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| Our Beach - Pambula |
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| Camel Rock |
Why on earth is this place
such a secret? I have never heard
another caravanner talk about the wonderful time they had on the south coast of
NSW. Incredible! This coast is just one outstanding spot after
another. The whole coastline is laced
with lakes and inlets making for a very watery environment. The mountains climb down into the ocean and
the rain forests fringe the beaches. The
waters are sparkling turquoise and sapphire blue edged with golden sand and
colourful cliffs. All in all it is
delightful.
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| Still Our Beach - Pambula |
PLAYFUL PAMBULA
Our first caravan park in
NSW was the pretty little seaside hamlet of Pambula Beach. The park was a Big 4 and in the way of these
camps, immaculate. Not so immaculate
were the mobs of kangaroos lazing around in the sun – we were amazed to see
that these fluffy grey animals have no respect for the usual ‘only come out at
night’ rules and just mosey around all day.
There are BIG signs up everywhere asking us not to feed the kangaroos. Right!
No, I didn’t feed the kangaroos, well, not intentionally anyway. The camp was also full of the usual cheeky
sparrows and bunnies. Very cute to see
the bunnies and the roos all grazing together I have to say. Ferals tho’ the bunnies and the sparrows
might be, they are at least 6th generation Australian in my book and
that makes them at least as Australian as me – good enough for me. Anyway, I digress – I had some old bread I
needed to get rid of and so I crumbled it up and tossed it out for the birds. Sadly, I was not unobserved and before I knew
what was happening I was set upon by a very determined lady kangaroo who
thought she should have the bread
instead. I had read the signs, I
knew she wasn’t supposed to have the bread, I tried to deny her – all to no
avail – she became even more insistent and in the process of wresting the bread
away from me, scratched my forearm and my midriff – fortunately not
severely. Well, what can I say, I fed
the kangaroo!! From that point on, (she
told the others) we had the roos stopping in at the van quite frequently just
to see if there was any more bread. They
became involved in my painting and made camp outside the van. One of the mums decided to stay all day and
she and her joey simply lay down in the shade of the awning and had a lovely
snooze.
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| Coming In For Face Painting!? |
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| Mum and Joey Just Lazing Around |
There must have been 50+ of
the grey roos in and around the camp at any given time – it was quite
surreal. The camp was right on the ocean
although we could only hear the waves as there were dunes between us and the
ocean. As I was outside the van painting
one morning an enthusiastic Japanese tourist became super excited about my ink
painting and jumped up and down shouting quite loudly in his excitement. He obviously mistook me for a real artist and
even accused me of being a University Lecturer?! He and his wife were here on a golfing
holiday – she was the golfer he said, and he was just along to enjoy himself,
both on and off the golf course. He was
quite a character. His wife, like long
suffering wives the world around, seemed quietly resigned to his idiosyncrasies.
From the town of Pambula we
explored south to the picturesque town of Eden and north to the famous cheese
producing area of Bega. Merimbula was
the closest town to Pambula and was quite a busy hub. All of these towns are reasonably large and
dwarf most of the WA coastal and country towns.
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| Off The Coast Batemans Bay |
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| Stunning Coast - Tuross Head |
We (read DD) found a source
of cheap oysters, from $4.00 per dozen upwards, depending on the size. We availed ourselves of 5 dozen of the medium
sized delicacies and enjoyed a dozen between us each evening for most of the
week. I don’t think DD’s fingers enjoyed
the experience however, as he tells me these little oysters are far harder to
shuck than their southern cousins. A fair
bit of bark and not a little claret was spilled in the shucking adventures.
On our travels we
discovered the delightful little town of Cobargo and a brilliant little second
hand book shop called “Well Thumbed” – what a little ripper! We left the shop with a bag of books to suit
both our tastes and the nice warm feeling you have, having met a kindred
spirit. All good as my boys would say.
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| Typical Coastal Suburbs |
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| Peaceful Scenes - Tuross Head |
There is not a great deal
more to say about the area that I have not already covered, blue, blue hills
and mountains are the backdrop, green rolling pastures abound around the dairy
towns, deep ravines and small mountains carpeted with a mixture of bracken,
zamia palms, the odd tree palm and tall, tall gum trees all vie with each other
for attention. The lakes are deep blue
and plentiful, bird-life is abundant, the fishing, they say, is good and the
weather (up until today) has been just wonderful.
