Day Ten of the Selfie Road Trip

I have no free wifi tonight so I am doing a quickie post via my iPad.

BGWLBH wanted me to mention that our road trip so far has been magical and amazing and hilarious and fabulous.

The weather has been great. The sky a brilliant blue. The ocean, every shade of beautiful that you can imagine. The grass and trees, the most brilliant shades of green imaginable. The wildlife has been abundant, the cows have been frolicking in the paddocks and the bird life has put on a show.

Then there was Bairnsdale and Sale.

Meh.

Lake Wellington was underwhelming.

Paynesville was painful and the people there were horrible.

That pretty well covers the last 24 hours.

One lower than average day out of ten is pretty good I reckon.  Tomorrow will be better as we wind our way back up the coast towards home.

Tonight, we’ve had to make do with a very old retro style motel room on the waiting list to be renovated. A Saturday night in Lakes Entrance needs prior booking, so we got this little gem for $80.

I can’t share the photos because I’m doing this on my phone now. My iPad suddenly ran out of credit mid post and the Telstra 24x7 site is currently having difficulties so I can’t even top it up! Story of my day really!

I stood in line for 25 mins to order our meal at the Central Hotel and then buy drinks. The food came out quickly and was divinely delicious! We overheard staff being abused, so we wrote a thank you note on a napkin telling them that we appreciated their hard work on a night when they were totally under the pump and thanked them for a pleasant evening.

Afterwards we got to view a pretty sunset over the water before walking back to our room.

Hopefully, tomorrow nights motel will have the obligatory free wifi and I can post some pics here.

Meanwhile ... having a wonderful time, wish you were here!

Nite all.

Day Nine of the Selfie Road Trip

The first selfie taken with the camera ...

Not very flattering!

This was at Lakes Entrance on our way out of town.

We found a lovely place for breakfast this morning. I had a lamb & rosemary pie with salad. I know. It's not really breakfast food, but it was gluten free and it sounded so delicious, I just had to have it!

Through a door to the right of the this cafe was a shop like The Happy Abode, but BIGGER and jam packed from floor to ceiling with leather handbags, a few clothes, jewellery, giftware, soaps, signs, tea towels, crockery, cutlery and more PLUS a florist.

Through a door to the left of this cafe was an antique store with lots of antiques (obviously) and retro and art deco and anything else you can think of! A treasure trove!

On the long walk back to the car, we stopped in a couple of Op Shops and found some bargains. We also stopped in a couple of gift stores and I photographed some brands and labels that I thought would sell well in our shop.

We left Lakes Entrance very late in the morning and headed south, taking a quick turn off to Metung - just to see what it looked like.

It was a little coastal village, but much more up market than Burrum Heads. Big homes overlooking the water, a mini marina for all the medium sized yachts and a very yuppy-like shopping area.

Not really our cup of tea.

Our next stop was Bairnsdale, where we sheltered from a massive storm by shopping in Target for 30 minutes.

From there, we drove on to Sale and that's where we are staying tonight.

The weather has been weird.

So have we.

Our motel tonight has Netflix! I have introduced BGWLBH to Grace and Frankie. I think we are going to fall asleep to it tonight.

That's it from me!

Nite all.

Day Eight of the Selfie Road Trip

We've been laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing over the most ridiculous things!

Things that nobody else would find even remotely funny.

I just tried to read that first line to BGWLBH but I couldn't because it made me laugh too hard.

So I gave this iPad to her so that she could read it herself and she laughed so hard she got tears!

Nope! No alcohol involved!

Anyway!

We absolutely loved Merimbula and Pambula Beach. Even though they were cold and windy, they are beautiful parts of the world that you could never tire of and the colour of the water was the most spectacular blue. Breathtaking!

Eden was another place that we loved. Gale force winds on the day, so bad that a cruise ship was supposed to dock so that the passengers could have a shopping day there, but the seas were too rough and they couldn't stop!

The local businesses were expecting 2000+ people through the town that day and all they got were us.

We drove to Mellacoota and Gipsy Point. Both stunningly beautiful. The drive through lush green forests and farmland to get there and finding little patches of paradise waiting for us. Gipsy Point in particular. Heaven.

I photographed the blue fairy wren at Gipsy Point and the koala at Mellacoota.

There was also lot of unexpected wildlife, like a Lyrebird walking in the middle of the road and a giant goanna!

Today I learned that horses and cows point their butts towards rain and storms!

We stayed in Orbost last night and slept surprisingly well.

When BGWLBH suggested that we have breakfast in Orbost, I scoffed and said "I doubt we'll find anything decent here", but the first cafe that we found had delicious food, friendly staff, great coffee and fabulous little stories of affirmation to read. A great start to the day.

