Author: Catherine Anderson

Catherine loves painting and photography as well as the great outdoors. Cycling, kayaking, pack-rafting and hiking are favourite activities as well as scuba diving when the location permits. A self confessed geek, she’s the reason details are included in our stories!
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Saturday 3 March: Using all the toys in Eden

Author: Mrs A

Location: Eden, NSW

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny so we decided to launch our kayak in Curalo Lagoon, beside the campground. Our friends from Canberra, Catherine and Dave also had kayaks so joined us for an explore. The lagoon is very shallow, so we only paddled about 4km all up, and predominantly just floating on the glasslike surface. Not a bad way to start the day, however!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.

John, Eveliene, Mr A and I decided to go for a stroll along Aslings Beach, hoping for a return visit of the dolphins we saw the night before. None showed themselves, but it was a lovely walk nevertheless.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.

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Thursday & Friday 1-2 March: Off to the garden of Eden

Author: Mr A

Location: Bega River, Tathra & Eden

After picking the brains of the caravan park manager we found a great spot to launch the kayak, although a couple of locals asked us “Who told you about this spot then?”, and said they would pay him a visit for sharing their secret. It really was a top location, but thank goodness for Google Maps enabling our navigation through the twists and turns of what was called Blackfellows Lake and into the Bega River.

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.

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Tuesday & Wednesday 27-28 Feb: Ups and downs of Tathra

Author: Mrs A

Location: Tathra Beach, Tathra & Kalaru

Tuesday Morning saw Mr A head into Bega without me, his destination a dentist to see about some slight pain he had in his upper jaw. Meanwhile, I had to work on a Facebook Community Fellowship submission so sat on the laptop, working for the day. Mr A returned around midday, his face numb from the first of what looks to be several root canal therapy sessions – not ideal while travelling, I can tell you! A few painkillers and a soft lunch later and we popped out to Tathra to have a look around.

There are some nice views from the wharf, and we picked up some fresh oysters from a fisherman’s house, before heading back to continue my work, and Mr A have a lie down with more painkillers.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.

Instead, we decided try to clear our heads and took off on a short ride down some quiet local roads to see where we might launch the kayak tomorrow. The scenery around here is quite lovely, we rode through a sheep farm, only turning around when a farm worker tracked us down to tell us Google Maps was wrong, and we were on private land. We wondered whether this was actually true, but left regardless. Our ride was just 7km all up, we decided we were just not in the mood to go any further and returned to camp.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…

Tassie is happy here:

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Saturday 24 February – The sapphire coast is gleaming

Author: Mrs A

Location: Wallaga Lake, Central Tilba and Bermagui

“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.”

(Sam Keen, American Author)

It was a slow and lazy start to the morning, already up to mid 20s by 9am and steadily climbing. We took advantage of the heat to put some washing on before jumping back in the kayak for a paddle. It was even hot on the water, the promised breeze not really cooling us down much, but allowing for a sail across to the southern end of the lake.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 very quaint village of Central Tilba is just a 15 minute drive from where we are staying, so we decided to visit the cheese factory there. This was more of a treat for Mr A, there not being much in the way of dairy-free or sheep milk options that I could tolerate. Tilba reminds me of a real life Hobbiton, not because the residents are all short with hairy feet (though some of them are!), but because it’s a collection of ridiculously sweet little cottages with gardens overflowing with flowers and names like Foxglove and Honeysuckle. The surrounding county side is very much reflective of its distant past seeped in volcanic activity, with steep hills and large granite bolders, long since smoothed and weathered.

Central Tilba’s cheese factory has been there since 1891, at one point owned by Bega (a large Australian producer) but now back in private hands. Mr A purchased a good selection of cheese and yoghurt, already preparing the platter for next weekend when we have several friends from Sydney joining us down in Eden. We strolled around the other stores, all stocking artisan products, leather goods, jewellery, photography, chocolates and pastries, Mr A even being well behaved and avoiding the lolly shop in favour of maintaining his relatively sugar free status.The mercury remained high for the afternoon, so we retired to the air conditioned caravan to read and relax.

This evening we booked a night out, to the centre of all local action – the Bermagui Country Club – it sounds much posher than it actually is! It does have a restaurant with a great reputation for seafood though, and we can both testify that reputation is well deserved. I had a HUGE seafood platter which apparently came with chips that I didn’t even reach, and Mr A went for the Blue Grenadier, in large. Both dishes under $35 for a lot of food! Wine was a Barossa cold climate Shiraz which was very drinkable for just $25 a bottle (although when Mark went to order it the lady behind the bar brought out a bottle of white….perhaps wine is not often bought here?). 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!

