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.

Wednesday 21 February: Riding Narooma to Dalmeny

Author: Mr A

Location: Narooma and Dalmeny

Distance cycled: 25.5km

My first waking thought “Now what will go best with that sourdough?”. A quality problem to have. I rustled us some poached eggs and sliced up the loaf Catherine had baked last night. Delicious start to the day – but things just kept getting better. We headed off in the car to Narooma, I had loaded the bikes the night before, finally finding a way to use the new Yakima bike rack legally, by taking off both front wheels and loading them the same direction. The trouble with having an offset spare wheel with a bike rack mounted on it results in the bikes sticking out beyond the wing mirrors, which is illegal.

We parked at the town wharf and set off on the cycleway we had started walking yesterday. We were soon on new ground and climbing up and down headlands with sweeping views along the coastline to the north. The information boards spread along the path told the history of the land, and the cycleway.This area has been a gathering place for various Aboriginal tribes, the abundance of seafood in the many lakes and estuaries seems to have been the big draw card. The boards talked respectfully of tapping into the knowledge of the traditional owners to help manage this beautiful stretch of coast. It really does look like the councils here actually have a coherent plan. There were no out of place developments spoiling views. The public areas all neat and scenic.The cycleway seems to be another success judging by the amount of use it was getting on a weekday. It was a community project started in the 60s and stretches from the south of Narooma through to the next town to the north, Dalmeny. Over 600,000 volunteer hours where contributed by the locals. All inspired by the town mayor with a vision, not of feathering his nest from developers dollars, as seems to frequently the case, but to link the two communities and inspire them to work together. The end result, a 12 kilometre stretch of some of the best coastal riding we’ve ever experienced. It was heartening to see it so well used by local cyclists of advanced years – more advanced than me even.On the way back we stopped by a boat ramp as we saw a crowd had gathered, and there were more seals being fed fish scraps, and then massive stingrays 2 metres across were amongst them. The rays even came up onto the concrete ramp for a pat (or a fish titbit I suspect). Narooma is like one big sealife show – fantastic.We finished the day with a stroll from our campsite out onto Handkerchief beach a few hundred metres away. The storms over the last few days are still making themselves felt with a powerful swell. However, we have rebooked on our Montague Island trip tomorrow, so hopefully the sea has calmed a little more overnight, or we are in for a very rough ride.

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!

Monday 19 February: It was a wild and windy day…

Author: Mr A

Location: Narooma, NSW

It was time to leave Lake Tabourie and move south again, so as soon as we started packing up the rain came lashing down – excellent timing. Then when I was putting away gear outside I realised the Zone had listed over, the air bags had sprung a leak again. We whipped off the inspection cover and sure enough there was air escaping, so we cut off the punctured pipe and fixed the good piece in. We’re experts at that now! However, we think the sinking on one side has strained and bent the awning, which was pegged down securely and would have been pulled over. This day wasn’t starting well.

We eventually got away and headed down to Moruya, where we had a new part for the vacuum cleaner waiting for us at the Post Office. Pretty impressed with Dyson, once we actually got through to them they had dispatched a part pretty quickly. It does seem though as as fast as we get one thing fixed another thing breaks! The penalty you pay for having so much stuff I think.

We then drove down to the small settlement of Dalmeny, where the council caravan park was going to be our home for the next three nights. However, the site was really sloping and even with 3 blocks of wood under the jack and it fully extended we still couldn’t get level. So we hitched back up, got a refund and headed back on the road in search of flatter sites.

Just south of Narooma we found one at the Island View Beach Resort. When we came to park the Zone though I realised why we had struggled to get level at the last site. One of our airbags had now inflated to its maximum height! What was going on? Every time I let it down it reinflated, so we had to pump the other one up to get the van level side to side. Catherine can just about climb in now we are so high off the ground!We called Zone, who were mystified, and had us phone the installer, who were also mystified and had the air bag manufacturer call us, who were…yes mystified.

“Never heard of that happening before, mate!”

Don’t you love those words. Actually this guy was really helpful and agreed the control system needed to be completely replaced. This is all happening at 5.30pm so we will hear tomorrow how/when/where.

So as all this is happening this massive storm hits us, torrential rain, winds that are shaking the van and pelting us with debris from the trees we are parked under. Quite enough excitement for one day…let’s hope we make it through the night unscathed!

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?

Saturday 17 February – It’s a double Mirage…doubled

Author: Mr A

Location: Lake Tabourie

Today was an auspicious occasion as we finally managed to get on the water with our friends who also have a double Mirage kayak. But first there was black pudding to be barbecued, eggs, and bacon completing the breakfast of champion paddlers.

The next job was to get the 7.3 metre beasts into the water, down a rather slippy bank which predictably I slid down with all the grace of crazed bull. Dan gave me that special sympathetic look he does so well. He of course manages to nimbly jump in, all six foot 2 of him. And we are off, paddles glinting in the sun, sleek hulls cutting through the water, what a couple of doubles.It was a short paddle down the creek to where it nearly flowed into the ocean, only being prevented by a spit of stunning white sand. A quick look around and we were off again, with the wind behind us it was time to tease Dan and Michelle with a glide past under wind power, only because they didn’t have one. Finding a piece of equipment that Dan doesn’t have is quite a feat. We are brothers from a different mother.

The bird life was prolific again today with several sightings of azure kingfishers flitting around, spoonbills and egrets fishing for lunch and a sea eagle soaring above us.We paddled up stream a few kilometers then turned round and headed back to camp for a lazy afternoon punctuated regularly by snacks and drinks. The “Prawn Man” (guess what he sells) turned up to tempt us with fresh Clyde river oysters and Queensland prawns.Which of course were served up with a superb Margaret River Brash Vineyard Sancerre style Sauvignon Blanc.

