Saturday, 03.11.12 - Some thunder and rain at night and at first sight it seems to be fresh in the morning. But when we leave at 9am sun is yet burning and it's about 25°C. Cool. Again a 'last view' onto the sea and then we drive through the somehow noble neighbourhood of Nelson Bay along the coast.
There pop up signs talking about "dunes-riding", "camel-riding" and similar. What the ...?!? We're not in the desert, are we? Oh, yes, indeed, we are. Not even 20 km away from Nelson Bay, at Anna Bay, Stockton Beach begins. No beach - desert!
At Birubi Point you may even loan camels or 4WD-cars or go on a desert-trip by other means. But you need not to. We're satisfied with the wide view. And yeah, we have to go on. We drive along Nelson Bay Road, a little way off the highway, and thought it a romantic trip with lots of beautiful landscapes. But it's not very different from the highway. Trees at your left and right and you cannot see the sea.
More and more it becomes fuller on the streets, Newcastle isn't far away. Much industries here. Not nice. At Muswellbrook we had wondered about the loooooong coal-trains, now we know where they went to: Newcastle. And from here to China.
Again we drive along melodic names as "Charlestown", "Cardiff Heights", "Swansea", "Belmont" and actually would like to stay at "The Entrance". Sounds great, is not. It has the impression of Lloret (famous tourist spot in Spain) and we are a bit disappointed. Furthermore we do not fit on this campsite - the campervan is too big... Well, we're not sad about that and look for another place.
This is more difficult than expected, though. Either we are blind or the campsites do not exist anymore. Or our streetmaps are too old. Or they have removed the information signs. Anyway, we spend hours with searching and finally arrive at Gosford. There! Look, a camping-sign in the city. Now we get it. But no, we don't. One sign, lots of crossings, much traffic, everything bad. I'm getting nervous because we must be on a campsite at dawn. Or we have to stay at the roadside...
To and fro in Gosford - nothing. Well, asking at a service station might be useful. But the guys do not know about a campsite in their town :( Fortunately one of them remembers that there's a site at Avoca Beach. Awesome, we'll go there! And it's only 10 km away. Nevertheless we cruise around Avoca Beach for 5 times and do find - nothing. We are nerved, hungry, thirsty and contrary (how silly are we? we have all with us, food, drinks, toilet...). At the Avoca Beach Picture Theatre we're asking again and - lo and behold - half an hour later and 2 km away we got it. Hooray.
Our 'horray' doesn't last long, the friendly receptionist tells us there's no space for us anymore. And our van is too big, nothing to do. We must have looked very desperate, she lets us take a night at the 'overload-site' :))) The best place on that campsite. Even more for a distress-place.
Everything's fine now. Quickly we take some noodles and then go for a walk to the beach, finally stretching our legs after that long day. It's a nice place here when you're not stressed and have eyes for it: Located between lagoons and ocean, much green and apparently not the poorest district. A pity that it's mountainous and we have to go up and down all the while.
OZ/Tag 12 - Nelson Bay - Avoca Beach
02.11.12/ Flynn's Beach - Nelson Bay
04.11.12/ Avoca Beach - Sydney