Currarong, Jervis Bay

In the interests of keeping costs down we booked into the caravan park at Currarong, rather than further around into Jervis Bay. It was a nice enough caravan park. The best part of it was the excellent kids playground and water play park. I particularly liked that it had a water park but no pool as it meant I could supervise Rory playing without actually having to be in the water to hold/catch him.

Tilda about to get water dumped on her (she loved it)

Staying here put us close to the Beecroft Weapons Range, which is only open at certain times (like when they are not using it for target practice). When we were there it was open Friday and Saturday nights for camping. It would have been great to stay there but I didn't know about it and Greg didn't know if it would be possible to tow the van there and park it. That's the biggest problem with such a big van; we don't always know if we can camp somewhere and we can't just tow it in and hope for the best as we may not be able to turn it around to get out again. Going in to the Beecroft Weapons Range took us to the Point Perpendicular lighthouse and Honeymoon Bay. Both are worth the visit.

Honeymoon Bay is every bit as lovely as the name sounds. It was sheltered from the blustery winds, when the rest of Jervis Bay wasn't, and was a nice, safe place for the kids to swim and play. It was also a good spot for a bit of snorkeling, although in close to shore the sand was churned up so visibility wasn't good, but it was much clearer out further. Greg went for a snorkel while I supervised the kids and then we swapped. That was when I had a close encounter of the not-so-good kind. After snorkeling (for a very short time as 1 - the deeper water as cold and 2 - I freaked myself out thinking about sharks and being alone in the deep water) I headed back in to thigh deep water. As I stopped and stood up to pull up my mask, I felt a really hard hit to my calf. I looked around and didn't see anything but immediately freaked out as it felt like someone had punched me really, really hard in the leg. I knelt down to check out my leg when I felt something kind of rubbery wiggling and moving under my knee. Needless to say, I absolutely freaked out this time and rushed to shore, totally shaken. In the shallow water I could sit down and properly check out my leg. There was no mark or anything to show for what I felt. It honestly felt like a hard kick to my leg, a lot like the kick I felt one time when I touched our electric fence without realising it was on. My calf had a deep ache in it and felt quite weak. Given there was no mark, I sucked it up and we stayed a little bit longer then headed back to the caravan. After talking myself out of thinking I was dying (has anyone noticed I'm a bit of a stress head/anxious basket case???) I used Dr Google who gave me information that leads me to think I had a close encounter with a Coffin Ray.

We also drove around to Huskisson which I really liked. It was quite touristy but I thought it was lovely and would happily visit there again. We had some very yummy ice creams from a shop that sold ice cream and fudge. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of it as I would recommend it.

For around 20 years I had been wanting to snorkel at Jervis Bay because I have always heard how beautiful it was, how much sea life there was to enjoy and first and foremost, it's meant to be one of the places to see weedy sea dragons in the wild and I have wanted to see one in the wild (I've seen them in an aquarium) ever since I learned of them. But after my encounter with the Coffin Ray I can't say that I was disappointed it was too windy and the water too choppy for snorkeling as it meant I didn't have to try to conquer my fear to snorkel alone. If I could snorkel with Greg I would be OK but one of us needs to supervise the kids so it means snorkeling must be done solo.

Best bits:

Tilda - “the water park”

Rory - “water park” and “Point 'Purpledicular' ” (he loves lighthouses)

Greg - "Honeymoon Bay was pretty awesome"

Therese - “Honeymoon Bay”

Worst Bits:

Tilda - “”caravan park was too busy”

Rory - “tippy bucket”

Greg - "the price at the local grocery shop"

Therese - “now being too scared to snorkel alone after my Coffin Ray encounter as it made me realise how vulnerable we are in the ocean”