The day was fine, with a mix of cloud and blue sky. Although it was still quite cool, it was definitely a day for some more exploring.
Took a packed lunch, and drove back south again, to the Bournda National Park.
This time, took a different route in to the coast, the Bournda Road, to the south of Wallagoot Lake. This took us as far as a camping ground near the southern side of Wallagoot Lake. From there, we followed a walking track to Hobart Beach, on the Lake, where we stopped to eat our packed lunch, and admire the outlook across the lake.
Waves breaking outside the entrance to Wallagoot Lake
Then a track took us across to the beach.
Rocky outcrops along the track to the beach
Again, the walk through the bushland was an enjoyable one, as was the long walk we did, to the south, on the beach.
Back to camp, to potter about for the rest of the afternoon.
With the midwinter short days and early dusk, we really did not want to be out much beyond about 4pm. It really became cold, quite quickly, after this time.
In the morning, I drove up to the top shops, for the papers. The steep walk up the hill, which I’d done a few times during the week, just seemed a bit too challenging today.
John went off to bowls.
I read the papers, and walked along the cycle path to the inlet and back. Along the way, I was pondering the makeup of Tathra’s population – to what extent it was a holiday and retirement place for farmers from further inland, whether it was a bit of a dormitory village for workers from Bega and Merimbula, how many of its older inhabitants had come from further afield to settle here by the sea?
Cooked a roast chicken dinner in the electric frypan.
One of the nicest aspects about staying here was the background noise of the ocean.
The weather was not quite as pleasant today – more cloud, less sun, and chillier – so we went driving.
Took the road north, towards Bermagui, for maybe 25 or 30kms. The way was hilly and winding, with pockets of cleared farmland tucked into the forest. These farms seemed quite isolated and we decided they were not places we would want to be living in bushfire weather.
We turned back, as far as Tanja, which was more of a locality on the map than a tangible place. From there, we took the Doctor George Mountain road, back towards Bega. This was a gravel track that John remembered taking, back when he used to come to Tathra with his then family, for holidays. The road surface was good gravel. The road was a rather narrow one, that wound around the forested mountain, in places almost doubling back on itself. Occasionally we could catch glimpses of cleared valleys through the trees, with some houses, once out of the National Park section. It was not really scenic, in the sense of gaining expansive views, but was attractive enough. We were almost into Bega before the real open farmlands began again.
It was a pleasant drive through forest and on the winding section of the mountain.
The rather curious name of this mountain relates back to the pioneering period of the NSW South Coast. There were three brothers – the Imlays – all medical men, who became explorers, whalers and pastoralists in the region. The one unmarried brother, George Imlay, in 1846, who the records say had contracted an incurable disease, committed suicide by shooting himself, in the bush at the top of the mountain near Bega that now bears the name of Doctor George. Given the times, one can only wonder at the nature of said incurable disease…..
Eventually we emerged onto the flat plains around Bega, and drove on into that town, where I shopped for some groceries.
Then, back to camp.
Bought fish and chips for tea, from the local shop. Very nice.
The now dry weather enabled us to go driving and walking again, today.
Our target was the Bournda National Park, like the Mimosa Rocks National Park, another long and narrow coastal reserve, this one to the south of Tathra.
(Zoom)
We took the Merimbula road, south from Tathra, then the Wallagoot Lake road east, to that lake, in the Bournda National Park. From the car park at the end of the track, we followed a walking track through the scrub, to the beach and lake.
Wallagoot Lake
This section of Bournda National Park was an interesting contrast to Gillards Beach, being flatter and having the lake inlet, compared to the cliffs that backed Gillards Beach. It was a really pretty area, with banksia dominated coastal scrub.
I loved the reflections of the cloud banks in the waters of Wallagoot Lake, and the overall light effects on the lake.
The beach was excellent for walking on.
On the return to camp, we took a detour along Wallagoot Lane, through the farming country, and emerged onto the road to Bega, where we turned right to go back to Tathra.
