Shomakie Travels: Make Me Wanna Roll My Windows Down and CRUISE

Over Easter I had the chance to really start to see some of this amazing country with a road trip down NSW's south coast and it was so lovely!! I hired a car with another American gal from church (as a duo we are the Sara(h)s and I call her lil Sarah which makes me big Sara. Ha) we got a tiny Nissan, brand new, (39k off the lot) and put about 500 miles on it over 5 days. So I now consider myself an excellent driver on the left side of the road :)

Our adventures took us on a tour of all things beautiful (except I saw my first road kill kangaroo) lots of beaches, scenic lookouts, iconic landmarks, some of the bush and also rolling green hills of cattle grazing and vineyards.
A little town called Mollymook was our Easter destination where we spent two nights with a friend's family (10 years after she spent Christmas with my family in MI. How cool is that?!?) We went to a small-town parade/festival and I was instantly transported back to childhood memories of high schoolers' homemade floats, marching bagpipe corps, and firetrucks running lights and sirens. The only thing missing was the candy tossed to the onlookers and curb-campers. Oh yeah. And 'elephant ears' But nobody has those except Michigan. :( We did manage to find some yummy cinnamon sugar fresh donuts (like an orchard makes back home) from the Lions club or something :) In addition to my time-traveling rendezvous, It was really nice to have home-cooking and be around a family dynamic after being a travel-induced-orphan for the past 3 months.

Monday morning after a beach run and swim we headed into (the next neighboring) town for brunch and a little shopping before we hit the road for more adventure. Compared to the drive down on saturday where we did a lot of quick stops, and brief photo moments (there was so much to see) on the way back to Sydney we wanted to slow down at a few places to enjoy a little bit more. So we took beach walks and beach naps. We hit cafes and shops. It really started to feel like a proper holiday. Wellllll, one of those budget holidays where you sleep in the car and eat PB&J for lunch. It wasn't all that bad (but you can see why we even more appreciated our 'home stay' for a few days) The second night we were able to get a spot in a campground (called a camper van park) so we were really high rollers that night with a kitchenette and hot showers.

Sarah representin' well in her cut-up camo shirt
and americana bandana

I'm convinced that traveling on-the-cheap and without much preplanning can be the best way to get the most laughs, make memories, and really experience a place. You can bet we had a laugh about airplane-recline-style sleeping arrangements after discovering that our "or similar" rental car's back seats didn't fold flat as we were expecting from the online quoted car (we should write the company and inform them they were NOT that "similar") And microwave S'mores taste that much better when you didn't think you would get any at all once informed that nearly the whole country is 'protected national forest' so NO bonfires allowed. Then we got invited in on a game of darts with some of the local caravan folk (quite possibly genuine bogans) These are experiences that never get booked by any travel agent ;)

caravan park: outnumbering the tent & RV sites were these more
"permanent" "vacation homes"

There were a few downers about the trip however, 1: We didn't see kangaroos at Pebbly Beach like we were expecting. 2: we couldn't find a decent place for night-cap because some of these towns are so small that there may only be one option (and it may be already closed down early, just dead and empty, or the 'geriatric express' as one lady described our options. Come on. Sarah and I were scouting for local talent) 3: My surfboard didn't fit in (or on) the car. 4: The rest area that had signs for 'free coffee' was a total let-down! The place wasn't even a proper bathroom but a dark port-a-potty on a gravel turn-off. They must have to lie to get people to heed all the signs (posted every 5 miles) that say "STOP. REVIVE. SURVIVE." I guess they have a problem with bad drivers...?!?!

And the last (and obvious) disappointment was we woulda loved to have doubled the amount of time we had to see more and stay longer!!