Tathra coast walk & a drive to Merimbula

Hi there , here's todays blog writing destination :- Short Point Beach

 As you can see , it's another tough place to be doing todays blog .

We headed into Tathra to have a look around , and found the Tathra Steamer Wharf and Tathra Beach, stretching in an arc in front of the surf club and around to the next headland , where Bega River also meets the ocean .

The water off the wharf is deep and clear , you can see the fish cruising down below . While we were there one guy caught 3 salmon , whilst everyone else fishing caught nothing - how depressing!!!
 We hiked back up the steps to the ute and went past the carpark and onto the Coast Walk - 1.8 kms wandering around the headlands - uneven , up & down - it was a workout - but the views made up for it .

The track followed the rocky headland around , fortunately the wind was light and the sea was pretty flat , making the views excellent .

 We wandered through tea tree forests , almost closing all the light off . But there was always another view of the coast to check out when you emerged .

 We came out of the Coast Walk and wandered back to the ute via the streets - there are a lot of houses here - a lot of them seem to be holiday houses . Back to the ute , we headed down to the Bega River at its entrance to the ocean for some lunch .
 Next on the agenda was heading down the coast toward Merimbula , checking out many side roads in the process - some were excellent , the others not so . We pulled into Tura Beach - whilst there would have been perfect places for lookouts to check out the coast & beaches , no , there were a whole bunch of houses blocking views .

Tura Beach & headland

 Onwards to Merimbula , we took a few more streets and checked out more houses , before finding our way to Short Point Beach .
 Today started out cool , with southerly winds that blew all that cloud away and let the sun shine through . We have been lucky with the weather , only getting a few showers at Kiama and Narooma . Certainly not the extremes that have been hitting north of us . Okay that's it for today , Bye.

Bega River Rescue

Hi there , an exciting day today , we have ended up at Kalaru ( closer to Tathra than it is to Bega ).
 Here is todays location -

   The river is very shallow on a sandy bed - water is very clear .
We headed into Bega to get service with Optus again!!!! WE have been out of service for the last 2 weeks - on the flip side , you don't get hassled .
  Todays destination was to Kalaru - about 5klms from Tathra . The drive down from Narooma was great , we deviated through Bermagui and down the coast road rather than the highway . There were lots of single lane bridges , winding climbs and descents , narrow roads , lots of forest and estuaries - some close to the beach and lots further inland . It didn't take long to get to Tathra - we arrived there about 10:30 am , so had a quick look , loo break and found a map , before heading out to the camp . Again setting up in no time , we had some lunch and headed into Bega .
 We did some shopping and decided to go down to Bega River to do todays blog . As we pulled up a guy from a tree lopping company came up to us and asked for some help - they had their Hilux stuck in the middle of the river and were wondering if we could pull them out - well of course we could , we had a Landcruiser !!!! We got him in the back seat and headed down a dirt track to the river where they were stuck . With a 16mm rope doubled up and attached at both ends , I hit low range in reverse and spun the wheels for about 2 secs and proceeded to extract him from the river without hardly trying - did it easy !!!
 Lyn decide to capture it all in photos for you .

Job Done !!!

 We'll get to Tathra tomorrow and get some nice photos of the bay & beach . See you soon .

Auto electric day

Not much happening today , we had planned to do some jobs , M&R the bikes and anything else that needed doing .
 Word to the wise - let auto electricians take care of your electrical work - reason - tried to wire up driving light switch and ended up with no high beam to one headlight - apparently new cars have each headlight individually fused now - So I found out .
 Anyway , long story short , the lights are functioning again - correctly as well - bonus!!!
we had lunch near the bike track - with another view of Narooma .

Caravan park on the right bordered by Norfolk Island Pines 

View to the wharf

Tuross Heads

 Not a lot to report today - still have to wash the car & do some chores , before we head a little further south tomorrow - heading to Tathra . Should be a bit more tomorrow .

Handkerchief Beach & Tuross Heads

Hi there , here is todays writing position .

 Kianga - looking back to Narooma and Montague Island

  Well , nothing planned for today so it was off to the beach beside the caravan park ( thought we better have a look seeing it was only a 200m walk from the RV ). Handkerchief Beach wasn't the biggest , but wasn't small either , with views to Montague Island . There was an estuary that goes into Corunna Lake on the southern end of the beach , which we wandered down to . There were small fish - about 15mm long swimming around madly - as we walked beside the incoming tide , and the further we walked , the size of the fish increased - the largest whiting we saw today was about 300mm . We followed the water in about 500m and found the end of the walk , so turned and headed back out to the beach again .

Handkerchief Beach

 We wandered back up the beach and sat and watched for a while before heading back in to the RV . The water temperature is quite nice , not really cold at all .

 Time to go to town , shopping has to be done , but before that we headed to Tuross Heads - a nice quiet town beside the lake and ocean - quite a lot of houses , golf course , 2 caravan parks . We did the scenic drive around the coast line before it took us to the lake . Stopping for a loo break , we also found the boatshed cafe , you walked down a steep section of road then down some steps to find yourself on the sloping deck beside the lake . Boats were tied up with the occupants having lunch , and a few other people who drove in like us . Fish & calamari for lunch was really nice , the fish melted in your mouth & the calamari was good as well . The view from the top deck seating was pretty good as well .

