Sunday, March 27th to Wednesday March 30th, 2011
I think I described my Sunday night bus ride to Wollongong well enough for you all in my previous post. Considering I slept for most of the 3 hour trip it really was not overly eventful. Eventually I made it to my destination and there to greet me was Stephanie Bruseker and her boyfriend Josh. In case I didn't mention, I met Steph while I was in Fiji. She was one of the many people floating around from island to island for a week. She had invited me up to Wollongong to hang out and although at first it was not on my itinerary, I'm very glad I found a way to fit in a quick visit.
Sunday night was pretty much a write-off (for all of us) so after a nice cup of tea and little catch up we headed to bed. Monday morning we got up to a few things.
Monday, March 28th, 2011
Monday did not start too early....for me anyway but eventually we got up and going and to check out the little town of Wollongong. Josh is a really good tour guide because he has lived in the area pretty much his whole life. He knows where everyone lives and he knows where everything is. It turned out that Monday was also Steph's birthday (I'm terrible because I didn't realize that until about 1100) and she had taken the day off so the 3 of us got to hang out together.
This is one of Wollongong's big attractions. This is the Sea Cliff Bridge. There use to be a little windy road that followed the cliff but rocks kept falling on the road (it was always closed which often caused problems as you can imagine). The bridge is 665 metres (just under half a mile) long and is one of very few bridges in the world that run parallel to the coast. It draws a lot of tourists every year as the drive along it is very beautiful.
Another point about tourism in the area, the slogan "We Love the Gong" apparently won some tourism award. You get it on t-shirts and hats and I managed to snag a couple stickers. Yes, we all laugh at that fact that it won an award since it is not clever or new. I think we have seen a very similar slogan a few more places.
We headed across the Sea Cliff Bridge (which is more amazing when you see it like this in a picture above) to Bald Hill to check out some paragliding. It turns out due to the updrafts and the height and some other characteristics, Bald Hill is one of the premier paragliding locations in the world. No I did not partake........although it did look fun. It is kind of a mix between parachuting and hang-gliding.
It looks kind of like sitting in a chair that just floats along in the wind. Most of the time it looked relaxing. Too bad while we were there one guy crashed (he was ok and most people in the area think he's an asshole. He was doing some really stupid things). Even tandem I don't think I will be trying it anytime soon.
No surprise they also do hang gliding from the same location. It turns out Josh is into this kind of stuff and knew one of the hang gliding guys. He offered Steph a free tandem hang glide for her birthday. Steph turned it down but Josh took her ride instead.
Josh all dressed up to hang glide. No stranger to hang gliding, Josh use to do it until he ran face first into a cliff (that was quite a few years ago) and never did it again. This time he was riding tandem so the only person really concerned was Steph.
Take off!!!! If you listen closely you can hear that at first Steph is excited......then she gets a little nervous.
Josh was really excited about his ride. Look how happy he is.
I preferred to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground. See how happy I am. Love the sunshine.
We then headed up to a few view points and check out the area a bit more.
Steph and I. That's Wollongong in the back ground. A really nice little city....with several beaches.......many of which were right across the road from Steph's place.
After a few celebratory drinks at a local pub we headed to Josh's parent's house for a birthday celebration for Steph. It was very nice to have a home cooked meal and some cake.
Josh and Steph with the cake.
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
The next day (Tuesday) I did a whole lot of nothing. I had great intentions to go to the beach and go for a walk (and take the 2 little dogs that Josh and Steph were dog sitting) but I really didn't move much at all. Eventually though I met up with Steph and Josh and a few people that Steph works with for tight-ass Tuesday. Not sure what tight-ass Tuesday is.......well it's when restaurants offer super cheap deals for food and drinks. We went to this great little Mexican restaurant for tacos. So good. We then made a stop a little bit later for ice cream down by the light house.
Steph made me pose for this picture or she refused to take it.
I in turn also made them pose for one. That's Steph and Josh and their friend Dani.
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
Wednesday I had a slightly more productive day. I managed to take the little dogs for a couple walks and then I spent the rest of the day on the beach.
My view for most of the day. The water was a little rough and the surf a little strong but it was nice and relaxing.....just the way a day at the beach should be.
We had a very relaxing Wednesday evening and then Thursday morning I got up, hopped back on the bus to Canberra. I slept through most of the ride (as I usually do) but woke up as be made our way back through Macquarie Pass National Park. In the day light I was able to see why the bus had so many problems travelling down it at night. It is a very windy road.....and quite pretty. It would have been a nice place to visit but this time I was just passing through.
I made it back to Canberra around 1330 (1:30pm)....just in time to check into my hotel and take a nap before dinner.
Anyway, so glad I was able to make a little side trip to Wollongong. It was nice to catch up with Steph and Josh and just hang out and relax for a couple days.
Back in Canberra I had a few more plans and a few more things to see.
Julie
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