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Thursday 22 February – A dream is realised….

Author: Mrs A

Location: Barunguba Island (Montague Island) & Wallaga Lake

For several years we have read about Montague Island in various magazines – most recently in the Australian Geographic – and been curious about the mystery it holds. It is the second largest offshore island after Lord Howe (also on our wish list) and home to many native birds as well as a large colony of New Zealand fur seals.

We met our skipper at the Town Wharf in Narooma at 7.40am and were soon off on our little boat heading the 8km across the water to the island. Along with the two crew members there were 9 other guests this morning, and we wrapped up warm under the cloudy skies.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’ve settled in here for a few days. It’s extremely peaceful with incredible views over the water and many native birds about. Tassie loves it here too and spent an hour out walking this afternoon, even managing to catch a skink (which she released unharmed, minus a tail which it chose to drop in its defence!). We’re looking forward to setting out on a paddle on the lake in the morning.

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Tuesday 20 February: Sourdough, Seals and Sunshine…

Author: Mrs A

Location: Narooma, NSW

Well I kind of fibbed about the sunshine, as it was fairly overcast all day, but at least it wasn’t torrential rain and wind. We had a busy morning ticking off tasks, with washing done, new battery fitted to the vacuum cleaner and then the call from the Airbag Man to walk us through a work around for our misbehaving suspension.

The aim of the airbags (other than providing suspension while driving, for those who are not in the know) is to enable us to balance out the caravan when we are parked up, allowing us to park on quite uneven sites and still ensure that (inside at least) everything is even. It’s a bit of a luxury – when we were travelling around in France a couple of years ago in a motorhome, levelling meant carefully driving onto blocks of wood or sloping pieces of plastic, not flicking a remote control!

The work around meant unplugging some of the hoses and connecting them directly to the manual inflation – bypassing the automatic system. It means a little bit more work when arriving and departing from campsites, but at least will tide us over for the next few weeks until we reach Zone in Coolum Beach for a service, and hopefully a full replacement of the control panel and all hoses.

We also decided to get started on making our first sourdough loaf. Just before we left Sydney we were treated to a masterclass by our friend and expert sourdough baker, Andy, and were entrusted with a little pot of sourdough starter to keep alive. The starter was extremely happy to be on a camping trip and at one point got so enthusiastic it almost left the fridge by itself, bubbling out of its pot and covering most of the fridge contents. We knew it was ready to be baked.

We took our baking task very seriously, with timers going off throughout the day, reminding us to fold the bread every hour and other important stages. We wanted to go out in the afternoon, so the dough came with us for the ride, sitting in the back of the car, allowing us to return when the alarm went off and complete the next task!

We drove the 3km into Narooma, and parked down by the town wharf. As we got out of the car we noticed a man gutting and cleaning his fish at a set of sinks down there, and close by, a photographer with a huge telephoto lens. I wondered why the fisherman deserved such photographic attention, and soon realised that he was not the attraction. He was surrounded by wildlife – pelicans, cormorants and even huge stingrays whizzed around the water’s edge, just incredible, accompanied by the star attractions, two wild fur seals playfully chasing around the water and even jumping out on to the water’s edge for selfies with the visitors. Amazing!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!

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Sunday 18 February – Another day, another lake

Author: Mrs A

Location: Tabourie Lake and Burrill Lake, NSW

Another blue sky morning greeted us, and we decided to start with a healthy breakfast of fruit and cereal before heading out. Mich and Dan had to pack up their tent before we set off, but it didn’t take long and we were driving up the coast a short 13km to Burrill Lake. The Pacific Highway travels over this lake, and we had often looked at it longingly, wondering what it would be like to paddle on. Today we found out.We parked up by a boat ramp and launched into the lake. This waterway is open to the ocean and therefore much clearer than Lake Tabourie, and also tidal. As we set off, the tide was rushing in, giving us a high speed boost on our exploration. There was plenty of birdlife on this lake, with pelicans, cormorants, black swans and also a juvenile White-Bellied Sea-Eagle. Much of the waterway is lined by Meroo National Park, making for some scenic paddling.We returned to the cars after about 6.5km, yesterday’s purchase of prawns and fresh oysters calling our names. After a fabulous feast, we said our farewells, Mich and Dan heading back to Sydney, and us returning to camp to make some plans for the coming weeks. We did some research made some campsite bookings over a pot of tea, plus booked a boat trip out to an island for Wednesday – definitely lots to look forward to.