The weather looked, this morning, as if it was beginning to clear. It was still pretty cloudy, but the rain had definitely lessened.
John received an email from son-in-law. He would be at Durras, painting the place, from 8-15 June. Daughter would be driving down for the weekend of 13-15th, to collect him, with the boys along with her. So, that would be a chance for John to see them, albeit rather briefly. Maybe we would not have to go to Canberra after all.
John’s plan became to stay here until next Monday, move to Merimbula on Tuesday for the bowls, then move to Durras on Saturday, until Monday, then start heading for home on the Tuesday. On that Monday, we could drive up to Bungendore to visit the wood gallery there. He said that he could play bowls here this Saturday, and we could both play in a mixed pairs game on Monday. The prospect did not thrill me!
Since it was not raining, we decided, after lunch, that we would drive back to Gillards Beach and go for a walk on the beach there.
Gillards beach
We could see more of the countryside, on the drive, today, as it was clearer. Today, there were kangaroos grazing around the campground, not at all disturbed by us turning up. We hadn’t seen them yesterday – guess they were smart enough to be sheltering somewhere then!
This Mimosa Rocks National Park was named for a ship – The Mimosa – which was wrecked on the rocks along here in 1863. Just one of the hundreds of shipwrecks along the dangerous coastline of Australia.
We had a fairly long, very pleasant walk along the beach. I was able to take some photos, without worrying that my camera would be drowned! It was a really enjoyable couple of hours – much better.
A little beach cliff forming from wave action at high tides
There were interesting low cliffs jutting out at intervals, forming various bays along the coast, and places where the rocks poked up from the sand. With the still grey skies as a backdrop, it looked quite dramatic.
Rock formations at Gillards Beach– sedimentary? Volcanic?Unusual erosion in the rock
In the evening, son phoned, just to catch up and tell us all was well at home. I suspected he was probably enjoying having the house to himself for a while.
Rain set in through the night, as forecast. It continued to rain, steadily, throughout the day.
John decided – and I heartily agreed – to stay put here and see out the rain, that was forecast to continue, over the next few days. In my view, a very sensible decision! Despite our extensive past travels, we really had not done a great deal of travel in the wet – and the idea did not appeal.
I went to the office and extended our stay until next Saturday morning – and we were given a free 7th day for it! Bonus.
It seemed possible now, that in order for John to see his grandsons at all on this trip, we may have to go up to Canberra, and then home via the Hume Highway. Neither of these were particularly appealing travel legs.
Right now, this was not being the pleasant, coastal trip I’d envisaged! Very little about it had gone as John wished. But his daughter had warned him, before we left home, that the Durras house was being renovated, and that would be affecting their use of it.
We bunkered down in the van, through the rain.
As we were now staying longer, during a bit of a break in the rain, we went out and put up the awning roof. That gave some shelter to the doorway, as we came and went to the bathroom.
We realized leaks had developed, over both the kitchen window and the one at the head end of the bed – again. Not good at all, leaks being the bane of any caravanner’s existence, and something this van had been a bit prone to ever since the stuffed up solar panel installation, years ago. In this case, there were probably a couple of areas around the window seals that needed silicone applying.
We were not very comfortable, with damp clothes after forays to the amenities, putting up the awning, and with wet feet!
After lunch, John decided we would go for a drive to Mimosa Rocks National Park, to the north of the Mogareeka Inlet. Really? I had mentioned that I would like to visit the odd National Park, on this trip, but hadn’t meant it to be in this sort of weather, though.
So we drove north, across the bridge over the inlet, and up a winding hill road, then through country that was a mix of forest with pockets of farmland. And with tendrils of mist curling around the slopes.
After about 10kms of this, turned onto a dirt track that took us towards the coast – in teeming rain, with low visibility – to Gillards Beach campground.
This appeared to be a fairly large bush campground, that would be quite an attractive place to stay, in decent weather. It would be very popular in summer holidays, I thought. Now, it was totally deserted. In different weather, it could be a pleasant place to stay a few days with the van – when there was enough sun to have the solar panels charge the batteries.
