Up and at’em early today. We are scheduled for a 7:00am debarkation – because we are carrying our bags off ourselves. We have read, and there have been constant reminders that there are not a lot of cabs at the Sydney cruise terminal, so we decided to be off as early as possible in order to grab a cab to the rental car agency. This way we can make an early start on our drive down the coast.
It is another ugly day – raining and chilly. We hope the cab stand is under cover! After a quick breakfast, we roll on down to the centrum and get in line for our exit. We are maybe 5th or 6th in line, which is helpful. And as usual, all of us in the front are shooing off the late interlopers who refuse to obey “queue” rules! It all works smoothly though and the doors are opened surprisingly early – it’s barely 6:45 – but that’s OK with us. We wind our way through the gangway, overtaking people who really, truly shouldn’t be carrying their own bags off. We make it to the customs area with our little completed form – and uh oh! People in front of us don’t have their forms – they say they turned them in at the airport and weren’t given more. Oh boy! This is going to turn ugly – we thought maybe it was just our section that didn’t get any forms, but apparently not. Thank heavens we went down and got ours, and thus, being good little prepared scouts, we were shoved to the front of the line and were the very first ones off that ship. First time ever – wow! We stopped to talk to the port agent at the front door to answer some of her questions, then walked around the front to grab one of the 3 cabs there – and in that whole time, still no one came out behind us. Not looking good for the rest of the debarkation.
We’re outta here though – off in our little cab by about 7:00. We’ll be way early for the rental car, but early is better than late. We give the cabbie the address, but once on the correct road, we can’t find it. There are a couple of hotels there, so instead of running up a huge cab fare wandering aimlessly looking for Europcar (it’s already 20AU), we just get out at one of the hotels to figure it out on our own. I ask the hotel desk clerk and thankfully he knows that Europcar has moved. Sigh. He gets us the address and gives us great directions on where/how to walk. It’s only 5 minutes, downhill, and the rain has let up, so it is really only misting a bit. We are entirely grateful for the detailed directions! When the guy told us the car park on the left, I didn’t take him literally – just figured he was giving us a landmark – but when we got there – that was where the office was located. And the signage was abominable – even knowing it was there, it was hard to follow the signs, and the office itself had nothing but a little 8 x 10 stand up card saying the agent wasn’t on duty.
We’ve got about 1/2 hour to wait before they open, and standing in the little portico between the car park and an open alley, we really wonder if we are in the right spot. Soon, though, another customer shows up, which relieves us greatly. We get involved in a conversation about the bad signage, the location, and move on to TV shows (Aussies have tons of reality shows), The West Wing (he has the entire series on DVD and has watched it 3 times already – sounds like us – not 3 times, but watching it because it’s better than anything on TV now), politics (the current PM was appointed, is female, and probably doesn’t stand a chance in the elections), and so on! We had plenty of time to chat as the rental car guy finally showed up, late, and then proceeds to have enormous issues with the computers. He finally opens the office and we learn that they just moved there 10 days ago – that is why the bad signage and the horrid state of the office. He said others at the office bitched about being sent here, and now he knows why! Paperwork finally completed, I ask for a map and directions out of the car park to Ulladulla (which I have been pronouncing to rhyme with Woolly Bully from the song but is actually pronounced with the same sound as “null”). He corrects me and says “if you say it like that, you’ll sound like a tourist.” Huge pause then, “oh, yeah, you are a tourist”! Funny!
Car in hand, Alicetta on the wind screen (Aussie for windshield), we head out of the car park to our rental guy’s directions which will take us directly though town (right in the middle of rush hour) to get to freeway to take us to Princes Highway (which is the road we will follow for the next 3 days as we take the scenic tour along the coast to Melbourne). We decide however, to pull over and wait for Alicetta to get satellite connections and see what she has to say. In this instance, good thing we did. Turns out there is a much easier looking route outside the city with we can take. We are off!
Three turns later and we are on the road that will turn into Princes Highway. It’s still a city street, 2 lanes on each side, and narrow. Even though it is a more direct route and probably much preferable to going through the CBD, it is still a harrowing drive trying to squeeze through in one little lane with opposite direction traffic on one side and parked cars on the other. Ed navigates beautifully, and finally relaxes when we get out of town a bit more and the road opens up. But it is still raining – in some spots pouring – so the driving isn’t as relaxing as it could be.
And then, disaster strikes! Alicetta keeps rebooting. What is up with that? We think maybe it’s the plug in the car, so I hold the charger in to get it to work, but that still doesn’t help. As the rain continues to pour down, and even though we are sure that we know where we are going (it’s only one road – we just follow Princes Highway), we’re still leery about going without a GPS. So, we decide to stop at Maccas to see if we can a) mess with the GPS, b) find the other plug in the car (located in the hatch), and c) if all else fails, get wi-fi and look at google maps to confirm our drive.
Long story short, it’s the actual car charger wire – there must be a short. Luckily we have the USB cable to recharge it in the computer – and this being a new VW Golf – we have a USB charger option in the car. Saved by technology! And by stopping when we did, we also managed to avoid a lot of the heavy rains. Everything always works out for a reason!
