Patrick’s brother and family own a beach house in the town of Kiama which is a couple hours drive south of Sydney. Vivian & Patrick arranged to make use of the house & we headed down on Saturday morning. Cousin Mike drove down by himself since he was closer to Kiama. In addition, Caitlin & her boyfriend Dave joined us there.
The beach house had a number of bedrooms for us all & a large kitchen, dining room & a large family room. It was about 4 blocks from the beach along a path behind the house. Luckily for me Patrick drove us around the town to show us the sights.
There are two blowholes in town with the main one nearest town center & one called the Little Blowhole being near to the house. I knew there was a geocache near the small one so I set out to find it. Actually, it was an easy cache since it was an earth cache & just had to answer 4 easy questions & post a picture of me with the GPS in front of the cache.
Kiama's Little Blowhole is situated just off Tingira Crescent, three kilometres south of Kiama township and just a 10-minute drive away from the Kiama Blowhole. Here you can also see vigorous sprays of water bursting from a natural rocky cove, particularly when the north easterly winds are blowing.
We continued on to a nice winery about 25 miles down the coast. The Two Figs winery had a nice setting on a hillside with the Shoalhaven river flowing past. Of course we had to taste the wines they produced to see which ones to buy. A nice feature of tastings here is that they are all free. They all were good & we split a case of wine with Vivian & Patrick. I guess we will have to drink our 6 bottles before we leave but I know we are up to it.
On the way back to Kiama we stopped at Fisherman's Boat Club for a drink and to see the 7 miles beach. There is a great view from the club's 2nd floor and we managed to get a table. We didn’t stay long since we had dinner reservations for 7pm and it was getting late.
We freshened up and we all met at the restaurant. Dave, Mike and I left early to make sure we had a nice table. The others went to Saturday night mass in town and arrived later. The restaurant was in the small harbor area and was very popular. Our table overlooked the harbor and we enjoyed the sunset.
After dinner we went back to the house for more conversation & some tasting of the wine. Dave & I talked about American sports & he was extremely knowledgeable about the teams & players. We had a long conversation & I could have used my grandsons Sean & Jared with their knowledge of sports. We finally both called an end to the discussions and went to bed.
February 21, 2016
Everyone woke up at different times and headed in different directions. Gerry & Vivian went shopping, Caitlin & Dave were off to the beach, Patrick went for a walk & Mike & I stayed behind and enjoyed a beer & conversation.
Later Vivian, Patrick, Gerry & I went to see the big blowhole. It was very crowded in the area but Patrick found a nice parking space near the blowhole. There were a few columns of spray but nothing spectacular. We took a lot of photos and walked around the park. Kiama Blowhole Point also offers spectacular views along the coast. It provides a great spot to view whales as they travel along the NSW coastline on their annual migration and is a popular stop on the Kiama Coast Walk.
One of the highlights of a visit to Kiama is the famous Kiama Blowhole, a natural rock formation where water spouts 20 metres or more into the air. Located next to Kiama Lighthouse at Blowhole Point, this spectacular display is most impressive when seas run from the southeast. The area is floodlit until 1am, making the blowhole a stunning night-time attraction too. If there's not much action at this blowhole, check out the nearby 'Little' Blowhole.
Finally it was time to return to Rachel’s apt. It was a long drive back and we arrived worn out but thankful for having time to spend with the cousins. Patrick & Vivian still had an hour drive a ahead of them and to get ready for work Monday morning.
We had to pack our bags in preparation for our Monday afternoon flight to Melbourne. Well, it didn't go that smoothly getting ready since the washing machine broke in mid cycle and caused a flood. Not good. We had to wash clothes and leave before 1pm. More on this in the next blog. Goodnight.
More great times. Hope you made your flight okay.
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