We then decided to go for a walk over to Tabourie Beach. It was very peaceful, with many of the weekend’s visitors now also departed for home, and it was great to appreciate the beauty of the wild coastline. Tropical Cyclone Gita (which has wracked havoc in Tonga and now is heading to New Zealand), while a long way away from where we are, has thrown up some impressive swells, and the coastline was shrouded in a mist of salt spray, muting the colours.We noticed that the tide was low enough to allow us walking access over to Crampton Island, just off the coast, and headed over for an explore, returning as we noticed the first waves beginning to cross the sandbank.We finished off our day by getting somewhat packed up ready to depart tomorrow, showering and cooking dinner, enjoying that with a glass of wine and our latest Netflix addiction…I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

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Friday 16 February – We investigate Tabourie Lake by water

Author: Mrs A

Location: Tabourie Lake, NSW

The early cloud soon cleared to provide us with a lovely blue sky morning with little wind. We decided to take advantage of the good weather to launch our kayak and have an explore. The northern side of Tabourie Creek is just a few metres from our camp, so it was an easy wheel to the water’s edge.

There were not many people out on the water, the occasional person fishing along the shoreline. The creek is closed to the ocean, reaching a sandy beach at one end and stretching inland the other way. It is quite shallow – in many places less than half a metre deep, but fine for our kayak and preventing motorised craft from annoying us. The White-Spotted jellyfish we spotted yesterday were plentiful, like little aliens shooting around the waterway – they’re not poisonous to humans, but I still wouldn’t fancy swimming amongst them!

We explored Lemontree Creek, an offshoot from Tabourie Creek, spying on the quiet houses lining its banks, mostly holiday homes we are guessing. We were entertained by fish leaping and a pair of Azure Kingfishers which shot up and down the riverbanks, their orange chests and blue wings flashing through the green undergrowth. As we reached the end of the navigable creek we surprised a bush wallaby which stood frozen, almost gaping at our boat as we cruised along. We were reminded that kayaking is by far the most effective way of getting close to nature. Some of our past experiences are right out of a David Attenborough nature documentary including whales, dolphins, kestrels and eagles, and today was no different. As we rounded the corner out of Lemontree Creek I noticed a huge bird in the tree just metres from us. It took a few seconds to realise it was a massive White-bellied Sea-Eagle, finishing its fishy meal. I tried to capture it on the camera – a challenge on the little waterproof one – this is one moment when I wish I had my telephoto lens!If you look carefully on the left of the image, you can see the great bird taking flight – just magnificent, with a wingspan of around 2 metres.

We clocked up just over 9km by the time we reached camp, and were ready for lunch.

Tonight, two of our friends from Sydney, Michelle and Dan have joined us for the weekend, following a slow drive south through Friday night traffic. A dinner of roast chicken, salad and sweet potato wedges plus several glasses of wine have helped them to wind down after their journey and we’re hoping the weather forecast is right for this weekend and we will indeed be blessed with blue skies and sunshine. We’ve ordered more Kingfishers and Sea-Eagles to entertain us tomorrow – let’s hope the booking is honoured!

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Wednesday 14 February – DIY plumbing & an emergency bikini purchase

Author: Mrs A

Location: Jervis Bay, NSW

The day began in the mid 20s but the temperature soon climbed to 30 degrees centigrade and above, topping out at around 37 degrees. Slightly too warm for the long cycle ride we had earmarked for today’s activity. First though, we needed to tackle a plumbing issue…this is detailed at the end of this post for those interested in such banalities!

Housekeeping completed, we decided to take a picnic to the beach and get cool in the water. We drove out to Hyam’s Beach – it wasn’t too busy, being midweek, but we hear that weekends and holidays here are absolutely chockablock with visitors, with two hour delays on the roads. Not our idea of fun!

Hyams Beach is famous for its clean white fine sand, which leads to the crystal clear turquoise waters of Jervis Bay. The sand literally squeaks when you walk on it, and doesn’t get too hot, even on a steamy 35+ degree day. We settled down on a clear space and I went to get out my sarong and bikini…not in my bag. I went back to the car to hunt through there – still nothing. Mr A then remembered it had been put in the back of my bicycle, safely left back at camp! It was slightly like torture, being so close to the water but unable to throw myself in!

