, Tyres Lake beach and Wilsons Promontory National Park. They were all pretty cool campsites especially the last one where we all tried body boarding on a nice surf break but none of them could compare, in my opinion, to our first night.
It was just such a special place. It wasn’t listed in any of our guidebooks, no one recommended it. It was just this tiny spot on one of our maps that turned out to be such a wonderful place, a gift, our first little reward of having automobiles and being able to get off the beaten path.
