Wild times

I passed through Exeter today. It was drizzly and there were some backward people. Yes, I am still in Australia!

Exeter is between here and the coast and this weekend I was in Jervis Bay, home to officially (according to Guinness Book of Records) the whitest sand in the world. Now whether it is the whitest or not, I think the question on my mind is how the hell do they come up with such stupid records?! I probably could have a world record for, I dunno, having the most exclamation marks after one sentence !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Saturday morning, two pommies, a couple of Brazilians and a Spaniard braved the cloudy cool conditions and went on a boat trip around the bay and out to sea. Whales often come into the bay to shelter on their annual migration routes but not today. Instead they preferred to drag us out of the relative calm and onto the rollercoaster of the Pacific Ocean. Before I held my head in my hands focusing only on the floor and sucking one of those red and white mints, a humpback whale and her calf put on a bit of a show in the distance. This is the best image I have, not bad given that one hand was gripped on a railing so that I didn’t fall overboard…

Back in the bay, and slightly less pale, there were a few dolphins feeding by some rocks. And here’s the best picture I got of them.

Am I sounding like David Attenborough yet?!

Well, after the boat cruise it was good to get on terra firma and explore the area a bit more. The southern half of the Bay area is covered by Booderee National Park, which boasts plenty of bushland, a few endangered species, plunging cliffs and those white sandy beaches. This is the scene at Murray’s Beach.

Here a little swamp wallaby who decided to venture onto the sand.

Near Murray’s Beach was Governor Head, a rocky outcrop looking out into the Pacific and it’s migrating whales…we saw a couple more out to sea flapping about a little. Back inland were some Botanical Gardens where (keeping the Attenborough theme going) this Kookaburra posed quite happily.

So after the wildlife it was time to see the, er, wildlife in the Husky Pub. The good news is it was better than the Narooma pub (see previous post) and whilst the band didn’t have the same billing as the now legendary Nashberries, they were crowd-pleasers nonetheless. Sampling these local Aussie pubs in the back of beyond is what it’s all about.

Well, summer is here and with it came a top of 17C and rain on Sunday. The rain was good for a stop on the journey home – Fitzroy Falls in Morton National Park. The falls were plunging impressively down to something but you couldn’t see what, as the scene was a bit of a white-out. A place to go back to I think (and provide photos of something you can see).

Given the conditions, there was nothing better to do than visit a museum in a small place called Berrima. Museums in small country towns offer a taste of the real Australia. The people who run them are enthusiastic beyond belief and all for a couple of old fish knives and some old invitation to the mayor of Bowral. Some of it was of interest to be fair, there’s just only so much that Berrima can offer to the history of the world.

It was a shame in a way that we spent so long in Berrima as it meant we had to whiz past Goulburn and the Big Merino at 130kph. Some people would say that isn’t fast enough, but, I mean, it’s the home of the Big Merino, man. Anyway, as we neared the nations capital (as the road signs helpfully point out) the sun came out and all was warm and sunny again. Good old trusty Canberra!