Saturday we set out from Canberra back to Sydney for the remainder of our stay.
Julie was irrationally hungry and finished her beef jerkey, a protein bar & a fruit bar. At one of our roadside stops there was a fruit truck! That sounded great, and Julie got strawberries and mandarin oranges. As I came down the steps, I heard Jaron’s full-throated laugh. I said what’s so funny? He just got apples. At least we got different things.
We took a scenic route through Kangaroo Valley and along the coast. Kangaroo Valley was very lush and looked like a primordial forest with ferns and all kinds of things growing. The road got narrower and twistier and would be perfect for a motorcycle. It was bumpy AF for us, though. So bumpy that Jaron’s phone and holder got bucked off of the dash and tossed to his floorboard. We passed a sign that said something about a dangerous road conditions with bumps. After the sign, it got noticeably better.
By 4:00 it was time to get some real food, so we stopped in Kiama and got some fish and chips. Barramundi for Julie and Flathead for Jaron. Kiama is known for its blowhole, which is an area in the rocks that waves spray up from. So we went to check it out.
You can see the hole where that bright spot is showing thru.
Of course as soon as Julie got her camera ready, we did not get another spray for several minutes. But I caught it!
Next stop was the Sydney airport international terminal to return the rental car paid for by the govt and pick up our personal rental car. The rental car lot is different for domestic and international and we realized that the personal car booking was at the domestic terminal and this prompted much logistical discussion. We opted to see if the intl Europcar counter could transfer the reservation to avoid more bullshit to deal with on our day of departure. Jaron also proposed leaving Julie with the luggage in the garage, but had opted against a pre-airport bathroom stop, so we both dragged our luggage in. Guess what? Our new car was literally next to the spot we dropped our old car off in.
Jaron wanted an electric car, so of course we had to watch a youtube video on how to turn this fucking thing on and put it in drive. It also dings if you exceed the speed limit, which in the airport was 20 km/h (12.5 mph). He also couldn’t find the turn signal for a while. Julie dutifully googled and looked in the manual on demand and in a hurry to get the answers and only said “this is fun.” I pulled out the manual in our old car earlier today to get the engine specs. And in Iceland I used it to figure out how to turn off all of the nanny features. I wonder how many people actually use the manuals in rental cars? But I’m sure glad they are always there.
This car dings every time someone is in your blind spot, if you go over the speed limit, and if you’re not centered in the lane. At one point amidst so many sounds Jaron yelled “fucking drive it for me” and was very relieved when he managed to make all of the noises stop. Julie took this opportunity to suggest that we take it back. But no. This will be fun.
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