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:
We climbed up into a forest of spotted gums, the smell after the rain was just amazing. 
A very quick run back down the hill and we had made a great little loop ride (15km). I’m absolutely loving the new gears on my bike. A twist grip rather than levers which were so painful to use with my dodgy hand (touch of osteo). Mrs A struggled to breathe a bit on the hills but with her usual can do attitude just got on with it. She’s determined to not let this illness hold her back if she can overcome with the power of her mind.
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!
The area’s traditional custodians are the Yuin Aboriginal people, and evidence of their use of the lakes as a food resource is evident in the piles of shells (middens) that we could see around its edge. Cormorants dived around us, black swans took flight even with our stealth like approach. Catherine spotted a bush wallaby looking apparently surprised to see this a 7 plus metre long boat disturbing his morning constitutional. The lake is so shallow kayaks are the only craft that animals would see on most of the water. Jellyfish were moving along in swarms, quite beautiful the way they just ripple along.
Nine kilometres later and we were back at our caravan, and me racing to turn on the BBQ. Delicious sausages brought from Orange, fresh eggs and of course baked beans resting on home made toasted sourdough. A brunch fit for paddlers!
We had followed our noses and found ourselves at Bermagui Fishermans Wharf. A $5M development funded by the government to try and support the fishing industry after revoking of licenses to try and create more sustainability.
We had ridden almost all of the way on dirt or back roads. What an awesome ride. Oh and just before we arrived back there’s a sign for the Camel Rock Brewery! It was meant to be. I ordered “whatever you’re brewing” and the barman said “we’ve actually run out”. Just as I was picking myself up off the floor the other bartender comes round the corner and says “the new brew is just ready on the tap”. It was just that kind of day. It was delicious. A cold beer and a cycle are a marriage made in heaven.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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 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?
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.
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.
