September 6-10. The final push. Emerald Beach, Old Bar, Umina Beach, Yass, Lake Hume. Quick beaches.

Fingal Head was the last major stop we wanted to do on this trip, so everything else after that was focused on just getting home as quick as we could, without doing stupidly long days in the car. Each of the places we went to were essentially just planned for overnight stops, and not much sightseeing.

September 6th Emerald Beach

Just off the freeway near Coffs. Another cool little beach, a nice caravan park with a great walk over the heads. The wind had picked up late afternoon, as we headed over the top of the heads, we could see a couple of whales having a play not too far from shore. It has been fascinating with how many whales we have seen this trip, and these two gave us a bit of a wave to say goodbye and good luck.

September 7th Old Bar

Disappointing that this place has not embraced its name more and have some memorabilia referencing its name for any respectable person’s games room. The caravan park had the smallest ensuite room we have seen on any trip. Walkable beach and a cute little town.

September 8th Umina Beach

Revisit here, not for memories, just for convenience. We literally did nothing more than walk along the beach to the town, visit the op shops and the supermarket. Linda did get a major score at the last op shop with a remote control cooking heat sensor that connects to the Thermomix – I was just looking for records.

September 9th Yass

Yass caravan park is a drive through site, so no unhooking the van enabling a quick getaway in the morning. The walk into town proved fruitful with an uncommon CD found for Linda’s Mick Thomas collection (The Re-mains on Croxton records for those interested). Cold as billy-o, it is a rude shock to us having the heater out and thermals on again. Briefly think of turning back.

September 10th Lake Hume and then home

This was selected as our final stop as it was our first stop on our first trip four years ago. We thought it would be a nice way to finish and acknowledge how far we have come on the three trips. We have now done roughly 43,000 kilometres with two half laps and this trip up north. We ignored our learnings about revisiting places to recapture memories. It doesn’t work and this was no different. First, we turned up to the wrong Lake Hume Caravan park. Nothing short of a rookie error, and to be perfectly frank with you, I am surprised this is the first time we have done it. Not a big deal, but they were 40 minutes apart and was a frustrating end to the drive after a hectic spell of dodge ‘em cars going around Sydney.

Secondly, our appointed site was a near inaccessible piece of unlevel dirt, and also had somebody already in it. Surprising this is the first time this has happened, as the maps at some of these parks can be a little confusing. With some renegotiating with the park, we find a site that we can easily access and get levelled with only a minor hassle.

Thirdly, the amount of rabbits in Lake Hume are initially cute, and then worrisome given the amount of little holes around and the lack of lighting in the middle of the night when making a toilet run.

The main attraction is getting to the dam, which we did get to just on sunset and at least that part was nice. Oh, we did get to a record shop in Albury with a nice little pickup of the only Bob Newhart album I didn’t have.