Watson Walkabout 2021

Note: the idea was to do weekly blogs, but we've been camping in the bush for the last 8 days and mobile coverage has been sketchy. Rambley bit followed by photos... We spent 3 nights with friends in Queanbeyan and caught up with some other friends in Canberra.  We've been here quite a few times in recent years and so skipped most of the normal Canberra touristy bits.  The one things we did go to was the Cook exhibition at the National Museum - it was about his first exploration of the east coast and gave indigenous perspectives on his visit as well as quotes from his & Banks' journals. After Canberra we headed to the south coast via Cooma, including lunch with a local GP and others who we met at the very friendly Cooma Baptist Church.  We camped on the beautiful Bunga Beach just south of Bermagui and then in Nadgee State Forest a bit further south.  The coastline here is completely different to that at home  - very rugged, not to mention almost no people around.  (Exce

The start of our trip is heading "southish" and today, for the first time, we are actually a bit further south than Sydney.  It's not very far to Canberra / Queanbeyan but we took a very scenic route. Highlights included: Sofala (much nicer than it used to be); Hill End (cool history); Gulgong (old gold town + interesting museum); Narromine; Parkes (dropping in on friends and visiting the The Dish ); Cowra (POW camp + railway museum); loads of National Parks.  We've spent 4 nights camping in the bush, 2 nights in a friend's B&B and one night at Gulgong show-ground,  (We decided to stay there because they have showers - these are currently closed "because of Covid" but couldn't explain how getting clean could make you sick!  The local bowlo helped us out.) Photos further down... After a couple of days here we will head for the Snowys and the Victorian High Country before heading to my sister's place in Melbourne.  We're not sure how long t

We managed to hit Sofala at beer-o-clock.  I haven't been to Sofala for a couple of decades but it's a lot nicer than I remember.  The locals at the pub were an interesting bunch - very friendly and quite a few beers under.

After a year or so of planning we gave Carl a hug and finally managed to leave home.  We exited the Northern Beaches in a westerly direction at around 5pm; not as early as hoped but not as late as feared. After dinner in Katoomba (Thai at the top of the main street - highly recommended) we then tried for our favourite not-quite-legal secret camping spot but were thwarted by a locked gate.  Perry's Lockdown seemed like a good alternative - turns out the campsite hasn't reopened since the bushfires but we made sure we parked away from the "Camping Prohibited" signs! Nice view in the morning...