Are you planning to come to Australia or are you already living in this beautiful country? Then you can’t miss these beautiful places, full of activities to do. In only ten days, you can visit many places and not only beaches!
Check out the incredible trip of our contributor Sofi Frigerio from the blog De Chile al mundo, about this road trip along the South East coast of Australia. We are counting the days until the Lockdown is over and we can make this unmissable trip.
Well, as you all know, the COVID-19 pandemic started at the end of 2020 and here in Australia, they closed the borders in March 2020. Many trips we had planned were cancelled, but this was a great opportunity to see around this huge country. The original plan was to go to Tasmania in January, but thanks to this virus that we all love so much (not really), our flight was cancelled, for the second time.
Yes, a pity, but we’ll go there one day. During this COVID outbreak, you could only travel within NSW so we decided to go exploring from Sydney to the southeast coast, on our way to the Victorian border. That’s how our trip started!
As per above, this was our route. We decided to go camping and we went for 10 days in January. It was a very rainy summer, but it was still a very nice trip.
First stop
We left after work straight to Jervis Bay (approx. three hours drive), and we stayed at a campsite called Jervis Bay Cabins & Camping. We loved this place, as we were literally in front of a creek and when you woke up you had this beautiful view.
Jervis Bay is one of the nicest places I have been in Australia so far. It has some wonderful beaches, the best known is Hyams Beach and it is one of the whitest beaches in the world. On this occasion, we went to another beach, which is very similar but less touristy/busy, called Callala Beach. We would have loved to have gone to Honeymoon Beach, or around that national park, but we couldn’t get in because they have a limited number of people that can enter at the same time, so I recommend you to go early in the morning if you would like to go.
Second stop
After a relaxing day at Jervis Bay, we travelled to Ulladulla to meet a friend who celebrated her birthday there. This place is perfect for surfing and enjoying beautiful beaches. We usually go there when there are long weekends. There are many camping sites and Air Bnb alternatives here. We stayed two nights.
Don’t forget to try Hayden Pies from Ulladulla, they are very well known and really good! We recommend you to go early so you can easily choose the flavour (or flavours) you want to try.
Third Stop
We left early in the morning, as we wanted to stop for a quick surf (in Beoulee) and then drive long hours to Merimbula. On our way, we stopped at a beautiful place for lunch, which is called Narooma, the water is so beautiful, and scuba diving is very good here, so if you love underwater life, this is the right place for you.
If you have a stand-up paddleboard, I recommend you to take it with you on this trip. There are many water inlets and lagoons where you can do this activity, with beautiful views. This is one of the reasons why we wanted to go to Merimbula, as you can see manta rays! Unfortunately, when we arrived there, it was too windy so we couldn’t see much.
From Ulladulla to Merimbula, we did it all in one day, so when it was getting dark, we went to the campsite in Tathra to rest. We didn’t like this campsite very much because it was a bit expensive and quite basic, probably because it was the Australia Day long weekend, which gets really busy. It’s very popular to go camping for this festivity, so make sure to book ahead!.
We loved Tathra, a small town but nice and quiet. My boyfriend surfed here a lot, and we took this place as a base camp to explore the surroundings. We went to Mimosa National Park, which it was absolutely stunning. You can do a lot of hiking and we went to Nelson Lagoon to go stand up paddle boarding as well as hiking.
Fourth Stop
As you can see in the pictures, the weather was far from perfect. As mentioned above, it was a wet summer. We were camping, and it was not very comfortable to be in the pouring rain. Hence, we slightly changed our itinerary. After three nights in Tathra, we decided to head to one of the oldest villages in Australia, called Tilba Tilba (it reminded me of the hobbit village in Lord of the Rings).
In this pretty little town, you can go for a walk to the local mountain (Mount Gulaga or also called Dromedary). The view at the top of the mountain is breathtaking. As you can see, the area is very green, and it is a very special and spiritual place for the Yuin Aboriginal people, especially for their women. The hike takes about three to four hours as it is 16 kilometres. Consider a little more time as you will take many pictures along the way, for sure!
As you can see in the picture above, it was raining in this pretty little town, but it was perfect to rest and have tea and cakes in this special place. It is a colonial-style village, formed in the mid-1800s (19th century) and is home to a famous cheese factory that has been in operation since the late 1800s.
Fifth Stop
As the rain continued, instead of continuing up the coast, we decided to go to Canberra and stay for two nights at the QT Canberra Hotel, which was very cheap on Booking.com, only $280 AUD for two nights for two people (the sun miraculously came out!). It is a very entertaining city in its nightlife, gastronomy and culture. It is the capital of Australia, and you can see the parliament, monuments to the ANZAC soldiers (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), the National Museum of Australia, the National Gallery of Australia, among other activities. I don’t know if it is a city to stay more than three days (in my opinion) but it is interesting to visit and see another side of this beautiful country.
I hope you liked this tour around the southeast coast of NSW and that it has inspired you to visit it. Remember you can always get in touch with me for more information about the places we went to or more details on how we travelled.
Sofia Frigerio
Chilean blogger that lives for travelling; this is what I love doing and where my passion is. I believe I'll keep exploring new places for the rest of my life. Yoga, nature and animals loving, eager to make this world more sustainable and as organic as possible.