Day 4 Sunday 14/6/20, Moss Vale to One Mile Beach (Anna Bay), 9 – 21

We must be getting back into the old routine as this morning we even managed to get all the dishes done before leaving.

We had planned to do the M7 Sydney Bypass in the quiet of a Sunday morning but it appears that everyone is escaping the Covid lockdown blues and the traffic is heavy. We want to stretch our legs but that isn’t possible until we reach Mooney Mooney on the Hawkesbury River on the Newcastle Expressway. We laugh at the signs warning drivers to rest every 2 hours, on the M7 and the Newcastle Expressway one must just hold one’s lane, grip the steering wheel and just go for it. Stopping for a rest is a luxury. The 96km trip skirting Sydney at best takes an hour, today more than twice that. Mooney Mooney rest area is chockers with day trippers licking ice creams and looking pleased to be out in the fresh air. There’s only one other rest area on the Expressway so we continue on, munching unidentifiable snacks from a bag, to the outskirts of Newcastle.

A few minutes after crossing the Hunter River a van passes us, a blonde woman is waving from the passenger window…it’s our Rat Pack mates R & T. They’d spotted us on Newcastle’s Hunter River bridge. Before we’ve exchanged more than a few words into the phone our Port Stephens turn off appears and we shout “See you in QLD”.

The Ingenia One Mile Beach caravan park is pretty and feels almost tropical after Melbourne. We’ve already stripped down to T shirts. The surf beach is just over the dune and a few surfers are out making the most of a sunny afternoon.

With elbow bumps we meet I & S for afternoon tea at their new resort style village, Latitude One. They moved in here just prior to Covid lockdown. They’ve got a lovely home and all that one could wish for in retirement, beautiful surroundings, a perfect climate, activities abound and parking for their caravan. They take us into Nelson Bay for fish and chips and we eat them together back at our park. It is a mild evening.

Accom: $25.00 (Power, water, everything)

Fuel: $56.48

Travelling Kms: 306kms

Note: When heading north or south I never tire of the view as the Newcastle Expressway dips to cross the magnificent Hawkesbury River.