9th June 2024

Our plan, during their winter months, is to spend 2 months driving around parts of Australia, in a borrowed Renault Master, to include getting into the remote Red Centre via Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Uluru.

We intend to head North into Queensland from New South Wales and then to head North West into the Northern Territories through sparsely populated Outback until we reach Uluru where we will slow down to take in the majestic scenery and to hear and learn about ancient traditions.

Our journey will conclude by passing through some of South Australia including Adelaide and its vineyards, a hop over to Kangaroo Island to see Puffins, and then on to Melbourne before heading back to Sydney to return the borrowed van. We estimate that we should cover around 9,000 kilometers over a two month period, and sleep in the van half of the time and benefit from friendly invites on other nights.

Apparently 90% of Australians live within 50 kilometers of the coast, so before we leave the populated Eastern coastal areas, we plan to visit as many people as we can who are, largely connected, to remote parts of my family tree. For this I thank my, now deceased, Australian mother. This approach to anyone we know, will be replicated when we reach the Southern coastal route.

Before we set off on our challenge, we have been delighted to sleep off the jet lag staying with my brother and his wife, in Waterfall Cottage. They have recently married and settled in Bayview, Sydney. There we have been generously fed and watered and shown the sheer beauty of the surrounding beaches and coastal roads in the Pittwater corner of the Northern Beaches.

It would have been rude to rush off on our travels when there were so many real unspoiled delights on our doorstep which our family was eager to share. Plus the jet lag demanded a slow start before taking to the road.

Around each corner of the beach hugging coastal road, yet another sandy beach sprang into view, accompanied by its surf club bar and its own Ocean pool, accessible from the shore and yet refreshed constantly by the ebbs and flows of the surrounding sea water.

Most beaches, even in the week winter sun, had a cluster of black clad surfers relentlessly catching the rolling waves and paddling back out to start all over again.

On the shore line, small groups of children dug holes in the sand and invented sandy kingdoms which would be washed away by relentless tides. As children have done in timeless fashion.

I was told by a cousin, that it would take around 29 years to visit one new Aussie beach every day – there are 10,685 of them!

I can believe this, as within 10 kilometers of my brother’s beautiful Bayview home, there were at least 10 stunning sandy beaches. These included Mona Vale, Palm, Avalon and Whale Beaches.

In the company of him and his lovely wife, we walked along the causeway and ended up at the furthest most point at Barrenjoey Head lighthouse, accessible by a steep walk up a well maintained track. Looking back to catch your breath you can see the sea on one side and the ocean on the other separated only by the narrowest of paths. This geographical phenomenon has been a draw for families in a timeless fashion.

Indeed one of my cousins, now in her 80’s remarked that as a child she had been up to the lighthouse and told the following story.

“ In the graveyard at Barrenjoey Lighthouse is the grave of the first lighthouse keeper. Written on the headstone are the words “All ye who come my grave to see, prepare in time to follow me, Repent at once without delay, for I in haste was called away.”

How do I know this? When my sister Bronwen was about nine and I was seven, we visited friends of our aunt who lived in a house at the bottom of Mt Barrenjoey. Bronwen and I were sent off to walk to the top and to prove we went all the way we had to learn the poem on the headstone.

More than seventy years later I still remember it.”

This coast line with its sheltered inlets and beaches is also a draw for the leisure boating community and the natural harbours are full of moored and visiting craft bobbing gently on the glistening water under blue skies peppered with white clouds.

I haven’t mentioned the sea view homes dotted along the shore, but just to say that these command eye watering prices and being a short hop to Sydney, ensure that the smart set can be home for cocktails and a barbecue in a setting that few can really ever dream of.

My brother described the area as the Sydney Hamptons, to give you a feel. Nowhere was social housing to be seen.

However unlike the Hamptons, the upmarket lanes with exclusive sea views were lined with expectant colourful refuse bins all in coded livery, denoting their recycling credentials. This was a Sunday, so we were puzzled?

The shore line has a sprinkling of pretty jetties, small clusters of sea view bars and restaurants to cater to a range of pockets, all busy serving a large variety of seafood, or pizza! And some of these we sampled with more visiting cousins, all in the interest, ofcourse, of soft landings!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_pools_in_Australia#:~:text=Ocean%20pools%20are%20an%20important,can%20wash%20into%20the%20pool.

Before taking our leave of this peerless corner of Sydney, courtesy of my brother, I had to catch a sea view sunrise over Mona Vale beach. Even at 6am as daybreak was beginning to appear, already the keen surfers were there ready to catch a few early rollers. It was as the sun rose over the beach scene that I could understand why, if you could, you might choose to live as close to the sea as this. I thought briefly, life is a beach!