As the webmaster for the Knitters Guild of NSW, I was invited to the Kiama group’s February meeting to give my “Welcome to the Knitternet” talk. I originally planned to just take the train there for the day, but the Snook and I eventually decided to use it as an excuse for a weekend away. We took off a few hours early on Friday afternoon and drove down via the Princes Highway. (It took us just over two hours to get there.) Everyone told me it was a beautiful place to visit… and it really was.

I had tried at first to book us in at the cabins near the Blowhole, but they were completely booked out. Eventually I found Bed & Views Kiama, which looked cosy and convenient. Of course, once I saw that they had alpacas, I was hooked! The house is about 5 minutes out of Kiama’s town center, up a winding road to a high ridge. The front has spectacular views down to the ocean; the back has spectacular views up to Saddleback Mountain. It was amazing.

The house really was perfect. We had paid extra for the “Lovebird Suite,” which was a self-contained unit on the end with a big triangle spa bath. The other rooms were located off the main part of the house. Everything was clean and tidy and cosy.

The B&B is run by Rudi and Sabine, an older German couple. The garden was lush and beautiful thanks to the rain of the previous weeks. They had the two alpacas (Giovanni and Vincent), a chook pen, a koi pond, lovely trees, and a swing set that I just couldn’t resist.

For our first night, we took Rudi’s suggestion of Chachi’s for dinner. This Italian restaurant is much favoured by the locals, and it was fairly full when we got there. Unfortunately I was fighting a cold so I didn’t have much appetite. The food was great though. We enjoyed our dinner, then headed up for a spa bath before bed.

Saturday morning started with a big homemade breakfast. We had scrambled eggs and toast, fruit, friands, and a very German (and delicious) selection of cold meats and cheeses. We had a couple hours to kill before my Guild meeting, so Rudi suggested the Minnamurra Rainforest Centre. Here’s the Snook posing with the alpacas as we headed out.

We paid our $11 to get in (cheap!) and quickly decided to do the full 4.2km Loop and Falls Walk. The first part was mostly on wooden walkways around and over the water at the bottom of the valley. The Snook was very helpful in explaining what all the trees were. We only ran into a few other people; for the most part we were on our own.

Here’s the Snook crossing one of the suspension bridges…

This “Big Fig” was special for its size and age. These trees are still amazing to me. They look like the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House at DisneyWorld, except they’re REAL. They are so thick and gnarled, with buttresses and tall roots that you can actually walk under. It’s so alien.

About halfway around, there’s a sign pointing off for the Falls Walk. This part gets real steep, real fast. It was a warm day and we were both sweating a fair bit. We climbed up for about a kilometer and eventually wound up at the platform at the Lower Falls. Here I am crouching down on the platform. (The water is whooshing out of a gap below the platform.)

A little bit higher up was the Upper Falls! It was beautiful. The sun was shining brightly in the clearing, and it was actually quite hard to get a photo with the right exposure!

Here’s a picture of the Falls themselves.

We walked back to the Loop and finished the walk back to the start. We saw (and heard) a couple lyre birds from a distance; a Rosella flitting from tree to tree; and a water dragon sunning himself on a big rock. As we neared the Visitors’ Center, we came across another lyre bird sitting just off the path. I recorded a bit of video. Every sound you can hear is coming from the one bird, which is right in the center of the frame (about 8 feet in front of me).

We headed back into town for lunch and my Guild meeting. Here we are on Church Point with Surf Beach in the background. The weather was gorgeous.

The Guild meeting was a fun diversion. The Kiama group holds their meetings in a church, and I ended up projecting my presentation onto the wall next to a giant crucifix! The Snook amused himself in town while I knitted and talked.

After the meeting it was finally time to see the famous Kiama Blowhole. There was quite a crowd! There wasn’t much swell, but we actually did get to see it go off a couple times. Here’s the Snook pointing back towards the north while we waited for it to go off.

And here’s me standing next to it. It’s the giant hole in the rock in the middle. You could see the waves crashing down the hole, and every now then then there’d be a tremendous WHOOMPA! and water would spray up.

We finished the day with one of the “Scenic Drives” from the Guidebook. This one took us south of Kiama to several lookouts and beaches, including Seven Mile Beach. There were lots of families with little kids playing in the water, and we could see several windsurfers and even a kitesurfer out on the waves.

Snookums perches on a rock and strikes a heroic pose.

Then he found a fossil!

We finished the drive in Berry, a sleepy little town where everything closes early on Saturday. Everything, that is, except the pub. We enjoyed a beer on the swing on the front porch.

We had some time to kill before dinner, so we headed back to the Blowhole to try to get a photo of it going off. This was the best I could do.

Dinner was at the Ritzy Gritz, a much-awarded Mexican eatery we’d seen recommended. It was great! I haven’t had good experience with Mexican in Australia, but this was right up there. Well worth a go if you’re in town.

We started Sunday with another big breakfast from Sabine. Then we packed up and headed out. We stopped off in town to check out the monthly market at Black Beach. Stalls stretched all around the water’s edge. We bought the Snook a new belt from a local leatherworker, and I bought a ceramic wombat for my garden!

We took the scenic route home, including the spectacular Sea Cliff Bridge and the Royal National Park. Here we are on Bald Hill just before heading into the park, looking back towards the South Coast.

It took us about 2.5 hours to get back home. Those roads are TWISTY! I’d definitely love to go back to the area again. It was the absolute perfect weekend to visit; the rain of the last few weeks had left everything lush and green. If you’re in the Sydney area, it’s definitely worth a trip.