The Rainy Caravan Photos I Promised

My God it rains hard here. Rained all day and all night for three days with only momentary lapses.

Add caption

Note: 4/24/2012:  This is an older post. Finally got Internet. The sun came out after one more full day of rain and we've been having a great time. More soon.

Quick Update from Port Macquarie - Dingo, 'Roos, and Wallabies

We've had real trouble getting access to email/Internet. Right now we're inside the Port Macquarie public library after spending the morning at Crowdy Head National Park surrounded by wallabies, kangaroos, and waves.  Gorgeous beaches, just as I'd remembered them. The weather turned beautiful and warm for three days. We had a great time at Seal Rocks and Sandbar Beach. The surf has been great, almost too big. I got some fantastic rides, but also have been held under and bruised a bit. 

Catalina and I spotted a dingo roaming around in the bush. Now we've had another night of rain, but it's clearing again this morning. We're off to the Koala hospital this afternoon and will camp at Lighthouse Beach here in Port Macquarie. Photos will be posted when I get a decent Internet connection and a little bit more time.

Oh, and we had a very good curry chicken meat pie this morning (kids had donuts).

Michael

Arrival in New South Wales

Well, we're jet lagged, but we're happy to have arrived and settled in to a campsite for two nights near Soldier's Beach, Norah Head.


The kids are the "caravan" with Shannon. I'm sitting in the little kids' section in the Toukley public library. It's raining cats and dogs outside the window and has been since we arrived.  Rained about as hard as I've had the pleasure to see or hear last night. It's nice and warm, though. I've been walking around in shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals, despite the rain. It reminds me of late summer back East. 


We got here safe and sound, but had a very stressful drive in the rain through central Sydney in a huge camper and with very little sleep in our systems. We got lost twice, cursed a bit, calmed down, and figured it out alright.. The good news is that we ended up accidentally going right through central Sydney and over the Harbour Bridge. What an incredible view of Sydney, including the opera house and the bay. BTW, cup of coffee and a bun was on special at the little cafe near the rental depot. The price? Only $8.90 AUD. What a bargain. Better news were the prices in the Coles department store in Toukley. Most things cost the same or less than in Los Angeles. A few exceptions include lunch meat (sold in tiny packages for about $12 a lb.), nuts (about the same as Aussie lunch meat  per lb.), and coffee (sold primarily as freeze-dried in the groceries). 


The kids we're great on the plane, no crying at all, but neither Shannon nor I slept for more than an hour at a time. We fell asleep to the pounding of rain on the camper roof last night at 7:30 pm. The kids fell asleep as we were making dinner and didn't even get to eat. We'll nap today and try to stay up later tonight. Personally, I woke at 12:20 am, 2:30 am, and 4:30 am today. 


Still, things are good and we're off tomorrow to Seal Rocks, one of the prettiest beaches on the coast. It may rain a bit more, but it's expected to largely clear up by Friday. 


I think we'll  have Internet there, so I'll send some photos of the family, the camper, and the beach soon.


Off now to buy a knife, dish soap, and kettle - all of which were mistakenly not included in our camper. On the other hand, we got lucky and the woman at the Britz rental counter loves kids. She upgraded us to a better equipped and newer camper which will make our trip much more comfortable. Of course, she must also have noticed that our total bill came to over $4200 dollars for 21 nights! She took pity on us and I don't mind a bit. The upgrade is worth about $850 AUD over the 21 days so that's quite a deal. Moreover, the camper wasn't quite ready to go so we ended up waiting an extra 2 1/2 hours. As a result, Byron, the attendant from, of all places, Venice Beach, California, included a GPS rental for free. That saves us another $100. 


Good on ya, Byron! You're a good bloke, 


Love, 


Michael

We depart for New South Wales, and Autumn Thunderstorms, Tonight!

Well, we're off to Sydney and then a two and half hour drive to Norah Head, NSW tonight at 10:10 pm. We'll arrive there on Tuesday, April 17 at 6:10 am. Then it's off to Britz by expensive taxi to pick up our campervan and head for the Central Coast.

Unfortunately, it looks like we better bring our boots and rain parkas. This La Nina year has kept California remarkably dry, but the other side of the Pacific has been having record rains and flooding. It looks like that process continues to unfold. Here's the seven day weather forecast for the region around our first campsite:

Weatherzone.com.au Predicts  Possible Showers , Followed by Showers, Rain, and Possible Showers!

Of course the area is gorgeous and the storms will be beautiful, but driving on the wrong side of the road in a 21 foot RV in  a thunderstorm, while jet-lagged, sounds like a bit of a challenge.  At least the adventure will be in full force again. 

