The Road trip

It was 17-Feb. My birthday. We flew into Sydney and took a train to the city to check into IBIS. We were in the heart of the city and lots to see. A quick check-in and we stepped out to walk all around Central Sydney. We explored darling harbor, took a boat ride under the Sydney harbor bridge, headed to the guided tour of the opera house and had some Belgian chocolate at the Guliyan’s café. “Nikhil, we drove on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Now we have to drive on the Sydney Harbour Bridge”, said Arpita and I agreed. We took a walk back to the hotel alongside the Sydney tower and the Hyde Park. It was very nice to be at a metro like Sydney and still able to enjoy this kind of walking. After freshening up at the hotel, we

stepped out for dinner and possibly to the casino. The casino didn’t happen. The dinner did. At a Korean restaurant. There was a young boy who was our steward. Making a living in the night and studying in the day. He organized a special vegetarian meal for Arpita while the rest of us devoured a Korean special bowl of chicken. It was good. It is not customary to tip in Australia and the young boy was very thankful when we did tip him.

The birthday ended. Very eventful. Lots of new places. Wonderful new experiences. And to top it all, Belgian Chocolate.

When we woke up the next day, it seemed like we had already covered all of Sydney. All that we wanted to see. We had to head out. As a special request, the hotel allowed us to do so. They also took care of reservations at alternate locations which we ultimately didn’t use.

This was the part where the trip became very interesting. It was flexible. It was unplanned. It was adventure. After a lot of back and forth, we decided we would head to New Castle, spend the night and then the next day start driving south towards Melbourne. I picked up the car at Hertz, made friends with Aggie who told me all about the Coastal drive which was a must when heading to Melbourne and learnt about the perils of driving in Sydney CBD. Missing a turn meant going round in circles. I must have made 3 of them before finally reaching the hotel to pick up every one else and to head out to New Castle. Before we started out our drive to New Castle though, we had to visit Bondi. One of the most famous beaches in the world. It was a stop for nearly an hour and it was a good. Hot sun. Good crowd. And us standing. Watching. As recommended, we enjoyed the Oporto burger and topped it with Frozen Yogurt. After this, we drove out.

And so it began, the Road trip, on the Princes Highway, A1. The traffic within Sydney was not enjoyable. It was about an hour and a half before we pulled into New Castle. We went around the town quite literally trying to get ourselves a nice hotel which we could be close to the beach and finally settled for Merewether motel close to Merewether beach. The motel was good. Nice room and no elevators. Arpita surprised me with taking both the bags up to the room. I still can’t figure out how she did it! By this time, Pooja was getting nostalgic with us texting her and sharing our location. I could sense she wanted to be there. King St, Wharf St, etc etc. The recommendations were flowing. She wanted us to do so much. We did a lot. We also drove to the wrong King St to have dinner and experienced the most amazing roosting of cockatoos. It was like 1000s of birds in trees. Almost like the glow worms – white spots in a

dark sky. Arpita spotted these and it was an amazing find to say the least. Dinner was simple. Dinner was nice. We drove to the Merewether beach at night. Sat down and enjoyed the cool breeze. The ocean waves and the starry night. We also saw for the first time, a pool with the ocean water. It was a fantastic concept. A simple earmarked and secluded area, manmade to accommodate the ocean waters and create a big pool.

We wondered if we ever could do something like this with a Juhu beach. We could with the only exception that no pool would be big enough in India at any time. We would possibly have 50,000 people at any given time and some even choosing to wash their clothes. We laughed at the thought and went on to fish out our mobiles to see Jupiter in the starry sky.

The next day, we debated again between visiting and skipping Hunter valley. We finally drove to Draytons winery at Hunter valley. I decided. After all, I was at the wheel and what I decided is where we went to! We spent time tasting wines and ultimately buying some. Chocolate Liquer! We started a conversation with a local and he guided us as to what were the stops we should make along the Pacific drive.

Now we headed south. We had to drive on the bridge as promised.

Soon, we were crossing Sydney. We were heading to Wollongong and after Sydney we were driving on the Great Pacific Drive. It was much anticipated and we all waited with baited breath to get on the bridge. Finally after the various trials using Google maps we managed. Not once, not twice but in total thrice to be driving back and forth on the bridge. We went back and forth only because I kept missing turns or taking the wrong ones!! Entirely worth it though. Arpi’s wish again came true.

