Onwards from Moruya

Pelicans at the boat ramp in Bermagui

I am working about 6:00 by the dawn chorus from Drew and Jane's Garden.

I am given a guided tour of the vegetable garden which includes quite an extensive orchard and am invited to pick an from the tree.  They are sweet and juicy.

Something pretty in Jane's garden

As I'm driving south, I slow appropriately for the roadworks signs and I'm amused by a car racing up behind me. It turns out to be a police car, exceeding the speed limit, and similarly when we get to an overtaking lane and I do speed up to the limit, he overtakes me. Anyway, he's a police car, he can do as he wishes.

I stop in Bodalla for a cheese tasting and purchase a smoked halloumi, which is rather delicious.

I stopped at Bermagui's blue pool where a stiff breeze, combined with the colour of the water in the pool, which certainly isn't blue, dissuaded me from swimming.

Bermagui's (not quite) blue pool

I watched some seals doing not very much on a rock and another group swimming around in a nearby bay and I scan the horizon a bit for the whales which other visitors have told me are breaching but I don't see any of them. 


A few seals

I drive around to the accessible Bruce Steer ocean swimming pool, and while it is much calmer there, there is still a cool breeze. The temperature is only 20, so I decide not to swim.

Bruce Steer Swimming Pool

 I watch a small flotilla of pelicans loitering in the vicinity of the fish cleaning tables near the boat launching lamp. There's a number of guys cleaning some decent size yellow fin tuna but they seem to be following the instructions on the sign and putting their waste into the bin and the pelicans will have to forage for themselves 

As I drive south via the scenic route, of course, I am reminded of the incredible network of and intricacies of, the the coastal lakes of this region. They really do add beauty.

By the time I get to Tathra the wind has picked up even more. There's lots of white caps at the beach. Someone seems to be having a lovely time wind surfing and two guys are setting up their hydrofoils with their sail things. I think they are in for a fun afternoon.

I finally arrive at Mallacoota and choose a caravan park away from the waterfront.  While the one on the waterfront is a lovely location, it's also very blustery and the one I've chosen has a little bit more shelter.

I choose my campsite, setup go a little walk. There's a coastal reserve and it has some magnificent huge gum trees. Also has plenty of little ones planted to come along as replacements down the track.

  Magnificent Eucalypts
 
I come through a small area of bush onto an open area near the coast and it's apparently all one huge campsite. There are rows and rows of power, water, etc. points and I think the thought of how this looks in the height of the season with scare the heck out of me.  I saw sites numbered in the 700s!

On my left is the the oval there's Australian Rules goal posts, cricket nets, soccer nets and there is a mob of probably 30 kangaroos just grazing in the middle of it. Maybe the local football team has been recruiting. Some of these kangaroos are big boys!
And some are sitting right up and watching me; I don't want to spook them so I keep walking the other way.
Part of the mob on the oval

With a few trees, this section of the the coastal foreshore caravan park might possibly be more sheltered than the other side, but I am content with my choice. It's just for one night 

The waterways are enclosed and undoubtedly a fabulous location for all sorts of water sports etc, and certainly appear to be good for birds, of which there are many.

I think I would like to spend longer here but it's not going to happen this trip.
From the point at Mallacoota
 
Jane suggested I spend two nights here and skip Nowa Nowa, but that would involve a 400 km 5 and 1/2 hour drive the following day, which I don't want to do solo.

There is a forest of a sweet pittosporum behind the caravan park and it's in full flower and very scented. I think I can cope as there is plenty of breeze.

I head down to the camp kitchen to do a bit of dinner preparation and am most unimpressed that there are caravaners there with two large dogs, sitting in the camp kitchen, despite the sign that says no dogs please. They do at least leave when they see me step back, probably with a relatively horrified look on my face. 







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A wild and woolly start to my holiday

Image
At The Rip - the beanie was essential  The crossing provided everything promised (threatened).  It was rather a roller coaster of a ride (I recall a rollercoaster ride called Montezuma's Revenge, from decades ago.. ) and the surf was definitely up. The lifeboat sheds at Queenscliff From time to time during the night I'd sit up and look out my cabin window and watching the waves being very lumpy with white caps.  After a visit to Keiser in Geelong for my knee physio program, I proceeded to Queenscliff and wandered out to the point and admired the lifeboat shed and lots of white caps in a very stiff breeze. Queenscliff church with Funeral Poles I walked around Queenscliff as my itinerary said admire the historic buildings, which I did down the main Street, I didn't visit the art gallery because it's not open until 10:00. I did note that the historic buildings in Queenscliff include a number of churches, one of which had First Nations funeral poles on the lawn beside i...
Read more

Onwards to Sydney and time with Jonathon

Image
Celebrating Celebrating in style! I can allow a gentle start to this morning, which is especially good given it's Sunday and I enjoy some coffee machine coffee courtesy of my Airbnb in Kurrajong, sipped while walking in my host's Garden and it was a garden well worth walking in: beautiful, varied, well established. As I drive towards Sydney, I note the price of fuel has soared to as high as 207 cents per litre which is ridiculously high given that I saw it for 159 only about a week ago. Whether it's Sunday pricing, locality or what, I don't know.  Google took me via some interesting back roads but I do end up at Keiser in Pymble in time to do a physio session before they close. From there I head towards my Sydney Airbnb. Again, Google takes me through some weird  routes, presumably to avoid traffic congestion on the Pacific Highway. My hostess responds to my message querying check-in time by telling me I can check in anytime I like, which is most convenient. So I do and...
Read more

Orchid Hunting at Wilson's Promontory

Image
Small Spider Orchid - Caladenia Parva I am SO glad that I'm not camping. During the night, on and off, the rain was absolutely torrential. And I awoke to more of the same. Nor is it particularly warm and there is snow forecast down to 900 m. I retrieve my winter walking trousers from the car. Weird to think that a few days ago I was wondering if I could stay cool enough. It seems my original intent was to have diverted to all sorts of interesting spots yesterday on my way from Mallacoota but I didn't get round to that little bit of planning. Agnes Falls and Welshpool Long Jetty would have been good little diversions but I'm not going to backtrack to see them. And I don't think with the forecast weather that planning to see sunrise from Mount Nicoll is going to be particularly rewarding. I note there's a Foster Flora Reserve with some walks I might need to investigate. I just looked carefully at the Wilsons Prom maps, with little walks around Tidal River and Lily Pil...
Read more