We booked a spontaneous 2 nights at Jervis Bay National Park camping ground on the weekend just gone and dashed down after work and school on Friday for 2 nights unpowered getting back to nature. It was all we had hoped for and more!
We approached the unpowered nature of our trip with a little trepidation as it is fair to say until now I have been a hair dryer and straighteners kind of girl! I purchased a little portable hair dryer in the hope that I would find a plug but the GHD's stayed at home....
We drove down on the coast road out of Sydney and were afforded the most amazing views of the ocean and beaches on our left and the rainforest on our right. We rocked up at the camp site and had about an hour and a 1/2 before it got dark so we were on a mission to get our tent up, beds in and up etc..... Rather pleasingly we got it all done in an hour and then headed off for a walk around the site and down to the beach. The sand at Jervis Bay is white and very fine which is lovely and as it turns out it reflects the moonlight very well so it stayed light enough to be there until gone 8.30. Finn & Isla ran around and let off some steam and we unwound and relaxed in no time at all.
The site we stayed at, Green Patch, is right next to the beach, amongst the trees and the area is teaming with wildlife. Frogs, lizards, kangaroos, wallabies, parrots, kookaburras to name a few. We played on the beach all day Saturday, had a sausage sizzle and made our own take on S'mores.......yum. Digestive biscuits, sandwiched with 2 chunks of Cadbury's warmed and toasted marshmallows. Very good!
We slept so well on the 2nd night after a day of being outdoors and none of us woke before 8.20 the next day, which is a record for Finn & Isla!
On the Sunday we had an explore around the National Park and took a walk around a lighthouse on the ocean side of the park. I am pretty sure I saw a whale, twice! The weather became pretty muggy all of a sudden and a storm was in the air, we carried on anyway and checked out the Minnamurra Rainforest, 10 minutes into our walk we were caught by the storm in a spectacular fashion, torrential rain, thunder and lightening directly overhead and then hail! We were drenched within 5 minutes and had to do the run of shame back to the visitor's centre! Finn & Isla giggled the whole way back, and so did we, it was still 25 degrees so not cold at all.
Breakfast outside our tent after a good nights sleep! I love that the pitch is so 'in' the bush.
The victim and wound
The perpetrator. Nasty Mr Leech and his anticoagulant properties.... Oh, and Andy's leg for scale....and more blood evidence.
Wow. Beautiful Jervis Bay.
The lagoon section at Green Patch where we spent all of Saturday. This is just a small section of it. Love the trees here.
Pretty tame kangaroo and a joey that really should move out! She could still hop fast with this juvenile hitching a ride.
Isla in the bottom bunk at around 8.30 in the morning - unheard of!
View from the lighthouse.
Minnamurra rainforest walk, just before it rained!
Had to pop this one in from yesterday. This is Brightmore Reserve in Cremorne, it has a childrens bike route that looks like a mini road. They loved it and we were the only ones there for the hour that we were there.
Jervis Bay was so lovely we have booked to head back in December for a weekend with my Mum & Stepdad, slightly cautious/reluctant campers that they are I am hoping that the beauty will make it all worth it....
