Bateman's Bay and Jervis Bay

Bateman's Bay.

We left the Snowy Mountains and headed for the coast. The drive was (once again) winding roads up and down through the mountains.

After about a 5 hour drive, we found the dirt road that led to Pebbly Beach. It was an unbelievably washboarded road that forced us to crawl or have our fillings shaken out. When we reached the beach, we spent some time eating a late lunch and exploring the tide pools.

The tidepools were filled with shells and limpets.







Danielle went to check out the campground. We were trying to decide whether we wanted to stay there or venture another hour (or so) north to Jervis Bay. Gabbi, Jacqui, and I walked the beach a bit and the girls noticed a mob of kangaroos emerging from the woods. Of course, they wanted to go and pet them! I warned them that it was unlikely that these 'roos would be as friendly as our previous campground visitors and that they would probably hop away if they got too close.



I was wrong.




There were a lot of rainbow lorikeets flying around here.

The goannas were very cool looking (and kind of intimidating).


After watching the kangaroos, goannas, and birds, we decided to head north, hit a grocery store, and find the "Green Patch" campground that had been recommended to us by some folks that we met at Kosciusko. The ride ended up taking about an hour and a half (plus the stop for groceries), so it was well after dark when we arrived. After a quick supper, we were ready to hit the sack.

The next morning, we got up and had a nice pancake breakfast. After stowing our gear and our beds and making sure nothing would fall off of the countertops... we headed to our first hike of the day.



We did a nice hike along the shoreline that wrapped back inland and joined a nature trail.

There were quite a few of these crimson rosellas along the start of the trail.

The moon was still out as we started the hike.


Jacqui was convinced that one of these rosellas would hop onto her arm!


You can pretty much count on finding a balance beam on any hike (anywhere).

We caught a glimpse of this swamp wallaby.


A very cool hollowed out tree.

This natural arch was a fun exploring and climbing spot.


Toward the end of the hike, we came across this snake. It's hard to tell the perspective (no one would go stand next to it...), but I'd say it was about 6 feet long. I was surprised at the light color (we all remembered it being very dark, before we saw the pictures).


Luckily, it did not block our way for very long.

For lunch, we headed to the Botanical Garden and explored for an hour or so before heading to Fitzroy Falls.

The mud along the shoreline of this lake was extremely sticky and tried to steal the girls shoes!



The first kookaburra of the trip!