We finished off the day with a delicious Mexican dish cooked up by Mich (accompanied by manservant Dan) and some great wines, topping off a fabulous day.

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!

Thursday 15 February: Tabourie Lake

Author: Mr A

Location: Tabourie Lake, just south of Ulladulla, NSW

It was time to leave our riverside spot in Jervis Bay and move to…a riverside spot by Tabourie Creek. Pretty good life we have, I know.

It was only an hour’s drive down the coast so we were checking in before lunch at Lake Tabourie Caravan Park. Unfortunately the young lady checking us us in seemed to have had a courtesy bypass operation, insisting in a very strident voice that we couldn’t have mentioned we had a cat as we were booked into the pet free area. I recounted again that we had mentioned this when booking and suggested she should calm down. We were moved to a pet friendly area and spent the next 10 minutes driving round their very large park trying to find our site. Not a helpful map – they have left off the street names. When we finally found it we were delighted though, a huge grassy site still quite close to the river.

We decided to try out our borrowed screen room (thank you Jenny and David), not that there were any flies, but we wanted to get Tassie used to it. The idea is she can be outside with us but secure from any dogs who might take a dislike – despite the fact that they should all be leashed, they often aren’t. It worked exceedingly well with Miss Mania, as we call her, joining us for tea and a read – well, we read she eyed up the neighbour’s dog a little warily! She definitely likes it here more than the previous location – she was very clear with her feelings as we drove down the coast, tearing up the Jervis Bay campground map!It was bed sheets and clothes washing today, blustery and sunny, ideal conditions, in fact so windy Catherine nearly took off with the sheets. While they dried we headed off on the bikes for our customary exploration of our surroundings. A big thumbs up, we have riverside, beachside, surfside, the lot.

(Below: Mrs A overlooking Crampton Island)(Below: one of the many jellyfish we spotted in the creek) Superb surroundings, and looking forward to sharing them with our friends Michelle and Dan who arrive tomorrow night for the weekend, complete with their double kayak matching ours.

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…

Monday & Tuesday 12-13 February: Moving south to Jervis Bay

Author: Mr A

Location: Huskisson, Jervis Bay, NSW

What goes in must come out right? I’m referring to the fact that we had managed to get the Zone RV into a tight spot in our friends’ garden – surely it must be able to come out the same way? It was tight…very tight…and of course the hand held radio Catherine uses to help direct me chose this moment to play up. Finally we managed to back our way down the drive and were on our way, with great memories of a wonderful weekend.

We were soon at our first stop, the Fresh Food Market at Nowra, a pricey but good source for stocking up. Our friends Chris and Karen happened to be down at Bowral on a Porsche club run, so they diverted via Nowra and it was all into the Zone for a catch up. Who needs a coffee shop?

A short drive down the coast took us to Jervis Bay Holiday park, our home for the next three nights. It was a very tight squeeze into the site. I had given our towed length when booking, but somehow this hadn’t been taken into account. However, we had a view of the river and with some careful manoeuvring soon settled in. We decided to check out the ride into Huskisson (Husky to the locals), it was a great little bike path and we were in town within 10 minutes. What a pleasure to have some cycling infrastructure!We also noticed that the town looked pretty much the same as it did years ago when we last visited. After our shock at how Orange had changed (and not for the better), it was a relief to see at least Husky has not been exploited by developers with a friend on the council.

This morning we launched our sleek sea kayak onto the river right by our camp, so convenient. We headed downstream and were soon in Huskisson again – the second purely person powered visit 🙂 We coasted out into Jervis Bay proper, which even on an overcast day looked simply stunning.Brunch was calling so we headed park to our launch point and I fired up the Weber. It was our first bacon and eggs of the trip, and won’t be the last I can tell you! Catherine toasted some sweet potato slices instead of having bread…not bad.

Then we decided to head upstream and with the wind briefly behind us hoisted the sail. That’s right, a sail on a kayak. After a 20 minute paddle Catherine said “Oh look some caravans…oh…there’s ours!” We had paddled around an island and come right back! Ah well..time for Google maps assistance…and off we went again this time managing to head up the river. It really was awesome, massive sting rays were lurking in the water, their blinking eyes the only clue they were there. After we got past some houses we didn’t see anyone else on the river. Very tranquil, its what we love about kayaking. We saw heaps of water birds, including a kingfisher flashing his bright blue wings as he chased some lunch. Cormorants aired their wings in the sun, an eagle flashed overhead chased by a crow. We felt at peace with the world, remembering that this was a Tuesday morning and how privileged are we to be enjoying this life.We paddled back to camp and decided to head into Nowra, we wanted to buy a Soda Stream and this would be our last chance. We drink a lot of sparkling water and wanted to be free from picking up our 6/7 bottles a week and then creating all that plastic waste, often in areas with no recycling. We tested it out and were pretty happy with the result.

Yesterday we had picked up our first dozen of south coast oysters, so a glass of Adelaide Hills Chardy just went beautifully with those, sitting in the sun watching the river flow (is that a song?). Dinner was selected from an Asian curry cookbook we had decided to bring along. It was a dish called Kukul Mus Kari, a Sri Lankan chicken curry. Pretty fancy…pretty delicious. Mrs A does it again.

We wandered outside to catch the last light of the day, the river was still flowing, I hope it always does.