So after lunch we popped into Vincentia and found me a bikini, and then back to the beach to get wet! Once you’re in, the water is spectacular, in the early 20s temperature wise, and just gentle waves coming in to shore. Beautiful – some quality time was spent just floating and enjoying the water’s natural rhythms.We returned to camp via a few groceries, and made a start on packing up ready to move on, before having showers and getting ready for dinner. Mr A called out in delight as he found a family of ducks and ducklings exploring around our kayak – they were the cutest and definitely deserved a photo!We had decided to book dinner out in Huskisson, originally not realising it was Valentines Day, but then post justifying our dinner decision with that as an excuse! A few friends had mentioned Wild Ginger as a location – a restaurant specialising in South East Asian food, particularly Thai but incorporating a multitude of flavours and influences. The chef had worked at some top Thai restaurants in Sydney, so we had high hopes.

The restaurant also has a cocktail bar, but we decided to stick to wine, and purchased a bottle of Vasse Felix Chardonnay we thought would cut through the spices nicely. We were shown to our outside table, the air wonderfully fresh now a southerly change had blown through the area, dropping the temperatures by more than 10 degrees. We chose a banquet menu.All the food was delicious, the service was a little average – a 45 minute wait between entrees and mains, and staff that carefully avoided eye contact when you tried to reach their attention! Still, we had a lovely evening, and cycled the 2km safely back to camp afterwards along the cycle lanes.

And finally, for our Zoner readers, here’s more about the plumbing for your learning path.

Our water pressure had been pretty ordinary, despite being on the caravan park’s mains tap, so we decided to fill up our water tanks and see whether the pressure changed that way. Short answer – no. So we went through a whole range of checks and tests, searching for an air lock, looking for kinked pipes, cleaning – all to no avail. We put a service call into Zone, but Rhys (Mr Fixit) had gone home sick, so we were on our own. We decided to take off the filter and try backwashing it, in case there was a blockage – all stuff we had never done before, but good to learn, at which point Mr A remembered we were carrying a new filter…We popped it on and we turned on the taps…voila – strong water pressure again. Just a full filter…

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Sunday 11 February: A sumptuous banquet in Jamberoo

Author: Mrs A

Location: Around Berry and Jamberoo, NSW

Thank goodness I passed on breakfast and we did a good cycle this morning, for the afternoon held many delights.

The day started with Barb and Omar busy preparing for the SlowFood Saddleback fundraiser picnic we had been invited to join them on. It was all frenzied activity while home made hummus, Egyptian falafels, Tabouleh, baked Salmon Tarator, deconstructed salad and watermelon were all prepared…a veritable feast. Around 11am we all hopped on bikes to head off on a bike ride around some of the local country lanes in need of some pre-lunch calorie burning.

Barb and Omar took their beautiful wooden road bikes, while Mr A and I borrowed their new eBikes. We set off down their lane and turned left, along stunning gum tree lined roads, rolling green hills making up our views. As we began to go uphill, I realised I was being left behind and that my eBike was extremely quiet…I struggled along for a bit, but then had to stop, concluding that the 16.5kg bike was not turned on.

Mr A and Omar turned around and came back to find me, and we tried to work out what was happening. The very kind Mr A offered me his working eBike, and proceeded to have a super workout on mine, given he has a fully working airway and wouldn’t be Darth Vadering his way up the hills like me. Off we went, continuing on our journey. A working eBike was much more fun, and I whizzed up the hills with barely any effort. Mr A managed 7km before turning back for home, while the rest of us did about another 2 or so kilometres before we turned back.

After showers we headed off to Jambaroo, an area inland from Kiama. Omar drove and wound us through beautiful scenery up and up into the hills. Our destination was a property belonging to one of the leaders of SlowFood Saddleback, Saddleback being the uppermost ridge in the area.

The gathering was very well organised, with picnic benches provided in a field with beautiful views, and even a couple of porta-loos in the parking area – I was relieved, picturing having to crouch behind a gum tree if one’s bladder had needed emptying – very civilised! Out came Barb’s incredible food, accompanied by food prepared by her friend Julie, who was considering joining the group. Amazing dish after amazing dish came out – just delicious. We absolutely feasted, Mr A particularly munching on at least one piece of cake, but avoiding the glass of Riesling offered (because of the calories – ha ha!).

We rolled back to the car and returned to Barb and Omar’s for a cleansing cup of tea to help it all settle, all of us on the verge of very happy food comas. No dinner tonight required…just a relaxing evening before a low calorie Monday ahead.

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