A sentinel overlooking Gillards Beach
Today, it was too wet to do anything there, except drive slowly around the campground tracks, and briefly get out of Truck to look out over the beach and the rather wild sea. It was also far too wet to risk drowning my camera in the deluge – these photos were taken on a subsequent visit.
Kangaroos grazing on something on Gillards Beach
We did not spend very long there, then retraced our route – taking it very carefully on the dirt surface, which was a bit slick in parts – and so back to camp.
Rain over the ocean
In our absence, some clown had parked his big van partly on our site, so we had no room to park Truck by our van. In an almost empty campground, with freedom to choose his site, he had to snuggle up close to us! He came out and apologized, as if that somehow exonerated him. But it did not change his intrusion – it is hard to believe the crassness of some people. Or their inability to park a caravan correctly.
Despite the adverse conditions – and the result of leaving our site unattended – it had done us good to get away from the van for a while and have something else to focus on.
I walked up to the top shops, to buy a paper from the newsagent. The walking path up the steep hill was definitely a workout!
We went and did some more bowls practice in the morning.
After an early lunch, drove into Bega – just because this was a place where I had never stopped to have a look around. It was a pleasant drive, much of it on the fertile plains of the Bega River – great dairying country around here.
Dairying country around Bega
Bega itself was a typical farming region service town. John managed to find a shop that sold the brake adjusting tool he wanted, so that was a win. I was able to do a small supermarket shop for food.
We visited the combined Cheese Factory and Information Centre. Having grown up on a farm, milking cows, separating cream and making our own butter, I was not interested in explanations about the dairy industry! However, I was very interested in sampling some of the range of cheeses – and buying some. We really were a pushover where cheese sales were concerned!
Then we had to go and buy some nice rustic bread, in order to have a peasant style bread and cheese tea tonight. Yum.
In the late afternoon, back at camp, John’s son in law phoned again, to inform him that the family would not be going down to Durras next weekend, either. I was not surprised.
John became very miserable, trying to work out what to do next, and where to go. I made a couple of suggestions, but he did not like my ideas. He decided that we would move on north, tomorrow – but not sure how far. The forecast is for lousy weather setting in up there, so I was not thrilled about the idea. We decided to sleep on it and see what tomorrow brought.
Day 1 of winter. It was a fine day, but rather cloudy and quite cool.
We both went and practiced bowls, in the morning. I was quite pleased with my session – on grass, and after several weeks without playing.
After lunch, we walked along the beach, to the Inlet mouth, then came back along the cycle path.
The beach sand was very soft, so walking on it was not easy. By the time we got back to the van, my suspect back was aching. I decided to take a daily Celebrex anti-inflammatory, until after the big bowls tournament was over, just in case. I carried a supply of anti-inflammatories when travelling, for “back attacks”, ever since 1993 when trying to carry on with a trip, without medication after the back began complaining, saw me ambulanced to Queenstown Hospital, in western Tasmania. I wouldn’t wish a ruptured disc on my worst enemy!
John was unsure of his plans, after here, and conscious that he had heard no more from daughter. We had only paid for two nights here, so could move on tomorrow. He was not very happy. It did feel to me like being in a bit of a limbo.
We took our time this morning, getting up and getting ready to move on. With such a short distance to go, there was no point in hurrying. We were not expecting there would be much pressure on site availability, at this time of year, but still did not want to arrive too early.
Lowering clouds over Merimbula
Took the non-highway route, through the centre of town, and up past Tura Beach. It was a good road and, once out of hilly Merimbula, easy driving.
At Tathra, there was the really steep, bendy, but short, drop down from the Tathra village centre, up on its headland, down to the beach level where the caravan parks are. Stopped at the top, put Truck into low range and low gear, and ground our way down.
Booked into the Tathra Beach Caravan park – the one with direct frontage to the beach. I was a bit surprised at the cost – $28 a night – almost as much as the Big 4 park across the road. I wasn’t sure if it was a Council owned park, or not.