We found a couple of little second hand stores to browse through and a gift store owned by a very chatty woman named Ros. I stopped at a deli/green grocer/butcher to grab some fresh fruit and the owner was up for a chat giving directions to some more hidden gems for us to visit.

Marlo and Cape Conran were first on our list for today and we were not disappointed. Really lovely out-of-the-way coastal villages, like Burrum Heads, sitting on both a river and an ocean. We didn't stay long at Cape Conran because there was a big storm bearing down on us, so we hightailed it out of there to outrun the storm.

On the way to Lakes Entrance, we stopped to photograph a raptor hunting in the trees and some black cockies flying overhead. I'll share those photos here when we stay somewhere with Internet!

Before we reached Lakes Entrance, a storm hit us and we had some hairy travel for a little while, but survived the ordeal.

Our time here in LE has been grey and dreary and wet and stormy so far. Big thunder and lightning this afternoon.

Tomorrow, we plan on going as far as Sale and then we will turn around and start heading north again via a different route.

Our plans for The Great Ocean Road have been slightly diverted and we've left it on our bucket list for future road trips.

So far, this has probably been our best road trip yet. Lots of new places and interesting people and we've really focussed on second hand shops, op shops and antique stores - all easy to find in small country towns. Crazy laughter, loud singalongs and ridiculousness that can't be explained.

It's after midnight and I need some sleep.

Nite all.

Day Seven of the Selfie Road Trip

I am SOOOOO exhausted!

It's been a fabulous day and I have so much to tell you, but I'm just too tired.

So here are a heap of photos and I'll catch up the story telling tomorrow night.

We are in a fairly dodgy motel tonight with an air conditioner that sounds like a jet engine and it's soooo hot and uncomfortable. I'm not sure how much sleep we'll get. There are also a billion bugs flying around - but the room comes with a giant can of bug spray - so comforting!

Nite all.

Day Six of 2017 Road Trip

Even though we didn't take a selfie today, I'm thinking of renaming this road trip "The Selfie Road Trip" because we've taken a lot of selfies so far!

Our motel room in Goulburn had a pretty good view of the Big Merino's butt ...

We didn't bother with breakfast this morning, instead stopping at the Bakery on the way out of town and grabbing a coffee to go. The Bakery was full of uniformed Rescue Police which got BGWLBH all hot under the collar. She has a 'thing' for men in uniform!

We stopped to look at where Lake George once was ...

When we lived in Canberra back in the early 80s, this lake was full and came right to the edge of the road. Now you can barely see a small body of water way off in the distance. Very sad.

We did a quick detour through Bungendore. Unfortunately, most of the shops were closed. The town caters to tourists, so weekends are busy and their weekend becomes Tuesday/Wednesday. A couple of the big stores were open, like the Woodworking Gallery, Bungendore Antiques (amazing) and Leather and Trading.

I must check to see if I won lotto tonight so that we can stop on the return trip and spend up big!

Here are a few of the amazing things in the Antique store ... I'm not even a big antique fan, but this store was something else ... stepping back in time.

The woodworking gallery ... oh if I was wealthy. The prices on everything were obscene. $16,000 for a framed piece of art to hang on the wall. $300 for a pepper mill. I didn't even look at the price for this piece! I texted Adoring Husband to ask if he could make one for me, but he claims that he's not good enough. pfft.

As we drove around the outskirts of Canberra/Queanbeyan to find the road to Cooma, there were some lavish mansions up on the hills. I'm willing to bet that they have some $16000+ pieces of art on their walls!

As is our tradition during our road trips, we always lean forward and wave up to the speed cameras ...

... we like to think that the staff who work on the other end of these computer/cameras are saying to each other "Hey! The girls are on another road trip!" Ha ha.

We spent a little time in the lush green park in Cooma while we checked out our map and figured out which direction we were going to take next.

The gentleman in the shop where we bought our lunch, told us that the road between Cooma and the coast was known for it's abundant wildlife and that there was only one road more abundant, and it was in WA.

Needless to say, the road was littered with dead wildlife, which was kind of sad and somewhat gruesome.

BGWLBH was an excellent driver up, over and down the mountain roads which were incredibly windy and steep. There were no overtaking lanes for the entire 120km journey!

Tonight we are in Bega, staying in the cheapest motel so far, but probably the biggest room we've had, with three beds and a very large bathroom. Very comfortable and for the small price of $110, an absolute bargain!

We walked 700m down the hill to Club Bega, where we had a stone grill meal, which was cheaper and way nicer than the bangers and mash that we had in Goulburn the previous night, and then power walked back UP the 700m hill to return to our room.

It was colder walking TO the club, than it was coming home!  The weather is surprisingly warm down this neck of the woods.

