Bomaderry to Heathcote

Monday December 1, 2014

We're up early and hooray, I can have a shower!  Then we try and wash all the clothes we've got and since it's not raining there is a chance we can get everything dry before we have to leave.

While the machines do their job I do some reading and sudoko and go for a walk along the river where I take some pictures as we have been allowed some extended time to get the washing dry.

Shoalhaven River

Then, at 11 am, we leave for Kiama, a place I really want to visit, because it was our first outing after we arrived in Australia in 1980.  We were then taken to the Blowhole, a tourist attraction that still exists.  

We arrive at 12 pm and after lunch we go for a walk to the Blowhole and of course I take lots of pictures. 

Kiama

Kiama Blowhole

Kiama Lighthouse

Kiama harbour

When we come back from our walk, after a nice chat with a young man from New Zealand who has come to live in Australia, we enjoy some quiet time with a cup of tea and nuts (as I don't eat biscuits). The weather has turned beautiful again and it's a shame we have to leave so soon again.

It's 2 pm and we are on our way to Heathcote.  We arrive there at mid afternoon only to find that there are no spaces left at the caravan park. Luckily Patricia can be very persuasive and the girl at the reception finds us a spot next to a vacant cabin.  We're happy.  Although we don't have power, we do have toilets.  The caravan park is teeming with little rabbits, but they are too camera shy to sit still long enough for me to take a picture.  They are very cute though.

While it is still early Patricia opts for a rest and I go for a sentimental walk.  In 1980 we rented our first house in Heathcote, so I set out on foot to walk into town as well as to the railway station where I want to find a cache.  Well, the cache I didn't find, but our old house I did as well as the house of Mien, an old friend of us from Heusden, who used to live just around the corner for a number of years.

Our old house, somewhat changed since we lived there

The girl guides hall across the road

Bella Vista street, going down very steeply

A new addition to Mien's old house

The granny flat at the back

The front of the house

A tree lined street

Our boys' primary school

Entry of the school

A new overpass over the Princes Highway

The garage on the corner

When I come back from my walk there is an icecream van at the park and Patricia feels like buying one, but it is one of those home icecream vans that doesn't sell by the piece.  She buys a packet of six and decides that it's too much for us since we don't have a freezer.  She offers one each to two little children close by (with permission from their mother of course) and we eat one each.  After dinner we eat the other one, but too much icecream (one of them almost molten doesn't agree with me and I have to make a beeline for the toilets.  Luckily I brought charcoal tablets on the trip and I am soon over the cramps and the rest.  This is the second time after eating icecream, so I'd better be careful in the future. 

When I am feeling up to it I do a bit of bookkeeping (keep the budget in check!), read and go to bed.

It's been a real good day.