We continued through some Sydney suburbs, Canterbury if I remember correctly before getting onto the Princes highway. We were low on fuel. We took the deviation into the Pacific drive, drove in the forest. No cars. No people. We were lower on fuel. We came onto the Otford point where we saw the most amazing view down into the ocean and the various beaches. We forgot about the fuel. But there were some people. My heart was in my mouth during this drive. I didn’t want to stop as we entered the forest. We didn’t. We made it and the Otford point was absolutely mind blowing. The next stop was a deviation. It was Helensburg to top up the tank. As we drove further, it was the Sea Cliff bridge. Breathtaking. Stunning. We pulled over and walked a bit. Simply awesome. Words fail to describe this location. It was nearing Night and we had to reach Jervis bay. We also had to reach the Bullis look out before that. This lookout point overlooked the entire town of Wollongong. Just

past 8pm and Google read Bullis lookout as just around the corner. Again my instincts got the better of me and we drove at least for the next 30-45 mins trying to get into the look out. It was just a small miss but a drive of nearly 25 km to recover. Not once, twice. Finally around 9pm we came to the lookout. It was spectacular. The ocean studded with ship lights. The town lit in a kind of a grid. We had the option to continue further to Jervis bay after dinner which we managed quite by sheer luck and thanks to Aussie Hospitality or simply find a hotel here itself. To our luck yet again, the lookout point had rooms and decided to check-in here itself.

It turned out to be an awesome decision. The view the next morning was equally splendid. The town visible. The sea visible. And chimneys spewing white smoke. Supposedly steel mills. We headed out early. Our plan was to get as close as possible to Melbourne. A cool 1000km

to go. 30 mins into the drive and I was getting hungry. I pulled over at a Subway in Wollongong. The women found a place to shop. Yet again. However, this time, I didn’t find dessert. Not for long though. We were at Kiama in a short while and we pulled over at the main street. Women shopped. I enjoyed my ice cream. Almost to the surprise of the Aussies who wondered how I could eat Ice cream at 10am. I could. At any time of the day actually. After a while, we headed to the “big blow hole”. This was a farce. A simple wave slapping against the rocks through a tunnel and jumping up high in the air. Just around the corner though was a rock pool. Similar to the Merewether beach pool but practically encased with rocks. This was a place where Vimal chose to get wet. I am sure he enjoyed it. In a while we headed out. We skipped the “little blow hole” and headed to Jervis Bay and Hyams Beach. The largest white sand beach in Australia. This is where we planned to enjoy the beach and the waters. We did. It was an awesome location. While the rest of them were in the water, I was on the beach, enjoying cricket with my new found Aussie mates. It was good fun to be able to play at the beach. When it was my turn to bat, my first swing sent the bat further than the ball. The handle was wet. So were my hands. And the bat was heavy. It flew high towards mid-on. Thankfully no one was hurt. The game continued. I even managed a good couple of catches!! The water looked very inviting and the Aussie mates jumped in after a while. I continued to enjoy the sun. And the view. After their stint in the water, Vimal, Madhu and Arpi freshened up and we headed to Huskisson to enjoy a meal. No correction. I wanted to eat. The gals, well they wanted to… any guesses? Yes shop!! They did. Ultimately we all ate sandwiches. It was nearing 4pm and we had reached nowhere near Melbourne. We had so many more places to visit. We continued to drive and by 6pm we were at Pebbly beach. The specialty of this beach was the kangaroos which were part of the forest come out to the beach. They were around in large numbers. It was good petting them. One of them expecting that I would feed it was next to me. Allowing me to play with it.

We drove past Bega. It was dark. It was late and we couldn’t stop. We tried frantically to figure out if we could see Turtles coming out of the ocean to lay eggs. It was the season and the next town, Eden was the place we could supposedly see it. We didn’t manage to figure this one out. By the time it was 9pm, we were at Pambula and still 7 hours from Melbourne. This was going to be a long night!! We topped up the tank. Picked up some snacks. Chatted with an Indian whose parents were heading to Melbourne the next day to see the match. Had bread butter and ice cream and readied ourselves for the drive. We crossed Eden. I was sleepy. It was close to 10:30pm. The signs of the road were inviting. “Powernap? Rest area in 5km”. It was too tempting. And we decided to pull over. Pitch dark. Small shelter. And a starry night. This sky was akin to Nainital which Arpita and I had seen a few year back. Scary to be sleepy in the jungle. But it was my specialty. To powernap at 10:30pm. I did. We continued. Although not for long. I pulled over at least 4 times before reaching Melbourne at 6am. We literally napped in the car all night. The last 45 minutes were the most difficult. Images of Mahika and Samaira kept flashing in my mind. “Don’t do anything stupid”, I told myself. I wanted to get there and not stop any more. We did it. We were at Melbourne. At the hotel and checked in around 6:15am. We figured out parking, wifi and breakfast and headed to our respective rooms. It was probably the most memorable night of the entire trip!! We missed a couple of spots but it didn’t matter anymore. We had enjoyed a fantastic drive, wonderful beaches, good shopping and a starry night. We were at Melbourne for Game#2