Author: Mrs A
Location: Ulladulla, Berry and Sydney
Friday was a big driving day as we left Merimbula and began heading north back to Sydney. Our destination for the night was Ulladulla, and the four hour drive felt like eight as Miss Tassie fidgeted and mewed for treats the whole way. As soon as we were unhitched on our bushy headland site we decided to explore, leaving Tassie to catch up on her 22 hours sleep!
There was a lot of birdlife around our camp, with yellow robins, honeyeaters, fairy wrens, black cockatoos, wattle birds all flitting around. We climbed down to the beach and discovered pelicans, white bellied sea eagles and pied cormorants – a veritable sanctuary of feathered creatures.
Our stay was brief, however, and the following morning we headed back on our way.
The next stop was back in Berry with our friends Barb and Omar. We parked up at the top of their property, treated to fantastic views over the district.
That evening we enjoyed a delicious night out at the local Thai restaurant where other friends Alan and Jo joined us, entertaining us with stories of their goats and life on the farm.
Sunday morning we said farewell again and set off up the highway back to Sydney. We unhitched at Narabeen Lakeside caravan park (just a 20 minute drive from our home, should it not be rented). It feels quite strange to be so close to where we have lived for 14 years and yet be on fairly unfamiliar territory. Unfortunately they do not allow any pets on site, so we then drove Tassie to Hornsby to stay with her fur grandparents, Rosemary and Richard. She spent a few months with them last year, so it was lovely to see her settle comfortably in with them immediately – first jumping onto Richard’s lap for cuddles, then snuggling onto a cushion beside Rosemary. A busy day for all of us.
Today, Monday, I will not dwell on, but it was a very emotional day. We farewelled our friend Tim in a beautiful service at St Joseph’s College in Hunters Hill, followed by food and drinks at the Woolwich Wharf Hotel. There were many tears shed, some laughs, and plenty of beautiful memories shared. We caught a taxi home, physically and emotionally drained for a quiet evening. I took a sunset walk up to the Narabeen Headland to clear my head, and to remind myself how fortunate we are to be amongst such beauty, with so much to live for.
A lovely quote caught my eye on a bench at one of the lookouts, an apt thought to end the day on:
Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with their hearts and souls there is no such thing as separation. – Rumi
We toured down the river, stopping just before it went into Merimbula Bay, close to where we had been hiking last Sunday.
Just over twelve kilometres later we were back at our start point munching on a dozen oysters each. Well deserved this time!
The water looked perfect for paddling on, being shallow and not too fast moving, but there was a strong southerly breeze which makes it a challenge. We decided to save paddling for tomorrow.
All this blog writing had made my iPad keyboard battery run out…or so I thought, so we popped out to the nearest shop for a new one (I later found that it is not the battery, but the Bluetooth capability which has stopped working. Ugh – seems a new keyboard might be required unless any readers know an easy fix?). On the way back we called into Boydtown for a look around.
We finished off with feeding the peacocks, peahens and a chick before heading back for dinner, armed with the eggs and a bag of fresh spinach from the veggie patch.
The rock formations were amazing creating some amazing backdrops for the paddle.
In the afternoon we headed off in cars to start a short walk up the coast though coastal forecast in Ben Boyd National Park. The roos were plentiful, the very lawn like grass indicative of a sizeable mob enjoying this grazing. Dolphins even obliged by appearing on cue, as well as an echidna and bush wallabies. A sea eagle soared overhead, while crested terns dived for fish in the bay.
This area of coast is one of our favourite spots in Australia. It does get busier every time we come, but there is still leaves plenty of space. We would only have seen half a dozen people on the entire walk.
Spending time outdoors in this serene and largely pristine environment is so good for our souls. It’s especially welcome as we mourn the loss of our friend. He’s on my mind a lot of the time, processing thoughts that move from angry to sad in a heartbeat. Our friends provide a welcome distraction, reminding me of the criticality of these relationships to our overall wellbeing.
After a fabulous team BBQ brunch, a group of us decided to try burning off some of the calories with a bike ride into town. Eden is famous for its incredible coastline with spectacular views. This means of course hills so we really did burn a calorie or two, but the views are worth it.
We rode down to the wharf where a large cruise ship had just arrived, and enjoyed coffees down there before heading back to camp.
After showers it was most certainly beer o’clock and the evening began. A delicious Ward spag bol was concocted followed by a very tasty dairy free chocolate birthday cake from Jenny. Much fun and laughter and a lovely birthday eve eve had.
We finally emerged onto the main waterway of the Bega River, and decided to explore upstream.
Minimal breeze meant mirror calm water, perfect paddling, with a few observers from the shore.
A quick ‘comfort stop’ and we headed back to our launch point, being carefully tracked by nosy roos and 13km under our belts.