Lunch taken care of , it was back to Kianga to write todays blog . Time to go shopping now , see you tomorrow .

Coila Beach - north side of Tuross Heads 

Tuross Lake

Wagonga Inlet Paddle

Here is todays blog site picture .

This is the access channel into Narooma 

 Hope you're enjoying the photo's etc , todays little foray was a paddle in and around the Wagonga Inlet from Riverside Dr in Narooma . We put in and paddled away toward one of the marinas - this one is well in and about 1klm from the bridge . The water still is clear as and a pleasure to be out on .   We went around toward the marina , where there were some beautiful timber yachts and cruisers .

 We continued on past another point and across to the other side near some oyster leases , before heading to the bridge and around to the boat ramp . The incoming tide was quite strong around the bridge - like paddling in strong floodwaters . We got pushed by the current to the middle then decided to keep going and get in some shallower water , where things calmed down . At least the paddle back was going to be really easy as we had all that current to push us back . 

Just a photo to let you know Lyn is still here with me .

 We got back to the ute around 12:30 after paddling for about 2 hours . Back to the RV to have lunch and wash all the salt water off everything - us included .

Our campsite

 Back to town to write this instalment for you all , it's a real chore trying to find somewhere different each time to write the blog , but we will continue to put ourselves out there to do it !!

  The park has become a lot quieter today as most of Canberra has returned to their homes today after their long weekend .

We are here until Wednesday , when we will probably start to head back north again . 

Till tomorrow - we'll be back !!!!

Mystery Bay to Bermagui

Hi there , first up a photo of where the blog is being written today ---- Jealous ????????

Bermagui beachfront

  Enough of the green eyed monster - read on - we headed down to Mystery Bay and the Kink Zone - more about that later . We went into Mystery Bay and down to the beachfront to watch some dolphins playing in the swell 30m of the beach . It's an overcast day today , after a small amount of rain overnight - enough to lay the dust on the gravel roads we travelled today . We drove through the campground at Mystery Bay , just to check it out - it's run by local council - $10 per person per night with pit toilets and cold showers . 

 We headed out onto the hwy again for a few kilometre's before taking Tourist Drive 5 through more spotted gum forests around the base of Mt Dromedary (Gulaga to the local aborigines ) . It turned into one of the better short drives we've done , winding through then forests and rolling green hills of farms around Tilba Tilba & Central Tilba . 

As usual , there was no parking to be found close to the main road in Tilba Tilba ( imagine a small Berrima or Berry ) with lots of small art & craft shops , heritage buildings and it seemed like half of Canberra were there also - due to them having a public holiday on Monday . 

 Continuing on we turned off the hwy again toward Wallaga Lake . The road in is interesting - there is a one way bridge crossing the lake not far from the beach and then a very skinny road from the bridge with water either side . Stopping at the beach , we checked out Camel Rock - use your imagination !!

 The beach stretched from here almost all the way to Bermagui , which was the next destination .

  Driving in it was obvious the rest of Canberra were here with their boats , there was at least 120 cars , 4wds with boat trailers attached at the main boat ramp and up the hill to the lookout at the entrance to the boat harbour - we have never seen this many cars & boat trailers before . 

Looking north from Bermagui toward Mt Dromedary

Continuing on we  went past the shops to go to the other headland on the eastern side of Bermagui Beach and view Blue Pool from above ( it is a rock pool ) .

 It was lunch time , so no time like the present we headed back to Fishermans Wharf to get a fishermans basket for lunch and headed back to the lookout to eat it . Everything was so fresh & tender it melted in your mouth . Can recommend it to everyone . Fortunately we have our own table on the back of the ute - just through a towel on the tray and jump up .

  Now back to The Kink Zone - don't know what you've been thinking , but this is the explanation :- many millions of years ago tectonic plates locally were put under extreme pressure and forced an awful lot up rock upwards - hence the kink zone - probably not what you were expecting , far less exciting I know , but there it is .

 Time to drive back , more tomorrow , See Ya

Saturday - Golf & shopping

Hi people , not much to report on today as I played golf . For those interested , the course was amazing - how can you concentrate when you have views like this .

Looking at the 2nd tee

Looking at the 3rd green from the tee , and yes you have to hit over the cliff

 Views from the first 8 holes were awesome - they probably make you play these first so you can concentrate on the next 10 holes . They are not as spectacular , but certainly worth looking at .

 My net score was 73 - par for the course is 72 , so I won't complain about the quadruple bogey on the last hole or the double on the 17th . 

 Lyn did some shopping this morning , hung the washing out , and had a swim before coming into town to pick me up . We then went around to Glasshouse Rocks for a look .

Looking back up to the golf course

 Back to the RV and some cheese & bickies , as well as a beer !! Bye for now.