Another interesting twist is that we're flying out today on the largest airplane ever used in commercial service, the Airbus A380, which is famously stable in turbulence and quiet in flight and won an Australian design award for its economy class seats and. We'll be, of course, back in "steerage" where seats only cost about $5000 for four people! Premium Economy seats have been on sale lately for about $3200 each! Yikes.

The new Qantas A380 Economy seat - designed by acclaimed international designer Marc Newson - has won Standards Australia's top prize, the 2009 Australian International Design Award of the Year.

The Qantas A380 Economy seat focuses on ergonomics and comfort, featuring:

• The world's first single-beam aircraft seat, allowing more legroom.
• A seat base that moves in conjunction with recline, providing more comfort.
• Multi-adjustable headrest and cushioned armrests.
• Cushioning designed for side-sleep.
• Unique netted "footnet" leg support.
• Business and connectivity features including PC power, USB and internet ports and in-seat telephone with reply SMS functionality.
• State-of-the-art entertainment system and IFE with over 1,000 on-demand audio and video entertainment choices.

The Qantas A380 now operates on selected flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles and from Sydney to London via Singapore.

Find out more about Qantas A380 Economy.

Cheers!

Lennox Head Tornado! - June, 2010

Wow. I had no idea about this until this morning. This happened the year after I first visited the town.
Very rare, so I don't think we need worry about it, but interesting and odd nevertheless.

June 2010 - Lennox Head Tornado

Video coverage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmwH5IL7410&feature=related

Lennox Retreat, Lennox Head Info, and Aussie Destinations Map

Quick post. Here's the modest house we're renting in May. Click on a small picture for more detail. It's enough for us, I'm sure:

Lennox Retreat View

Click on this link for images and descriptions of our modest little Lennox Retreat: http://www.ljhooker.com.au/4QGP5

Here's Wikipedia's short entry on Lennox Head. You can walk to everything. No car necessary! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennox_Head,_New_South_Wales

Finally, here's a custom Google map of all the places we've so far decided to visit:


View Australia Destinations in a larger map

Aussie Trip Details Shaping Up

I've been a bit anxious about our first few nights and our first month of house rental. I noticed that despite the autumn temperatures some of the places were booking up. Thus I rented the house and set up our first six nights of camping.

Our first two nights are in Norah Head, near Soldier's Beach. It's about two hours north of Sydney:
 
View Larger Map

Soldier's Beach - Photo by Michael, 2009

Norah Head Lighthouse

Then we're off to the most expensive campsites in the whole trip. Seal Rocks is an idyllic little beach and they charge accordingly. Two nights in a beachfront camper site is $110 (AUD)! Still, check out the map and photos:

View Larger Map

Seal Rocks Camping Preserve

Seal Rocks with Treachery Beach in Background

Next we're off for two nights at Sandbar and Bushland Holiday Park. Sandbar Beach is a gorgeous sandspit backed by coastal forest. The campsites are back in the trees and there's an wooden, elevated bush trail through a small swamp and coastal forest to the massive sand spit beach and headland. There's a major lake behind the sand spit and lots of national park in all of these areas. Note that if you click on the "View Larger Map" button below there is the option to look at "Street View." Amazingly, this will show you the exact location in the trees on a dirt road where Shane and I camped in July 2009! I want to be the guy that drives the Street View photo van. They go EVERYWHERE! Anyway, at the end of that dirt road (rotate the Street View around) is where the walkway begins.

View Larger Map

Photo I took of Sandbar Beach from the Headland, 2009

At this point, we'll be really getting into Autumn and into less crowded areas so we're not making any more reservations. We're going to play it by ear. We may go inland towards the Hunter Valley and small towns or we may continue up the coast to places like Boomerang Beach, Blueys, or Port Macquarie. 

Note that if you zoom in and out on the various maps above (easier if you click on the "View Larger Map" link) you'll get a good sense of how limited coastal development still is in this part of the world.

To an American, these places seem remarkably empty. Now, if only the Australian housing market would finally collapse and the U.S. dollar strengthen. These are places where I would readily purchase a second home, if the price was right. Unfortunately, because of the Oz housing bubble and our falling currency, the price is about as wrong as it can be right now. Back in 2001 when I first visited Australia, the price was as good as it's going to ever get, but I had a new job, no money, and lots of debt. Alas, there's always the future. These graphs should help to make the point clear.

Aussie and US home values adjusted for inflation back to 1975.
Their bubble is bigger and has yet to pop! 

Since 2001, the US dollar has fallen by half relative
to AUD.

US and Aussie House Values Relative to Average Incomes

I may be waiting a while to buy that Aussie retirement home. My guess is that 2025 will be a good time to buy in Australia. That's about when their bubble will have finally deflated - or not. For all I know China will keep growing and Australia will continue to get richer on average while we continue to give all income gains to "job creators." In that case, I'd never get the Aussie beach house. That's OK, it's easier to rent.

