White beaches at Jervis Bay

On 04/02 we set off for Jervis Bay, as I mentioned in my last entry. It is a large bay almost completely surrounded by land, about 180km south of Sydney, and my doctor recommended it to us because of its beautiful beaches. Huskisson is a larger town on the bay and we visited the Visitor Information Centre there. Then we went to Hyams Beach, which, according to the Visitor Centre guy, is supposedly the whitest beach in the world. I don't know if I should believe that, because they said the same thing about the Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays. Anyway, the sand was white and you can't really see the fine differences with the naked eye.

Hyams Beach was quite busy (it was Saturday) and we walked along the beach before choosing a spot where we wanted to lay down. We relaxed, read, and even went into the water for a little while because we got a little hot. The sun had a hard time peeking through the clouds all day and with the light sea breeze, it was sometimes even cold. But otherwise, it was very pleasant there at the beach, the sand was great and the water was clear and beautifully turquoise because of the white sand.

At half past 6, we went back to the car and drove to a rest area recommended by the Visitor Centre guy. It was a nice spot and we even saw kangaroos grazing in the field next to it. For dinner, we had Spaghetti Aglio Olio (another emergency meal, but still super delicious) and at 10, we went to bed because there were so many other people there who were quite loud. At half past 10, I was startled awake because someone had lit a fireworks battery. Right in the middle of the parking lot just a few meters away from the cars!! I was really afraid that one of the fireballs would stray and fly into our car. There are such stupid people. The next morning, we found the burnt-out battery in the garbage. Apparently, nothing happened...

Our alarm went off at 8 am and after breakfast, we drove to Sanctuary Point, a place next to Jervis Bay, where, according to the Visitor Centre guy, snorkeling should be good. Unfortunately, I can't go snorkeling at the moment because without my glasses, I can't see anything with a diving mask, but at least Andi would have enjoyed it again. Unfortunately, we didn't find a cozy beach by the water. The water itself went very shallow very far and it also smelled like a toilet on the shore. No one wants to go in the water there!

So we continued to Greenfields Beach, another white beach at Jervis Bay. We really liked it there because the beach was just as beautifully white as Hyams Beach, but it wasn't as crowded. Actually, we thought it would be even busier than the day before because it was Sunday, but apparently, people had other plans. By the way, we guessed that the beaches around the bay are so white because the region used to be a volcano (like at Whitehaven Beach), but I don't know if that's true. You'd have to google it.

In any case, we spent several hours at the beach, reading, playing cards, playing ball in the water, and having lunch there. Around 3 o'clock, we went to a Rock Swimming Pool in Huskisson, where Andi swam a few laps and I read because it was too cold for me to swim. Then we showered under an outdoor shower and went shopping. For the night, we went to a free campground in Meroo National Park (4WD Access), which was an hour away. After we arrived at 7 pm, we found out that only camping in tents was possible because the sites were only accessible on foot. Fortunately, a few hundred meters away, there was another campground designed for car camping, and we got the last available spot. The forest where the campground was located was really beautiful and before dinner, we took a short walk to the adjacent lake and watched a beautiful sunset there. Then we had fish sticks with potatoes and tzatziki, which was pretty tasty overall.

After dinner, we chatted a bit and observed a possum that was constantly lurking around our spot. Those animals are really cute. After an episode of Elementary in bed, we went to sleep. Unfortunately, the night was not particularly quiet because a storm was brewing, and in the middle of the night, we had to close our trunk due to heavy rain. The annoying thing was that it was very humid today and even at night, it was still 26°C. Without fresh air supply, it gets stuffy in the car quickly! But what can you do, it was pretty wild outside, and the next morning it had cooled down a bit.

The temperature the next day was ideal, and although our alarm went off at 8:30 am, I let Andi sleep, opened the door, and enjoyed the beautiful peace and tranquility outside while reading a few pages of my book. It's not as nice at a rest area in the morning. At 10 o'clock, we had breakfast and then we took a walk on the beach on the opposite side of the camp. The beach was beautiful and totally empty, as it is located in a national park.

After the little excursion, I worked a bit on the blog and Andi wrote postcards. Then we packed up our stuff and got into a conversation with our neighbors, who gave us some tips for the Great Ocean Road. The woman was really nice and kept asking us if we were also startled by the thunderstorm because she herself was very nervous. It was a really nice conversation.

At half past 1, we left the campground and at 3 o'clock, we stopped in Batemans Bay for lunch. We had sandwiches and a mega delicious mango. Did I tell you that I love mangoes since I tried one at Holmes for Christmas? In Germany, I never found them so tasty, but here they are so juicy and fruity. Mhhhhh. You can tell when they are harvested riper. Unfortunately, the rest area in Batemans Bay was not very comfortable and there was a huge huntsman spider waiting in the corner above the sink in the women's restroom. *gulp*

After lunch, we bought some things and then it started pouring rain. We took the road inland and drove towards Canberra, but the rain didn't let up and we could only drive very slowly on the curvy road because of the downpours. Fortunately, a few kilometers later, the rain subsided and it only rained occasionally for the rest of the way. After 1.5 hours, at half past 6, we reached our rest area where we wanted to spend the night. There were only 2 other cars besides us. What a nice change from the often overcrowded rest areas on the East Coast!

For dinner, we cooked pasta with Bolognese sauce and ate it while heavy rain showers kept pouring down on us. Fortunately, we had a picnic table with a roof over it. After doing the dishes, we had to make our bed and after an episode of Elementary, we went to sleep at half past 10. Somehow we're slowly becoming night owls again, like we were before our trip. Not much is left of the early riser manners from the Northern Territory :D

The next day, we drove into the capital city of Canberra, but I'll tell you about that in the next entry :)