Mar 3

Mar 3
Up early to see the sun rise over the water, but it was too grey.
Drive down to Wollongong, Australia's 3rd largest city. There were 2 lighthouses on Flagstaff Hill Park that we walked around. Then we drove over to the Univ of Wollongong, where Jacob spent his junior year. It's a beautiful campus and deserted on a Sunday morning, so we drove around it.
Next on the agenda was the Nan Tien Temple, the largest Buddhist Temple in the Southern Hemisphere. There were three shrines, one to the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in the Pagoda. The main shrine had five large Buddhas; Confidence, Longevity, Wisdom, inner Beauty and inner Peace and 10,000 smaller Buddhas. The Avalokaitesvara Bodhisattva was in the Great Compassion Hall. The grounds were enormous, beautiful and tranquil.
On to Kiama and the Blowhole. After seeing the water explode from the hole, we had lunch by the water.
Leaving the coast we drove to Jamberoo by the Jamberoo Mountain Road. There was more magnificent farm country. I don't think there is anything comparable in the US. Vast green hills and valleys stretching as far as you can see, then you turn around a bend and more and more hills and valley for miles.
Once on the mountain part of the road, it narrowed down through forests of eucalyptus, really narrowed - sometimes one lane. We came to a couple of places where part of the road had washed away. Halfway to Robertson, we turned off to Carrington Falls, down a small road to a dirt road to a parking area. The trail to the falls was an easy, hard surface walk. The falls, breathtaking. The water dropping straight for hundreds of feet before hitting the rocks. We walked up to the head of the falls before hitting the road.
At Robertson, we bought a wildberry-apple pie for later, then drove down to Fitzroy Falls. This was a busier area, many more people there. We hiked to lookouts on either side of the fall and on to another lookout that had views of 2 other falls. It's a good time to see falls, after so much rain.
Our next stop is Goulsburn, so we headed that way. We drove to a rest area and found 2 other campers already there. We parked and talked with another couple about some of the 'rules' of free camping and got some good hints. While we were talking, a kangaroo with a Joey in her pouch came up to the road! She just stood there for a bit and jumped away. The other campers told us about a convict built bridge here at the rest area, so we walked over to it. When we looked out into a field by the path, there were kangaroos there too. We saw 2, then they jumped over to another 2, then a 5th joined them. Real Kangaroos!
Had very large Brussels sprouts for dinner.