Lennox Head Beach House

Confirmed a reservation for our first Aussie beach house early this morning. We'll be there from May 7 until June 4. If anyone wants to visit there are house rentals nearby at very reasonable rates. After June 4, of course, we can rent a larger place to accomodate visitors. If you do plan to visit in June, July, or early August, be sure to give us a sense of when you may come so we can be on the lookout for a good three bedroom rental for that period. Take a close look at the satellite map. We're right at the beach:

60 Allens Parade, Lennox Head, NSW Australia

http://maps.google.com/?q=loc:60+Allens+Parade,+Lennox+Head+NSW+2478,+Australia+(60+Allens+Parade)&sll=-28.801512,153.595972

Note that this is literally one block from Lennox Head Point, one of the world's best surf breaks. It's a few blocks from the grocer, restaurants, and ice cream shop. It's just a short drive from Byron Bay. Shane Western and I really enjoyed the surf and town here in June of 2009, but were only able to stay for, I think, two or three nights!

More on the house, town, and surf break soon.

Meanwhile, there's good south-southwest surf predicted for this Thu.-Sun. here in San Clemente! I bet we'll have some visitors.

Cheers!

Orange County Zoo - Cutest Zoo Ever?

Haven't been posting much. Frankly, things are so familiar here that we feel much less like we're on vacation. I did manage to score some very good surf in our first week here. San Clemente State Park and Cottons have both been good to me. Still, we're spending less time walking and more driving and there's a TV now. Not very novel sitting in traffic on the I-5 or waiting in line at a crowded Trader Joe's. Funny how our perception of time has changed. In Costa Rica time slowed down without the TV and with the feeling of awe and discovery we experienced every day. Now it's speeded up again. Soon we leave for Australia, however, and the adventure begins again.

Orange County Zoo; Note the black bear behind the tree!

One highlight was our visit last week to the Orange County Zoo, in Irvine Regional Park. This was a great discovery. The regional park is excellent, despite being surrounded by cookie-cutter McMansions and townhomes. Lots of grass, picnic tables, biking trails, playgrounds, and surrounded by coastal sage scrub. Most importantly there a little zoo in the middle that costs $2 a person and focuses on animals of Western North America. There's a great big cougar, two big bears, coyotes, mule deer, rattlesnakes, etc... All are in large, clean cages and seem well taken-care-of.

Sydney's Wingspan

Catalina's Wingspan

Catalina worked on a fill-in-the-blank "scavenger hunt" about the animals and plants that was provided by the zoo for kids. She did a great job and it became her science lesson for that day.

Peacocks are noisy. Ca-Caww!

We also had a great visit from the Leaver family. The little girls, especially the three older girls, were inseparable. Catalina is already wondering when they get to play again. Darren, of course, showed up with some great wines. Thanks for sharing that amazing Arrowood Special Reserve 2005 Cabernet. Best wine I've had in a long time! 

San Clemente Pier after greasy snack shop lunch.

Ice Cream!

Finally, we booked our camper for 21 days of beach cruising in New South Wales. The cost was shocking, but it's what we've been planning to do so,  money be damned,  we're going!

http://www.drivenow.com.au/travel-centre/britz/britz-4berth-explorer-motorhome.jspc#camper-driving-features 

Cheers!

This Morning's View and Going to "Church"

Here's the view outside our living room window right now. Note the wave breaking at the bottom of the canyon (click to enlarge photo):

Surfed a rocky point break called "Church" this morning. Got there before sunrise and we were the first three people out. Surfed it just the three of us for about an hour and it remained uncrowded for a long time. Winds were offshore all morning. It was overcast and the sky and the sea blended together to make one grey image. Hard to distinguish the waves from the sky as they rolled in. Size was small most of the time, but about every ten minutes a good head high or better wave would roll in and peel off beautifully. I grabbed a bunch of really good ones. Point breaks are great. 

I especially loved my Becker 6'2" x 20 1/4" x 2 5/8" mini-egg/pod this morning. It glides great and yet it can be turned on a time. The tail if very wide so it's super loose and almost want to slide through tight turns. Gave it the best ride of its life this morning: top to bottom turns, a good floater, and a racy hollow section. The ride must have been almost a 100 yards long.

Catalina is taking a break from school work to watch Backyardigans (love that show; makes me want to dance!) and the baby is sound asleep. Shannon's making mac 'n' cheese for the kids (and for her, I supect). Things are good. 

Finally, La Rocca's Pizza makes good slices and sells good, cheap Chianti. Went there yesterday. We'll go back.