New South Wales

Agra is believedsite of an ancient Hindu Kingdom, but the city
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December 20, 2004:
I got off to a very late start and didn't even leave Sydney house until about 1:30 in the afternoon. It took me a while to get the proper directions to get out of the city. Driving in a busy city based on internet directions just isn't fun. Particularly when half the streets don't have street signs. What is WITH these countries? I kept having to double back and find the street that I was supposed to take. Then after following the convoluted directions, I discovered on the map that there was a much easier way.

Still I made it to my destination so that is all that matters anyway. My first stop along the way was the royal national park. It is only 18Km south of sydney and it is a huge national park... like yosemite or something. It has hundreds of great hikes, including a 26KM coastal hike that you can take and sleep along the way. I ran into a troop of kids who were doing that.

Journal Continued:
Im telling you, Sydney sounds like a great place to be. Of course, I shouldn't forget about the flies. Oz has a real problem with flies. They buzz around your face and are incredibly annoying. I thought that it was just in the red center that there was this irritating problem so I left my little flynet behind -- but that was stupid. The flies have left the red center and made it to the coast. You spend at least 20 seconds of every minute waving flies off of your face. Now I am not sure if there is a solution that the natives have discovered or not, but that is a serious deterent to moving to the land down unda.

I took a short hike that brought me to the ocean coast. I walked out on this sandstone area -- and crawled to the edge to look over. Only then did I realize that the ledge was just a ledge... with nothing under it to support it. I scampered back from the edge -- I have seen sandstone just crumble under weight before-- not funny. Still the sandstone looked beautiful, all weathered and worn by the wind and elements. I wish that I could have spent more time hiking around, but given my later departure from Sydney and a 9pm check in time limit for my hostel in bateman's bay-- I figured I should get going.

Above: An large iguana type lizard, he lives near the coast and has fabulous views.

Left: The view along the hiking trail in the Royal National Park South of Sydney. If you look close, you might be able to see the 1500 flies. Or maybe not.

Below: A momma roo and her joey.

Journal Continued:
I hurried south, and didn't stop anywhere else, although there were lots of places that attracted my attention. If I had had even more time, I would stay a few days in each of the parks, of which there were many. I finally found my way to Pebbly beach-- the reason for staying in batemans bay. For some reason roos hang on this beach and eat the beach grass and from time to time play in the waves. When I got there, the temp had dropped a lot from earlier in the day and the roos weren't playing in the waves, but they were eating and I saw a mom and a joey in her pouch. They are all pretty tame and I even got to pet a couple of them. There was also a teen roo too. He was more timid and followed the older roos around. A couple of kids ran up to them trying to pet them and I got to film the roos hopping away annoyed. Their hopping is very cool.. the tail for a counterbalance. They also use the tail for a third leg as they "walk" when they aren't hopping fast. You know, they are great for going fast, but they are really inefficient at going slow.

December 21, 2004:
I am in a small coastal town on the south of Oz. The weather here is like it is in SF area... which isn't making me too happy. I liked it when it was hot. However, this is likely better for my skin. My back has been bugging me a lot though and I am having to readjust my original plans—I think that the distances are just far too great. I think that I was just overly ambitious about how far I could get in the end. SO, I am canceling some reservations and hope I can find places on the way. In any case, everything is still lovely though.

Journal Continued:
Yesterday, I left late from Batemans Bay, and I had a long drive ahead of me. I stopped for lunch at Eden and a hike just south of there at Ben Boyd National park. The hike would have been just amazing, but the flies were so frightening. I mean, if I stopped to take a pic, there were literally hundreds buzzing around. I don't understand what the deal is. These are unlike the flies that we have in the US. I have never been hunted like this. I have a cut on my leg and if I stopped, and looked down there would be the flies trying to get into my cut. SO, I walked as fast as I could without stopping much. From there, I drove into Lakes Entrance. I didn't stop much on the way, and it was a 3 hour drive.

Journal Continued:
December 23, 2004:
Yesterday I was in Lakes Entrance... a pretty little seaside community. I went for a walk along 90 mile beach which is over 90miles long. I didn't walk that far, but I walked a fur piece. The wind was cool, so it felt good to stroll along. When I decided to sit and watch the waves for a while, I stripped down to my swimmies and put lotion on and all. But then there were like a thousand flies, so I added bug spray over that. It did the trick. No flies bothered me and for a little over an hour I sat and read-- on my tummy for a while and then on my back for a while.

Journal Continued:
I think that the bug spray acted like a magnifying glass-- I got a bad burn. The only places that I am not burned are the few places that I didn't put the bug spray and my face which was under the hat. So so so so stupid. You would think that after 30 years, I would have learned my lesson- but this bug spray thing threw me. No excuses, that was just plain stupid. I have been yelling at myself ever since. That was around 2:30 when I left Lakes Entrance.

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