Bell Birds or Rubbing trees?

We are still alive and well. I am just sitting in our living room of our apartment for the night in a place called Mallacotta. We had to make a little detour because we were very low on gas and this was the next closest place (which is impressive because we have drove about 900 kms without filling up once). We drove through 24 kms of beautiful National Park. The town itself is also very nice and it is right next to the beach. If we have time, we will check it out in the morning.

On Wednesday we drove up to the Northern Beaches and spent a little while at Whale Beach and Narrabeen Beach. It was perfect beach weather. We checked into a family room at the YHA in Collaroy. It was a reallly nice hostel. We then met up with Steve and Kristin for dinner. They gave us some tips on where to stop and stay while on the South East Coast of Australia.

The next morning we took off down the coast with our first stop, Wollongong. David and I had to walk through the city to find and information store only to find out that it was closed down. We didn't like the vibe that we got from the city. Probably won't visit it again. In the afternoon we stopped in a cute little town called Berry for some cake and scones. The scenery is beautiful, hilly and green. A bit like the scenery we had seen in New Zealand. We stopped a few times to pull over and take photos. Our last stop of the day was in a place called Bateman's Bay where we shared a renovated trailer. We had chicken pitas for supper, I have been craving one since they only seem to have them in Canada and the States. Nobody around here knows what they are.

Today we left Bateman's Bay and headed to Narooma where we stopped for yummy ice cream. There was a huge selection! It was great. We then headed to a rock that has a natural hole in the rock that is shaped like Australia. We also got to see three sting rays up close eating fish. They were brown with blue spots, apparently they are the dangerous ones. The locals told me I could step on them but I kept my distance. We drove through Bega, a big brand name for cheese in Australia, and stopped for a short snack break in a place called Pambula. Throughout the day we'd heard what sounded like wind chime noises coming from the trees and had no idea wht they were. We joked that they might be from the trees rubbing together, and when we asked a local what the noise was she said it was the trees rubbing together. Silly...we asked another local and she said it was Bell Birds. That was a better explanation.

And now back to the beginning, we are sat in the living room, drinking tea with biscuits, it's what happens when you are with British people, as I am sure you have learned.

Tomorrow we hope to get close to Melbourne...... we will see how that goes. We do not really have any plans, we kind of just go with the flow. It has been so far so good!

We are really enjoying the trip and the beauty, it feels like everytime we go to a new place it becomes are favourite part.

That's all for now.

Holly and David (and Andy)