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I’m an avid world traveler, photographer, software developer, and digital storyteller.

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Australia Day 2: The Long Coastal Road

26 June 2025 • 594 km / 369 mi (map)

  • Added to Eric Scouten :: Travel on 29 June 2025
  • Australia 10

The plan was to get an early start and make our way along the coast to a fun AirBNB located on a farm in rural Victoria.

I awoke early for a walk around the neighborhood where we were staying.

A calm lake at dawn under a clear sky graduating from soft orange near the horizon to pale blue overhead, with a low tree-lined far shore. A small wooden jetty with a yellow pedal boat extends from the right bank, where tall trees and a waterfront house line the shore.
Erowal Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Which was all well and good, but then …

Ooh, shiny, there’s an abandoned lighthouse nearby! We took a little detour in the morning. The photo ops were amazing …

A narrow paved road curves through a forest of tall, slender eucalyptus trees, their pale trunks silhouetted against the soft morning light glowing through the canopy. Dry leaf litter and grass line the roadside under a clear pale sky.
Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia
A weathered sandstone block wall with a narrow doorway fitted with an open, heavily rusted iron lattice gate. Through the opening, an enclosed roofless interior shows more aged stone walls and patches of tufted green grass growing from the gravelly ground.
Cape Saint George Lighthouse, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia
The weathered sandstone ruins of Cape Saint George Lighthouse, with empty window and door openings framed in worn stone and a circular tower section behind, under a bright blue sky scattered with white clouds. Tufts of long grass, low shrubs and a small tree grow among the toppled stone blocks in the foreground.
Cape Saint George Lighthouse, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia
Morning sun breaks through a partly cloudy sky over the open ocean, casting rays and a bright reflection on the water, with a low headland visible on the left horizon and rocky ground with shrubs in the foreground.
Cape Saint George Lighthouse, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia
The sandstone ruins of Cape Saint George Lighthouse, with a stepped gabled wall and scattered cut stone blocks in the foreground, overlooking a rugged coastline and the ocean under a bright blue sky scattered with white clouds.
Cape Saint George Lighthouse, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia
A rugged coastline at Cape Saint George in Booderee National Park, with low green coastal scrub in the foreground giving way to sandstone cliffs and headlands rising above the ocean, under a broad blue sky scattered with white clouds in the morning light.
Cape Saint George Lighthouse, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia
The weathered stone ruins of the Cape Saint George Lighthouse, with a crumbling sandstone wall and an empty window opening in the foreground and a more intact stone structure with barred windows and a stepped parapet in the background, set against a blue morning sky with scattered clouds.
Cape Saint George Lighthouse, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia
The roofless stone ruins of the Cape Saint George Lighthouse keeper’s building, with weathered grey and tan masonry walls, an empty doorway and a window fitted with a rusted iron grille. The ruin stands on bare gravelly ground under a bright blue morning sky with scattered clouds, with shrubs and trees to the right.
Cape Saint George Lighthouse, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia

Oh, and ooh … botanical gardens, too? Count me in!

A quiet sealed road curves through eucalypt bushland under a clear blue sky, with tall gum trees and dense green scrub lining both sides in the morning light.
Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia

We especially enjoyed the aptly-named scribble gum tree:

A close-up of smooth, pale gum tree bark in soft tones of grey, green and tan, marked with squiggly reddish-brown insect trails and a few small knots and pits.
Booderee Botanic Gardens, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia
A close-up of a smooth-barked eucalypt (scribbly gum) with pale grey-white bark marked by dark, squiggly insect-trail scribbles, featuring a dark reddish-brown burl or scar on the trunk. Behind it, a sunlit forest of other gum trees and green undergrowth fills the background under a blue sky.
Booderee Botanic Gardens, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia
The smooth, pale cream-coloured trunk of a large eucalyptus tree marked with wavy scribbly-gum insect tracks, splitting into branches as it rises through a sunlit forest. Green ferns and dense bushland surround the base, with patches of blue sky visible through the canopy.
Booderee Botanic Gardens, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory, Australia

And then – stop me if you’ve heard this one before – the well-planned day turned into a very long slog. When we left the park, the Maps app projected a 5pm arrival, which was about sunset.

I began to fret about having to drive at night.

A wide rural landscape of dry golden grassland sloping down to forested hills and a distant peaked mountain under a deep blue sky scattered with wispy white clouds. A large eucalyptus tree stands on the right, with farm buildings and scattered trees visible in the valley to the left.
north of Brogo, New South Wales, Australia
An Australian pelican with a long pink bill perches on the stern of a small wooden rowboat painted red on the outside and orange inside, moored in clear shallow water at Merimbula. A rope and a white buoy trail from the boat over the rippling water.
Merimbula, New South Wales, Australia
A calm coastal inlet at Merimbula under a bright blue sky scattered with puffy white clouds, with several boats moored on the water near a low, tree-covered shoreline dotted with houses.
Merimbula, New South Wales, Australia

Food and bio break stops conspired to make it a much later night than planned. And, yes, there were a couple hours of un-fun night driving. We’re safely at the farm now and it sounds and looks wonderful. Looking forward to exploring and sharing tomorrow.

But … for now … sleep calls!

Erowan Bay, New South Wales, to Mossiface, Victoria, Australia · 594 km / 369 mi
(Mouse over or tap on the markers to see the photos there. Use the button to adjust the map’s position and zoom.)

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