Sunday, April 19, 2015

Sydney Trip Itinerary - Hyam's Beach, Dolphin Watch Cruising from Jervis Bay and the Kiama Blowhole!

For a recap of the entire trip, table of contents and links to other posts, do click here: One Week in Sunny Sydney - Full Trip Itinerary!

We've got another road trip lined up for our third day in Sydney - Southward-bound this time, on the Grand Pacific Drive to Jervis Bay and back! It's pretty much a full day trip, with over six hours of driving in total, so got an early start and hit the road!

Sydney Trip Report

We took the Princess Highway southbound as we actually wanted to catch the earlier Dolphin Watching boats out of Jervis Bay. As luck (and traffic) would have it though, we arrived into the town of Huskisson just as the earlier boats were pulling away from the harbor. Sadface. So we had some brunch at the Angels Bayside Cafe on the corner of Owen and Hawke Street. It was okay.

Sydney Trip Report Brunch at Jervis Bay

Having some time to spare we took a short drive to the nearby Hyams Beach to dip our feet in the (cold) water and take a stroll on the sands. Apparently the Guinness Book of Records lists the beach here as having the whitest sand in the world; whether that's really true is anyone's guess. What's evident, though, is that it's crazy hot thanks to the summer sun.

Sydney Trip Report Hyams Beach

There are a number of dolphin and whale-watching boat operators in Huskisson; which only go out if there are sufficient passengers. So do make sure you give them a call and ask. We ended up going with Dolphin Watch Cruises because they were the only operator sending out a boat at our time slot.

Sydney Trip Report Dolphin Watch Cruise Jervis Bay

Dolphin watching is pretty fun, and within the one-and-a-half hour cruise we saw at least a few dozen of them. Getting good photographs of the dolphins is really, really frustrating, though. They appear for just a fraction of a second at a time, so unless your camera was already pointed at the right spot you'd likely be a little too late. With enough time, skill and/or luck I'm sure you'd get at least a couple of amazing shots, but apparently today we didn't have enough of any of 'em.

Sydney Trip Report Dolphin Watch Cruise Jervis Bay
Sydney Trip Report Dolphin Watch Cruise Jervis Bay

We take the leisurely Grand Pacific Drive northwards back to Coogee, and stop at the Kiama Blowhole. A small cave/tunnel starting at the sea wall ends here at this hole, so when the waves come in they've got nowhere to go but up and out, sometimes in spectacular 20-foot high walls of white frothy seawater. Today the seas are tame, though, and all we get are weedy 6-8 foot high sputters. Ah well.

Sydney Trip Report Kiama Blowhole

Our final stop before heading home was the University town of Wollongong. While there are a ton of things to do here, we only take a quick pit stop for dinner and drinks before leaving to catch the Sea Cliff Bridge before sunset.

Sydney Trip Report Sea Cliff Bridge
"Sea Cliff Bridge from air" by illawarrashowcase - Sea Cliff Bridge

The bridge itself is a 450m long, balanced cantilever bridge that runs parallel to the coast. We've got a video taken from the car here below, but honestly the video really doesn't do the spectacular view justice.


Once across the bridge we decided to cut through the Royal National Park, which turned out to be a huge mistake. The roads wind through the hills and would undoubtedly be an amazing drive during the day. But at night, all you see are the cats eyes on the road and it was really a waste of time and effort. Anyways, after a long, long day we stop for some pick-me-up meals from one of the nearby Woolworths before heading back to Coogee to eat, shower, and sleep.

Stay tuned for the next post in this series coming up soon!

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