Back on the road, we slowly start climbing up into the mountains, with no improvement in the weather. Because of the elevation, it’s actually getting foggy, so we just take it easy. There is a great information center on the road, up in the middle of nowhere, but staffed with the most helpful folks and tons of information. We pick up all the maps we’ll need for the next 3 days and get info on the drive. The TI lady tells us about a side detour that will loop around, off Princes highway, to the coast, and on this route, a great place to stop for lunch in Gerroa. We’re game!
Back on the road, into the fog (this would be SUCH a scenic drive if it weren’t for the fog!), we successfully wind our way up and then down, out of the mountain range. After the fog in the mountains, it’s just gray down here, but it doesn’t hurt the scenery. there is lush farmland stretching from the foothills down to the coast. Vibrant pastures, so green and fresh, roll out from either side of the road. Some fields are still a little flooded, you can definitely tell how much rain there has been over the last month or so.
Finally back on sea level, the coastline views are dramatic s we skirt the coast and come upon Minnamurra, the first in a succession of precious little Australian towns we will encounter on this trip to Melbourne. This is a perfect place to stretch our legs a bit and take a rest stop. We’re right on the main road, and over looking a beautiful cove with a lovely (albeit wind swept and rainy today) promenade along the water.
It’s way chilly today! After a few minutes, I’m back in the car while Ed makes a rest stop at the public toilets. One thing we are noticing here is that there are public toilets everywhere. It’s really different – and all free – no pay toilets. But virtually every park has one or two, and we’ve seen them in Sydney proper as well. Very nice amenity that seems to be country wide.
Next stop on our explorations is Kiama. There is a visitor center here as well that has just reopened due to tornado (water spout) damage caused by the huge storm that hit Sydney and this area a few weeks ago. We don’t need more info, but we do stop at a little park by the water to watch the waves. There is stills something off shore just churning up the seas and, obviously, affecting our weather on shore as well.
Once again, I’m back in the car fast! Even with my sweater, it’s cold and windy. Brrrr! We continue our journey southward, passing through lots of fun little towns and villages. We annoy Alicetta by turning off Princes Highway to get to Gerroa – so we just turn her off! We’ve got CPS now, we’re all good! At Gerroa, we’re worried about finding the Fishermen’s Club the TI recommended, but it is right here on the main road and very well signposted. What the heck? It’s lunch time – might as well!
This is a real live Fishermen’s club – where you need to be a member to enter. Hmmmm….we notice a queue at the counter when we walk in and see that there are a few books with signs instructing non-members that they must sign in. OK, got it! So we sign in, take our little “temporary membership”chits with us and head into the dining area. Again, pub style – this time with a separate bar and food ordering area. This place is huge, so obviously it is popular with not just the locals (it is sort of remote) but with visitors as well. Everything looks great and even though we need to be better with food choices, we opt for the fried fish and the salt and pepper squid. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the grilled Barrimundi sign until long after we had ordered. Darn! Oh well – we have our buzzer, we have our drinks and we go upstairs to the “no children allowed – this includes babies” eating area!
The view is great – even if we are 2nd row! And the food is even greater. The servings are humongous – and taste incredible. Happily for me – the batter on my fish falls right off – so I pick most of the fish out – we are so stuffed – we’re eating in tonight – for certain!
Totally sated, we wind our way back to the “highway” and keep heading on down to Ulladulla. The total drive only takes about 3 1/2 hours – but we’ve been sight-seeing and just taking it easy, so we don’t pull into the Ulladulla Motor lodge until well after 2pm. It’s an adorable little place, right off the main road, but set back enough for the road noise not to be annoying.
Our room is adorable, small, but very well appointed and totally clean, a spacious eating/desk area (with our $1AU Macca cooler sitting there – what a life saver that thing is!) and a cute little courtyard downstairs where we can hang out in the evening. Well, maybe, because it is so much colder here than in Queensland, we’re thinking we don’t have the right clothing out to be hanging out in the garden at night! We’ll see….
We settle in and head off, first, for the TI at the bottom of the street then to Coles for supplies. More useful info in hand, we stock up with cheese, meats, crackers and beer/wine, then go back to stock the larder in the hotel room. We’re still figuring we’ll just snack tonight, then take the left overs with us for a picnic lunch tomorrow. But then we see an ad for the Ulladulla Oyster Bar where they serve their own local oysters from their farm on the Clyde River. they have a happy hour (yes!) and entertainment later in the evening. Hmmmm..that’s too enticing to pass up so we decide to have just a little appetizer to sample the local oysters and, of course, we can’t miss happy hour!
Even though it is completely walkable, we instead take the car because it really does look like rain again – and we definitely do not want to get caught in a deluge like we saw this afternoon, even just a few blocks from the hotel. The Oyster Bar is really, just that, a little bar/lounge type affair. We had just assume it would be some huge restaurant, but no – it is maybe 1000 sq.ft. total with a counter and cold storage in the back, sofas running down one side of the room and 3 high 6-top tables on the other side. Those tables are all reserved for the entertainment later – so we order a round of drinks, then head outside to the comfy little seating area our there. After some discussion, we decide on a dozen oysters and are able to get 2 different types to try: Parmy (remember everything must end in a “y” here!) and Cheesy Kilpatrick, which is a mix of worcheshire, tabasco and something – with cheese on top. Both are totally yummy!
We have a 2nd round, then make our way back to the hotel for the evening. Our snacking is limited as now, we are again totally full – but that just means more for our lunch tomorrow!
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