The Central Coast

From our rest area in Ourimbah it was only 20km to Terrigal and we wanted to visit this place on Sunday. Unfortunately, the weather was once again quite cold, so we just went to Erina Shopping Centre, the largest in the region. And it was really huge! There we finally found the remaining Christmas presents (mugs with funny cats for Sue and Steve and a nautical toilet paper holder for Patrick. It's really difficult to buy gifts for people you don't know!) and we were able to spend a few hours relatively well.

When we came out of the shopping centre, it was a bit sunny, so we decided to go to Skillion, a lookout on the coast of Terrigal. There we had to climb a few stairs and from the top we had a very nice view of the coast. On the way down, we sat down on a bench and enjoyed our 4th Advent candy: chocolate muffins. Delicious! We could also watch a cricket match that was taking place on the sports field below. Unfortunately, I don't understand the rules, so we could only watch unknowingly.

By the way, on this Sunday our problem with a campervan in New Zealand was finally solved. Andi talked a few times with a nice guy from Backpackers World Travel, who organized everything for us. The Atlanta, with which we spoke in Byron Bay, unfortunately did not get back to us and I could not reach her on the phone either. Now we have a van, which is good, and we are also quite relieved that everything worked out, but we have to pay quite a lot. This is now the second cheapest model of Spaceship and it costs 167 AUD per day with insurance (which costs $30 per day). We could have skipped the insurance, but then we would have had to deposit 3000 NZD and we would not have been allowed to drive on gravel roads to the attractions. So we prefer it this way. In total, we now pay 2,800 AUD for 17 days of campervan. Quite a lot of money for such a short time. But you are not in New Zealand that often and even if we had booked earlier, the vans would have been expensive because it is high season. Now we only need a date for the ferry from the North to the South Island and accommodation for Christchurch. We also have to take care of the ferry soon, as it is apparently booked out 2-3 weeks in advance during the summer months. So much for that.

In the evening after our trip to Terrigal, we drove back to the same rest area in Ourimbah as the day before. There we met the two girls from the lonely rest area again, but unfortunately we couldn't talk for long because it started to rain. This time the two were a bit more communicative. We had dinner in the car during an episode of Elementary and then went to bed soon after.

In the morning we drove to a place called The Entrance. Quite a weird name, but the place was actually quite nice. We wanted to spend the morning there and in the afternoon continue to Palm Beach, but that turned out differently because there was no more accommodation for us near Palm Beach. The Entrance is a bit north of Terrigal and we went to the Visitor Information to find out about some nice walks or attractions. There was a really nice path along the water, where we took a fairly long walk. The water is a large saltwater lake, located west of The Entrance, while the ocean is found on the eastern side of the town. The water there was very calm and we walked in a kind of park to a long jetty and then along this jetty. After we walked back along the jetty, we lay down on a wooden lounger on the shore of the lake for a while because the sun had just come out and it was really nice and warm. Then we walked back to the parking lot. Where we parked, there were also a few BBQ stations, so we made some delicious grilled sandwiches for lunch. That was really good!

In the afternoon, we briefly drove to the other side of town, across the waterway between the lake and the ocean, and returned at 3 o'clock, because then the pelican feeding took place. In the town, it is a tradition to feed the pelicans in the afternoon, because there used to be many fishermen in the area and they fed their leftovers to the birds. Nowadays, the animals receive regular fish and there were quite a few visitors who came to see the spectacle. It was also quite funny to see all the pelicans squeezed together and stretching their necks at the same time when a fish was thrown. During the feeding, a woman told us a few things about pelicans and how the daily feedings came about. It was really nice and an impressive experience.

After the feeding, we got back in the car and continued driving. From The Entrance it was 50 km to our rest area, the last one before Sydney. The rest area was called Mooney Mooney and was equipped with a boat ramp, so there were also many cars with boat trailers there. The boat ramp led into the Hawkesbury River and because there are several national parks around the river, the view was super beautiful. Green mountains and a blue river glittering in the setting sun. Right next to the rest area was the highway, but it was still one of the most beautiful sleeping spots we had in Australia.

In the evening, we played Uno and then had a little photo shoot in front of the setting sun. It's not often on the east coast that we have such a beautiful sunset. The unpleasant thing about the rest area was that for some reason the pipe to the toilet block was blocked that day and the water in each toilet almost reached the edge of the bowl. Great. We had no choice but to pee on it and luckily the problem with the blockage was fixed the next day. It's really annoying when something like that happens.

In the morning after breakfast, we drove to Palm Beach. The place wasn't far away in principle, but because of the river, we had to drive a quite large detour, so instead of 20 km as the crow flies, we drove 60 km on the road. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of traffic, so we were on the road for over 1 hour. Palm Beach is a narrow peninsula, bordered on the east by the ocean and on the west by a tributary of the Hawkesbury River. The place already belongs to the Sydney Northern Beaches, but I still consider the trip there as part of our Central Coast experiences. At the northernmost end of the peninsula is a lighthouse, the Barrenjoey Lighthouse, and we wanted to walk up there. For this, we had to park down at the beach and then walk up a quite steep path with stairs. The parking lot at the beach even cost 4 AUD per hour, totally unnecessary! But because it's a holiday region, of course, you can charge money. We paid the minimum amount (4 AUD) and hoped that we would make it to the lighthouse and back within an hour :D It almost worked and luckily no parking attendant came during the 20 minutes we stood there without paying.

The path to the lighthouse was really beautiful, although quite exhausting, and when we arrived at the top, we had a mega view. On one side, we could see the peninsula and the waters on the left and right, and on the other side, the mouth of the Hawkesbury River into the ocean with an island and the opposite bays. In addition, there was a great view of the sea. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time up there, but it was still really beautiful. The lighthouse itself was also very pretty. The way back to the car was quite fast and we drove to the beach from the parking lot. There we had lunch and we actually wanted to go into the water a bit, but it was so cold that we decided not to. We are really used to warm tropical waters! Instead, we took a walk along the beach, then changed clothes and drove towards Sydney. We arrived there in the afternoon at our host family, but I will report on that in the next entry :)