Following the Garmen

Friday Nic and I rented a Camry (I miss my Rogue) and Rosano dug out his old Garmen Navman. I took an afternoon to get used to driving on the other side of the road again. Friday night we cooked dinner for Rosano and his family, played with Oli and Mia and got ready to part ways. Saturday morning, they got their day started amidst much bustle. Soon they would be in the air on their way to Canada and we'd be on our way up the coast. 

We picked up a few groceries and a power adapter for the garmen at the shopping complex. Having flat white in hand, Nic and I headed out on our adventure. Nic was quiet for most of the trip, trying to stay upbeat but saying so long to her Niece and Nephew took its toll on her this day.

We'd half done our homework, and half left our journey to chance. Knowing better now that places like the Hunter Valley and Port Stephens are actually regions, not destinations, we had a few mishaps and u-turns, a few wasted kilometers, but overall have seen a lot of Australia's beautiful country side. 

We started at the entrance to the Pacific touring route and had lunch at Blue Bay.

Blue Bay View

From their picked Denman as our destination in the Hunter Valley, Australia's wine country. Not much goes on their so we backtracked about 40k to find a hotel and crash for the night.

A nice shot from the road of one of theVinyards

 We stayed at the Leisure Inn near a place called Broke in the hunter valley. Nice enough but the cost of hotels here is going to take its toll on my Visa. We awoke in the morning to find a couple of the locals hanging out underneath a tree.

eWe followed the Garmen to to Port Stephens. A region, not a place. The GPS routed us along some dirt roads and over some really narrow, almost make shift bridges until we arrived at our destination. Nowhere.  In Port Stephens we figured out what we were doing wrong. Getting some directions from a Local, we managed to gas up in Karuah and head out on our way towards Coffs Harbour, an actual place.

Along the Touring Route

 In Kew, we found ourselves an entrance to the actual "Tourist Route". The coastal road from Brisbane to Melbourne is one of Australia's better know tourist attractions. It's not the Sea to Sky drive though. There are nice views if you stop to enjoy them. If you are driving, you'll just blow past them. I think the idea is meant for you to go from destination to destination stopping along the way. But for the most part, can all be accomplished if you stay on the Pacific Hwy.

Looks like awesome surfing

We arrived in Coffs Harbor after 5pm after being on the road for the better part of 9 hours. We had Thai for dinner and are getting ready to crash for the night as best we can with the sounds of engine brakes thundering down the road in front of our hotel.

We're both feeling sick now. I think we'll head to Byron Bay sometime tomorrow.