Queen's Birthday Weekend 2008.....

I am sitting at home waiting for a delivery driver who is running very late. What to do meanwhile to fill in the time….lets talk about the Shoalhaven area lol.
Over the last Queen's Birthday Weekend Mr J and I took a run down there, located two hours south of Sydney. Once you by-pass Woolongong the highway travels past Gerroa, Kiama, Gerringong, Berry, etc. The scenery is magnificant, rolling greens hilsides, beautiful blue ocean and lovely beaches. It is hard ti imagine how so much of rural Australia is in drought when areas such as these are so rich in colour and scenery. We had won a tender for an upcoming site and wanted to take a look around. My mother has lived there for a number of years since she retired however she has an interest in a craft shop in Berry and so we never seem to get past there as she and her friends are always at their shop. Berry is a beautiful town filled with gorgeous trees, antique stores, arts and craft shops, cafes and gardens. Even walking through the town is like stepping back in time. The buildings are mostly heritage structures and the entire area has an old world feel about it. Its certainly worth a visit.

Anyway I digress. Mr J basically wanted to find out exactly where this site was and to get an idea of accommodation and recreation, should we decide to run the business ourselves instead of leasing it out; accordingly we located the area and branched out from there. What a lovely surprise we were in for. Nowra itself is a business and residential district (which is about all we see when we do get to visit my Mum at her home) and is located on the Shoalhaven River. Tourists holiday there to go rock climbing, fishing and boating but I imagine that’s about it. So we took a drive out to the coast to see just how far the beaches are from Nowra and to enjoy what was to be a beautiful drive out there.

Along the way you pass a little country town called Brundee, dairy milk farms are everywhere. The area is so lush and green, the grass so thick, the land very flat and of course, dairy cows everywhere. It really is a beautiful picturesque rural spot. In the background are the Cambewarra mountains overlooking all of this and the fog was ever so slight that it was worth stopping to take some photos. Further along dotted randomly, were the homes (I guess of the farmers). It was just as you imagine...quite a few beautiful old world country farmhouses situated in the middle of the pastures all separted by a lovely white picket fence. I swear it could have been straight out of Little House on the Prarie lol.
The dairy farms themselves are interesting to see. As we drove along Mr J explained about the huge silver vats which were found on each dairy farm, that’s where the milk is stored after milking time until the milk companies come to pump it out. His Dad grew up on a dairy farm so he delighted in sharing his knowledge lol and if you have never been a “country person” then it really is quite interesting.

By the time he had finished talking we were entering Greenwell Point. Now the Shoalhaven River enters from the coast and splits into two. One becomes the Shoalhaven River of course, and the other becomes the Crookhaven River. The town of Greenwell Point sits at the joining of the two rivers. There was no beach there in fact it is more like a bay or small harbour due to the number of sandbars that separate it from the ocean, many fishing boats everywhere. I might add that we stopped to watch a lot of people reeling in their catches too, so obviously the fishing is good. I was amazed that all of these areas are a mere twenty minutes from Nowra, so all these years we should have picked my mother up and gone for a picnic out to the coast lol.

A little further on was Crookhaven, which is around the other side of the bay and sits with the bay on one side and the beach on the other. From this area onwards all of the towns were positioned on the beaches. Culburra Beach, Culalla Beach and further down Jervis Bay and Huskisson. One of the things which dawned on me was that years ago when we drove down the west coast of California I remember thinking how nice their beaches were; Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Malibu, I can’t even remember a lot of them now but, when you drive along the East coast of Australia (up and down) I think our beaches rate just as nice, if not nicer. They have an untouched beauty about them here. Of course the Sydney beaches could always do with a clean up in comparison, but that’s life lol.

Because it was Winter there were very few people even walking the beaches however a few were rugged up and busy fishing. When we stopped at Culburra Beach I spoke to a local who was fishing and she said that she and hubby swim, snorkel and sail all year round. It made me shiver just thinking about being in the sea during the Winter lol. I will say that the beaches did look beautiful even if it was just for a walk at this time of year. It is easy to convince one’s self of how lovely it would be to drop by the beach on your way home from work for a swim, some fishing or just a walk along the water’s edge.
After taking a few more photos we decided to buy some local fish and chips and then head off inland towards Kangaroo Valley. For those that have never heard of Kangaroo Valley, it is nestled between Cambewarra and Barengarry Mountains. The valley itself is surrounded by steep escarpments and it is breathtakingly beautiful and fully enclosed by mountains all around. Kangaroo Valley is one of those places where the peace and quiet soothes the soul and gives you a chance to relax; that’s after you have taken about a hundred photos lol. The only sounds (aside from the occasional car) are mainly bellbirds and the water running down through the mountains and the rainforest. There is a sign up that says the valley is now the only place left in the world where conservationists can find the endangered brushed tailed rock wallaby (I know that will impress you Richard and Robyn lol). I have been down there years ago when it seemed so dry that the slightest spark would see it in flames, and then other times, such as that last visit, I have seen it lush and green filled with Australian timbers, glorious rainforest ferns and some beautiful Fringe Lillies. Unfortunately we had a long drive home and so I couldn’t stop in the township but we have taken a break there on past occasions. Anyway after a few photos of the old Hampton Bridge we made out way back to Sydney. It's a lovely drive should you ever get the chance to go. Have a good evening everyone.