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?
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.
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.
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: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 returned for a fabulous salad of fresh produce from Barb and Omar’s garden and sheep cheese for lunch.
We managed to miss our turn off to stay on a cycleway, and ended up on main road for a bit, then found it again and cruised into our destination of Minnamurra. This turned out to be a sleepy little village, with a one platform railway station on the South NSW line. We found the only cafe and ordered some much needed sustenance. One Chicken Club and a Chicken Caesar Salad demolished. 
Time for the return match. My eagle eyed Map Girl saw a faint footpath line on Google so we headed for that and followed a fabulous path right along the cliff tops.
A few more hills and we were soon back in Kiama, with an ice creamery seeming to jump into our path. Wow that went down well. Mrs A with her mango sorbet and me with some English toffee ice cream. Just bliss. 20km ticked off and 1000 calories consumed!
Back at the Zone, Tassie seemed to greet us rather grumpily, after all she only just had a 4 hour nap, apparently not quite enough.
Dinner tonight was Cambodian fish amok. We both loved the food when we visited the country and Mrs A has added a couple of cracking dishes from their cuisine into her extensive repertoire. The fresh veggies from the farmers market yesterday just added to the flavours.
We followed the walk around for about 3km, stopping to watch the Little Blowhole perform its show – a loud ‘whomp’ preceding the gush of water as it follows the old lava dyke under the rocks and up through the gap. We got nicely refreshed by the spray!
Not long after here we both had to stop and rest in the shade. Mark’s plantar fasciitis in his heel was causing him pain while walking, and my Morton’s Neuroma was giving me an agonising burning pain in the ball of my right foot too. I guess the cortisone injection I had last week hasn’t made a difference. We are a pair of old crocs! We looked longingly at the gorgeous looking pathway stretching into the distance over the cliff and hobbled back to camp.
As the afternoon progressed we decided to hop on the bikes and ride into Kiama for the farmer’s market. It was busy and bustling, primarily fresh produce from surrounding areas but also some food stalls, a winery and brewery. We tried the wine but it was not to our taste, and neither was the beer. We did find a sheep cheese producer from Robinson – we have tried their cheese before, being one of the few in Australia – and purchased some delicious nectarines from Orange.
We took our goodies and rode back to camp for a healthy salad and a glass of rosé.