Sydney is Australia’s oldest, largest, and some might say its sexiest city. Captivating Sydney Harbour wraps around the heart of the city, reflecting the mystique of the Opera House and the adventure of the Harbour Bridge. Ferries and sailboats glide to and fro, depositing workers and tourists, all mixing happily about in the glass and gloss of city chic.   Once you’ve exhausted all that this cosmopolitan city has to offer, allow yourself a day or two to head south. Here you’ll find lands that you’ve only seen in movies, and if you’re as lucky as I was, you’ll see some wild kangaroos up close and personal. 

My husband Brian and I love to drive, in any country, no matter the different traffic laws, and sometimes it is truly harrowing. This drive, however, is a piece of cake! As long as you can manipulate a stick shift on the opposite side of the road, and can navigate your way south out of the city to the Princes Highway, you’ve got it made. There is no traffic. None. At one point on our trip, we passed 2 cars in a 30 minute time frame. Honestly, it was a little creepy and we began to wonder if everyone else knew something we didn’t. But then the scenery began to kick in, and we no longer cared where anyone else in the world was!

Picture vibrant green hills and rocky cliffs stretching as far as the eye can see.   Imagine fields of grasses blowing in a gentle breeze, and the scattered sheep occasionally popping up behind a fence. I’ve never been to Ireland, but this is exactly what I’d imagined that country to look like. It was breathtaking. 

It took us about 3 hours to reach the little town of Ulladulla, but if we hadn’t stopped for hundreds of photo ops, the trip may have been quicker.   I have to mention, just before you arrive in Ulladulla, you’ll pass through the town of Yatte Yattah…does a certain Seinfeld episode come to mind? I digress.  As we entered picturesque Ulladulla, we passed a group of senior citizens, dressed in all white, engaged in a game of lawn bowling on a beautifully manicured court. Another photo op. We swung into a local market to grab picnic supplies, making sure to purchase extra fruits and veggies. Back in the car, we continued our journey another 45 minutes until we came to Pebbly Beach Road. It is at this point that I pray Hertz car rental doesn’t follow my stories. Today the road may be paved, but when we visited, it was only fit for a four wheel drive vehicle, as noted by the many signs. But we hadn’t traveled four hours in our sub-compact rental to turn around, so we pressed on. It was hard to appreciate the beauty of the thick forest we were driving through because we were navigating a washed out road that was a minefield of ruts and holes. Thirty minutes and one shot suspension later, we could see the beach coming into view.  It was exotic with the waves crashing against big rocks just off shore, all framed by the vines, ferns and lush forest growth that was around us. We killed the engine, grabbed our picnic, and headed to the beach, hoping to catch a glimpse of a wild kangaroo during lunch. Neither of us expected what happened next.

Bounding toward us were several families of roos. Some towered over my six foot tall hubby. Some had babies in their pouches. The “teens” of the group were the first to reach us. As you may know, kangaroos are quite adept at getting in and out of pouches, and our grocery bags were no match for the mob. We had to literally jog into the surf so we’d have some food left for ourselves. Sitting on a rock in the water, we stared back at the waiting kangaroos, and decided it would be best to save some of our food. We knew they were expecting it, and we feared we might not be allowed back into our car without a distraction. I began to get a little nervous. We hadn’t seen another human for over an hour, and I started wondering if Australia had  911 service. I worried  we might be featured next on an episode of “When Nature turns Violent.”

While lunching on the rock, we sliced our extra apples and carrots so they could be distributed to more of the marsupials once  we were back on dry land..  The troop of kangaroos were still on the beach,  most were lazily sunning themselves.  There was one lone sentinel though, who remained alert, perched on his hind legs, as close to the surf as he could stand without getting wet, and he never took his eyes off of us.  After a long time, my husband convinced me that soon the sun would be setting, and we certainly didn't want trek back down the dirt road in the dark, so we should get going.  We sloshed back onto the beach, and though we never heard the sentinel make a sound, immediately the troop of roos surrounded us again. Each kangaroo grabbed a piece, or two, or three, as we kept moving in the direction of our car. Maybe because I'm on the short side, and most of the kangaroos towered above me, I felt claustraphobic and anxious.  My husband on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying this.  At one point, he put an apple slice in his mouth, and a kangaroo ate from the other end.  We kept moving toward our vehicle, and even though we had the same amount of food, the kangaroos eventually clustered around my husband and left me alone.  Perhaps they could sense my nervousness, or maybe my husband is a kangaroo whisperer.  Regardless, as we reached our car, I happily climbed inside and shut the door, while Brian was still saying good bye to his friends.  As we began rolling down the dirt path on our way back to civilization, most of the roos hopped back toward the beach to relax and recline in the setting sun.   The sentinel however, hopped along behind us for awhile, until he finally stood tall, and watched our car disappear into the forest.