We opted for a site not close to other campers, of which there were few. Set up for a couple of days’ stay.
Not far from us was a row of little individual bathroom units, each room containing toilet, hand basin and shower. These were not gender specific. I find such arrangements much preferable to the large communal blocks that are the norm, and wish more parks would adopt this idea.
In the afternoon, John went off to play bowls at the Tathra club, which was just across the road. Men only, so I had a lovely, free afternoon! I walked as far as the mouth of Mogareeka Inlet, along the sealed bike path that paralleled the road. It was a 4 km walk, altogether, and most enjoyable. Lots of titree and banksia scrub alongside the road, and on the large house blocks, ensured there was plenty of birdlife to look at.
I had driven Truck up to the shops, before lunch, and bought Saturday papers, so spent some time reading those.
I made a pineapple salad for tea, to accompany cooked sausages.
John came home with the news that he had organized for us to practice bowls, over at the club, tomorrow. If I must……
At night, we could hear the waves breaking on the beach – lovely sound to go to sleep by.
We were woken by the phone at 8am. It was John’s son in law. He said that work was being done on the Durras holiday house, and there was no toilet functioning as a result. Therefore, they no longer intended to come down, this weekend.
This freed us from having to drive on up there today, we we’d planned to do, but left the question – now what? John decided we would stay on here and explore our options. He was already aware that there was a major bowls tournament happening here, over the next two weeks.
So, after breakfast, and after extending our booking here, it was a drive down to the bowls club, where he left our details, just in case playing vacancies arose over the tournament time. This event was one where entries had been filled well in advance, but sometimes the unexpected did create gaps to be filled.
I was impressed by the scale of the bowls club. Could see why it had the capacity to host such a big event.
I bought some fish – fresh dory – for tonight’s tea, it being Friday. For us, fish dinners and Fridays are always linked – from our working days, when the luxury of a take away fish and chip tea was the best way to celebrate the start of the weekend. Old habits……
We went back to the van, bearing fresh bread rolls, to make lunch. I had plans to do the boardwalk walk, in the afternoon. This followed the shore of the lake at the town and looked to potentially be a pleasant stroll, more sheltered than a beach walk would be.
Oyster farm leases in the lake at Merimbula
But John felt sleepy after lunch, so had a nap for a couple of hours. I went for a lone walk to the headland and then down on the beach. It was a bit breezy, but invigorating. Very good to be by the sea again – I had missed the beach strolls of last year, more than I realized.
When John did eventually wake up, I persuaded him to just do the short walk up to the Point, with me, so he could at least see some of the scenery.
Outlook from the Point
It seemed, here, to get very chilly, quite early in the afternoon, but it had been quite nice through the middle part of the day.
John decided that we should move on tomorrow. He wanted to go on to Tathra, a bit further north. It had always been a favourite place of his, and we had stayed there before, on school holidays.
I would not get to do the boardwalk, after all.
A text message had come in from the bowls club and John phoned them. They needed a couple to fill in for a Mixed 4’s event on 11-13th June, so he said we would be in that. He said to me that, contrary to his earlier idea, he was not interested, after all, in waiting around here to see if a place became available in the prestigious pairs events, happening first. He wanted to focus on being at Durras for next weekend, a long weekend here, to see his daughter and grandsons. Fair enough – I am the last person to want to hang around anywhere for lawn bowls! Given that, over the past three and a half years, he had seen daughter and grandsons only once, and that for about an hour back a couple of days after last Xmas, I could fully understand his need to make that his priority. The family had, at that time, spent a few days in Melbourne, staying with John’s former wife, and catching up with friends. We had been slotted in for a brief visit, one morning.
I did not say anything, but thought to myself that I would not be surprised if the daughter found some reason to cancel out on being at Durras next weekend, too. Her life was a busy one and maintaining contact with us was not a priority, it seemed to me. But maybe it being a long weekend would draw them to the beach. For John’s sake, I hoped so.
This Adventurous Age 