Aug 11, 2025 Heading South
We had a few hours to use up this afternoon in Canberra while we waited for our evening bus to take us to Eden, 4.5 hours to the south.
We visited a small park and saw several bird species, including several curious Pukeko as they are known in New Zealand where we saw plenty of them. They are Austalasian Swamphens, found in 3 areas of Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea and several Pacific Islands as well as New Zealand.
Our Coach sped us into the night, with views of the Australian rolling hills, dotted with white sheep, black cows and mobs of brown kangaroos, all grazing on the winter-brown grasses.
We arrived in Eden well after dark and walked the short distance to our Airbnb, the way illuminated by the full moon reflecting off the calm ocean waters of Twofold Bay.
Aug 10, 2025 Images in Canberra
The weather was unsettled in Canberra. We finally felt like it is winter here! Mid-50 degrees (f) during the day, low-30’s (f) at night. We took a few walks into the Red Hill Nature Reserve behind the Airbnb and to the nearest grocery store.
From Red Hill Summit we spotted a few lounging kangaroos (one is lying down to the right) and got a view of the Australian Parliament building down below.
The colorful cockatoos and vermillion/kelly green king parrots flocking around the city are jewels of bright color among the brown winter leaves and bare trees.
Aug 8, 2025 Travel Day
Today we caught a bus, a train, another bus and another train to reach Canberra, ACT (that’s Australian Capital Territory).
The second bus was a ‘coach’ that took us over the precipitous Macquarie Pass that crosses the Illawarra Escarpment. The hairpin bends required the bus to reverse and do a 3 point turn, appearing like we were driving straight into the Fern covered cliff faces! We couldn’t believe how many trucks were using this route!
Our travel profile! Convenient and keeps our hands free to carry a coffee or grab a railing on a train or bus!
Aug 7, 2025 Coastal Walk Part 3
Yesterday we had a view of the Kiama Lighthouse, but we didn’t hike all the way to it. That would have added another 5 miles to our 10 mile hike!
So today we took the bus into Kiama and leisurely walked through town to see the Lighthouse up close.
Below the point on which the lighthouse stands is a rock swimming pool. No one was in it today, but there was a young couple in bathing suits goading each other to jump in. We didn’t wait around to see if they finally jumped!
On the other side of the point is the Kiama Blowhole, billed as “the Largest Blowhole in the World”. I don’t know about that, I’ve seen some big blowhole plumes on the Oregon Coast! This is what we saw today: Kiama Blowhole!
Aug 6, 2025 Coastal Walk Part 2
Today we tackled the longest south portion of the Kiama Coastal Walk. We took the train 8.5 miles south to the town of Gerringong (pronounced Jer-in-gong) where we found the END of the trail and walked north towards the beginning of the trail!
From the train station to the trail we had to walk through town and past the most picturesque cemetery with fabulous views!
Then we discovered we had to wade through the inlet to a lagoon! Luckily the sandy bottom was firm and the cold water was only knee deep.
The views along the track were fantastic! Across the South Pacific Ocean, and inland across the pastures up to the Illawarra escarpmant. The Rainforest we visited yesterday once covered the whole area down to the seaside. Europeans who arrived here in the early 19th century removed the whole rainforest ecosystem in the span of a few decades!
Fascinating geologic features were explained as well.
All in all it was an over 10 mile hike!
