After Sydney we went back to the van at The Entrance North. This was good for me because it was easy to fish from there.  We were just down the road from the beach too. Children were very happy that Peta and Jesse had a spare room with a couple beds for them, so they could live in comfort.

There is a big bridge that goes over a huge expanse of beautiful, blue water. We spent an afternoon on the stand up paddle board at a peaceful little place called Toowoon Bay.

There’s pelicans everywhere (see feeding below) and fish literally jumping out of the water. I actually caught a flathead and a tailor. What more could you ask?

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We spent a day exploring the nearby town of Newcastle. It’s a great place that seems to have many positive attributes. We took the memorial walk along the water and watched as some hang gliders took off from the cliffs (or it could’ve been an escarpment). We spent the whole day there and did more walking than your average bushwalk with a minimum of complaining.

Thanks go to Peta and Jesse who were very tolerant of having such a disruption to their peaceful lives. Special thanks to J for setting up a tent in the backyard so that Lou could spend her first night in the great outdoors.

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We were hoping to go to Kiama, but couldn’t get a booking so we have stopped in the Gong for a couple of nights.

Just as an aside I have been thinking about what locals call themselves in these different places. People from Newcastle call themselves Novacastrians. Would those from Wollongong call themselves Gongers?