(13/3/07)  Pt 159 Crowdy Bay National Park (Pictures)

 

This was the first place we saw kangaroos (Grays).  It wasn’t hard.  They were just hanging out in the middle of the campground ignoring scores of tents, caravans and RVs with their associated humans.  There was even a mamma with Joey nursing and another baby in her pouch within petting distance. This park had a very modern brick toilet building with cold showers.  A helpful park manager on contract lived with his family on the site.  A short walk brought us to another nice beach at Diamond Head, not to be confused with the one in Hawaii.  We found sea shells and kangaroo tracks in the sand.

            At night fruit bats were eating in the trees above us and regularly dropping husks etc. on the camper.  We talked to people about where we lived and where they lived.  We did some strategic planning and went looking for koalas without success but saw some more goannas.  We traversed 17 km of very bad washboard on our way out and were glad when we finally negotiated the roads, including a two bridge roundabout above the freeway, to get to Cessnock, the center of the Hunter Valley wine region.  We arrived at their information center after it had closed, but a guy drove up in a car with “www.aussiewinetours.com” on the back and led us most of the way to a Big 4 caravan park/campground.  We ate at the on site Blue Thai restaurant and poured over the very comprehensive visitor guide of the region planning out our own wine tour for the next day.