It was time to move on again and make the short drive down to Eden, stopping en route at the beautiful little town of Perimbula for some supplies.We set up camp and shortly after, the gang arrived from Sydney. It was great to see them all after the emotional events of the last week. Nothing like old friends to help you get perspective.
So let the good times roll, after a short ride along the beach then back for some afternoon nibbles and drinks. We made everyone dinner and then some more friends from Canberra arrived. We had a full team.
Around 6pm we decided to head out to the Tathra Hotel for dinner. It had been recommended as a spot to go to, and we could see it was a nicely painted heritage building from the outside. As we entered, I expected the usual stinky sticky carpets and dark dingy walls of the typical Australian pub, but was nicely surprised. The interior has been freshly renovated, with a lot of money spent and some great interior architecture and design in place. It looked fantastic, with high ceilings, and huge windows making the most of the views across the ocean. We settled onto a table with an ocean view and ordered our food. We accompanied this with a craft beer for Mr A and a local winery Tempranillo for me – just delicious. The food was great too – my curry a little mild for my liking, but still tasty.
Wednesday morning saw us packing up and driving to a MUCH nicer campsite just 5km away in Kalaru. Lots of space, birds, wallabies, unspoilt bushland and close to the Bega River for potential kayaking opportunities. We set up early and relaxed with brunch to make plans for April, realising we have the Easter period quickly approaching when every decent campground is likely to be fully booked and full of children. We made bookings, including a couple with friends who have kindly offered us places to stay at the busiest times, and now feel a lot more in control.
We then jumped on our mountain bikes to head off on a ride. We had only made it about 500 metres when a phone call came which shook our world. We had the horrible news that a good friend back in Sydney had lost his battle with depression. Just awful, we feel there must have been something we could have done to prevent this happening…how could we have fun while a friend was in so much pain? We spent a tearful hour or so calling other friends to let them know the bad news, and considered heading back to the caravan to reflect.
Tonight is not to be an alcohol free night. Barbecued lamb chops on a pumpkin hummus will be accompanied by spinach with toasted walnuts and a lemon and lime dressing. We will toast our friend and hope he is in a happier place tonight. There will certainly be more tears from us before the day is out…
We did a short 4km paddle before returning to shore, deciding that air conditioned surroundings would be more suitable on a 35 degree day.
The mercury remained high for the afternoon, so we retired to the air conditioned caravan to read and relax.
We caught the free courtesy bus both ways and are now safely tucked into the caravan as a huge storm has rolled in, taking the temperatures down finally, and making for a very cosy evening. Cheers folks!
Crossing through the Narooma Bar we were required by law to don lifejackets, but soon took those off for a more comfortable ride. Upon reaching the island we were given the option to jump into the 20 degree water for a snorkel with the seal pups…but the cool breeze blew across the water and we decided to give it a miss this time. We had a nice cup of tea while two of the guests jumped in for a dive, before heading around to the wharf.
We were met by a volunteer and a National Parks Ranger who escorted us up a grassy, mown path past huge granite boulders to the top of the island and lighthouse, telling us stories of the flora and fauna and the work that has been done to restore the land to its former glory. The island was first occupied by Europeans in 1880 when the construction of the lighthouse and its cottages commenced, but the native landowners have a history stretching back many thousands of years, with several sacred sites on the island and evidence of numerous shell middens demonstrating where they had shared meals over the centuries.
A walking tour of the island revealed graves and stories of the hardship the lighthouse keepers and their families had to endure while keeping the seas safe for ships, with a beautiful poem written in memory of those lost – Charles Townsend killed by untreated injuries he received when his horse was spooked and tipped him and a heavy cart of supplies over, no phones or radios for help then, and the young child killed by whooping cough in the days before vaccines.
Beautiful views greeted us at every point, and we saw many little penguin and shearwater burrows which come to life at dawn and dusk.
After a few hours on the island our boat came to pick us up and return us to the mainland. There we hitched up the caravan and left Narooma, driving a whole 15 minutes down the coast to our next location, just north of Bermagui at Wallaga Lake.
We hung out with the seals for a while before continuing on our way around the water’s edge, walking 6km return along the foreshore. We spotted oysters for sale fresh from the farm, so of course had to buy a dozen. Absolutely delicious – definitely up there with some of the best oysters I have ever had, for sure.
We returned to camp via a quick grocery shop and got the sourdough tucked up for its 4 hour proving stage. I got out our curry cookbook and decided to tackle another interesting meal for dinner, this time a Myanmar chicken curry – Kye thar hin – a very tasty recipe. The sourdough finally made it into the oven, and is now cooling ready for breakfast in the morning. Looking and smelling good – hope it tastes good too!