Time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

Day Five of 2107 Road Trip

We spent a lovely morning in Mudgee, checking out the same little boutiques that we spent a fortune in on the last road trip.

I got to compare prices because they had some of the same stock as we have in The Happy Abode. You'll be happy to know that our prices were much cheaper than the Mudgee shops.

In Mudgee, they sell the snap buttons for $9.90 each!

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast in The Wineglass restaurant, which is the same place we ate last time we were there. We really love the atmosphere there and it's easy for time to pass quickly and before you know it, you're running late for something!

While browsing the boutiques, I got caught in a shoe shop where the lady behind the counter decided to tell me all about her upcoming overseas holiday ... in great detail! She took up some good shopping time, but she also gave me some great info about a wholesale brand that I'd like to look into.

One boutique that we entered had some spectacular shoes that reminded me of Sex and The City and I found two tops that I completely fell in love with. One cost $256 and the other $299. I didn't love them THAT much.

It was late morning when we left Mudgee and selected a route to Bathurst that we hadn't taken before. The countryside was barren and brown and dry and in direct contrast to the countryside on the previous day! It was sad to see and there were quite a few abandoned farmhouses.

The road map that we follow - the original map that we used 25 yrs ago on our first road trip - had two towns on it that no longer exist.

From Bathurst, we decided to drive through Oberon because we've never been there before. It worked out well, because the weather closed in on us and we needed to stop to shelter from the storm which was full of heavy rain and some hail!

We checked out a couple of shops as the storm passed and then chose a little coffee shop for afternoon tea.

One of the shops, again, had some of the same stock as The Happy Abode and I chatted with the lady about 'our' shops. She gave me a few phone numbers and showed me some lovely stock that would go well in The Happy Abode.

Some of her prices were better than ours, but some were higher.

She was fabulous and took my phone number so that she could contact me with phone numbers of some wholesalers who don't do the gift fairs.

The view just before Goulburn ...

Our final destination for the day was Goulburn and we are staying in the Mercure Motel which is quite new. The great thing is that it's off season, so the prices are better than holiday time.

We ate at The Goulburn Soldier's Club and the cheapest meal there was bangers and mash for $23!! The meal was so big I could barely eat half of it! No wonder obesity is such an issue in the world. Everywhere that we've eaten, have had ridiculously large meals that are difficult to get through.

Having said that, we have eaten good wholesome and healthful meals while we've been travelling and as the years have gone by, it's been getting easier to find GF and nutritious meals. That's a bonus.

This bed is amazing and I can't wait to snuggle down and  get a good night's sleep. The shower is HUGE and I plan on washing my hair in the morning. None of the previous showers in the motels have been very satisfactory so I'm happy about this one.

Enough of this frivolity!

Nite all.

Day Four of 2017 Road Trip

There is nothing much to report today because we did a LOT of driving.

We left Armidale and headed to Tamworth for breakfast. It was tough finding a cafe open on Sunday morning in Tamworth, but we eventually found one that displayed and sold amazing art and had an upstairs shop selling art and craft resources.

The art displayed on the walls was impressive to say the least.

BGWLBH ordered basic bacon and eggs, while my choice was avocado smash with feta, mint, lemon and bacon on GF bread.

They had obviously run out of GF bread because one of the girls ran off at full speed and returned 20 mins later with a bag of bread and our breakfast was 35 mins in the making.

Mine would have been perfectly delicious except for too many chunks of feta cheese.

We left the cafe and did some shopping. A pair of runners, a top and some eye liner later, we were in the car driving in the direction of Mudgee.

Our only stop along the way was to pick some sunflowers from beside the road.

It was a beautiful drive through the back roads. The countryside was green and the cattle and sheep were happily grazing on the rolling hills. There wasn't much traffic and the roads were sometimes an easy drive and sometimes tough going. Some of those roads need work!

I phoned ahead and booked our motel room. When we arrived, seeing it from the outside, it looked pretty dodgy, but we opened the door to a newly renovated twin share room with brand new beds, new carpet, freshly pained walls, new furniture and a fully renovated bathroom.

What a pleasant surprise.

It was only 5pm but we decided to have an early dinner. We had a quick freshen up and went straight to Club Mudgee where we ordered a GF meal of grilled chicken breast with chips and salad and veg. We both ordered the 'small' meal and it was so big, neither of us could finish it! For $12, it was a great meal at a bargain price.

We returned home to discover our motel room ajar! Our hearts skipped a beat for a moment until we discovered all of our belongings exactly where we left them! The door doesn't close properly without some effort! It is firmly closed as I type this!

The people in the neighbouring room have just arrived home and are a bit noisy ... I hope they settle soon because it's almost midnight.

We will wander around Mudgee tomorrow morning before we leave. We like Mudgee.

Nite all.