When I look back on Newcastle, my main memory will be the transition from trousers to shorts. Having lived in Tasmania the previous few months, and then drove up via Melbourne and Wollongong, it was the heat of Newcastle that got me that day. I left off my last part of the road trip after Read more about Road Trip Part 15 – Newcastle[…]
From the “Chinese” experience of Wollongong I drove up hills and through pretty mountainous areas on route to Sydney, which I intended to by-pass and get through quickly without stopping. But I ended up bang in the middle of Sydney bang in the middle of rush hour and it was total mayhem. It took me Read more about Road Trip Part 14 – Rush Hour in Sydney, Torrential Rain and A Sleep at Ourimbah[…]
I’d heard of Wollongong and I often confused it with an old tennis player – Yvonne Goologong, also Australian but with no link. Wollongong is a city south of Sydney on the coast of New South Wales. While staying in the Chilli Blue hostel in Sydney’s King’s Cross I always noticed prominent road signs for Read more about Road Trip Part 13 – Nan Tien Temple, Wollongong[…]
From the free maps and guides I got at Foster the day before, it was obvious that Kiama was a “must-stop” at place along the way and it turned out that way. A beautiful quiet peaceful seaside town with charm, ocean waves and natural beauty. From my petrol stop at Nowra, Kiama was a mere Read more about Road Trip Part 12 – Kiama[…]
CAST YOURSELF BACK TO APRIL 2010….It’s my new home – it feels sublime and surreal. it’s peaceful and tranquil. It’s amazing. Actually it’s quite beautiful, but isolated and lonely. This mountain village of Poatina is indeed somewhere in the Tasmanian Wilderness. You have to see it to believe it, or perhaps, like me, you have Read more about Life In Isolation – Poatina![…]
I had heard of neither location. Nowra Ulladulla or Narooma. My solo road trip was well underway though. I had left behind the states of Tasmania and Victoria and was now back in New South Wales. I had just watched Spain beat Honduras 2-0 in the World Cup and drove for a breakfast stop at Read more about Road Trip Part 11 – Narooma, Ulladulla and Nowra[…]
Apart from Tasmania, Victoria is the smallest state in Australia, which actually came as a surprise to me, as I had passed across the border into New South Wales before I even knew it… The road signs change slightly – individual state governments have different road sign ideas. To slow drivers down and prevent accidents, Read more about Road Trip Part 10 – Cann River, Pambula, Yellow Pinch Dam and the return to New South Wales[…]
I grew up and was raised in Marlo, a small housing area in Kilmaine in the south of Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. That is where I’m really from. This year I have thought about my childhood a lot, probably too much. I liked some of it, but not all of it. I miss the Read more about Road Trip Part 9 – Flashback to my Childhood at Marlo[…]