Road trip

Despite anxious times, we went on a road trip to Sydney and Gerringong during the last week of the summer school holidays. I’m so glad we did as it enlivened us. Travelling and catching up with our friends was just what we needed to start another year of the unknown.

Covid in Australia was getting worse after the start of the new year. The number of cases skyrocketed and the highest number of daily cases in Canberra was recorded just 2 days before we left to travel at 1,806. It was over 30,000 in New South Wales. We were fortunate that Catherine had her first vaccine dose a week earlier without problems. So we weren’t heading off completely unprotected. We also ordered N95 masks which arrived before our trip.

Our original Airbnb accommodation in Lane Cove was cancelled by the owner so we ended up booking an apartment at Silkari Suites at Chatswood. We had a spacious 2-bedroom apartment for 3 nights. I was a little anxious of our plans at first, but it was so nice to have a break from home. We enjoyed the plethora of options for food. I was so excited to have dumplings from Din Tai Fung and coffee from Starbucks. We also took advantage of the daily free barista coffee and hot chocolate at the hotel lobby. I was also comforted by the fact we spotted another ACT car in the hotel parking garage. There were people around, but Sydney didn’t feel its usual crowded and busy self. We caught up with our friends over the next couple of days outdoors at lovely city parks – new places we’d never been. We had our usual Christmas gift exchange and went for a walk with beautiful harbour views. It was wonderful to reconnect in person with our crew again – all our children are growing up so fast.

We continued our road trip and drove along some of the Grand Pacific Drive. We went on the Sea Cliff Bridge and drove through Kiama before arriving at Gerringong in the afternoon. We spent the next 3 days surrounded by beautiful views of the ocean, rolling green hills and cows. One of the highlights in Gerringong was feeding bread to the cows at our Airbnb property. They were very friendly and cute. We spent some time at the pool and the beach each day. We hadn’t been back to this area since 10 years ago when we spent time here for a family wedding and another time meeting up with our Sydney friends. It was nice to be back in this part of the coast.

Our drive back to Canberra was via Kangaroo Valley and Fitzroy Falls. It was surprisingly very busy at Fitzroy Falls. We had a scenic drive home and made a brief stop at Weereewa-Lake George lookout to admire the water and the wind farm off into the distance.

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