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| Tranquility - Tuross Head |
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| Historical All Saints - Bodalla |
BALMY BATEMANS BAY
From Pambula we headed
north to a tiny spot just north of Batemans Bay – South Durras – we are still
there, in a secluded little eco-park called Lansea Park – a much accredited
Holiday Park which as I speak is expanding considerably. Here we share the park with abundant
wild-life, large numbers of grey kangaroos (hence all the roo-poo), possums,
hundreds of Lorikeets, Crimson Rosellas, King Parrots, Wood Ducks, Galahs, Sulphur Crested
Cockatoos, Black Cockatoos, Wattle Birds, Topknot Pigeons, Magpies and a myriad of smaller
birds. The park is smack bang between
the lake and the ocean and we are able to stroll to either one when the mood
takes us.
DD is happy as he has a
fireplace and the park sells firewood by the bag – so far tho’ we have only had
it lit once as it has either been too warm, too windy or tonight, for the first
time, too wet. Oh well – he feels better
knowing it is there when he wants it. The park is supposedly dog free (for
obvious reasons) although we know that a couple of the permanents do have
beasties.
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| All Saints |
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| Driver With Attitude |
They have an odd rule here
(and in Tas) – permanent cabin owners can only spend up to 150 nights per annum
in their cabins. We have not been able
to discern the reason for this, but it does explain why the cabins sell so
cheaply. You could pick up a basic
little cabin here for around $6000 give or take. The property values are fairly steep along
the coast and the increasingly heavy traffic indicates the urban sprawl is
sprawling further and further south. We
would be at least 300k from Sydney here but you would think it were much
closer.
From South Durras we have
explored south to Moruya and yesterday visited the absolutely stunning Tuross
Head. This is an amazingly beautiful and
picturesque spot, snuggled between two major lakes and the ocean. The homes there were an eclectic mix of large
and small, architectural design and shanty.
The terrain was rain forest crossed with mangrove swamps, sparkling
lakes and golden sands. Sandbanks
abounded as did rocky outcrops and tiny islands. Whilst enjoying the views we met a genial
lady who told us what a delight it is to live in the area. Dear soul, she and her hubby had been across
to the west earlier in the year to help mates get their crops in – in Corrigin
of all places. It reminded us of how
many wonderful people there still are in this world.
We will remain here in
South Durras until this Sunday when we will turn tail and head away from the
coast. We were planning (again) to head
to Canberra, but guess what, we have oscillated so much that now we are unable
to get into a caravan park anywhere in the close vicinity to the ACT. No, nothing to do with the elections (aren't you
glad they are over), but rather the annual Flower Show is about to begin and
the place is packed. Add to that the
fact that the dear children are about to have another holiday and we’re as they
say in the classics, ‘off’.
We are sorry not to be
catching up with friends and rellies further north, but the steady increase of
traffic on the roads has us twitching and we are yearning for ‘further out’.
The latest plan is to head towards Goulburn and then across to the Mildura and
the Murray River. There we will slow
down and enjoy the river, the Flinders and our good mates in Clare. What, sorry Pete, didn't we tell you we were
coming – oh well, now you know – only fair to give you a chance to leave town!!
So my friends, until next
time when we will be ............................?? Spring is Sprung, The Elections are finally
over, Our Footy Team is ‘Finished’ - so Live, Love and Be Happy. Stephanie
FULL PIKE WITH A HALF TWIST (otherwise known as The Duck Dive)
Well, it’s been quite a
while since I had a major klutz attack but yesterday morning I made up for a
whole year’s worth.
We are currently staying in
a beautiful little eco-park on the south coast of NSW – I will fill in the gaps
as to where, in a ‘proper’ blog. All you
need to know for this one is that it is a birdie paradise and we have more
birds here than even I could wish for.
Among the feathered pretties is a family of Maned Ducks or if you
prefer, Australian Wood Ducks. We have
been adopted by a mum, a dad and seven fluffy little ducklings. They are adorable and of course I am
mothering them to bits.
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| Adorable |
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| Proud Dad |
Yesterday morning, very
early (around 5.45) I heard a quiet ruckus outside the van and looked out my
bedroom window to see the family all gathered outside the van. Not only was the mother duck looking at the
van and quacking, but not to be ignored jumped up on a post the better to see
in and catch my attention.
Now this is a wonderfully
quiet park and currently we are the only van in, so I was not worried about
stepping outside the van in my nightie.
Hmmm, step is not really the appropriate word here! I very quietly extricated myself from the bed
so not to disturb the quietly snoring man beside me (yes he is snoring again)
and cautiously opened the van door in order to throw out some seed for the
ducks. Now...........those of you not
familiar with our van need to know here that it is quite high off the ground –
due to this we have a marvelous set of stainless steel steps – solid as you
like and very stable. Great! Now, due to old age, infirmity, crook knees, sheer
bulk, etc, etc, I am always but always super cautious exiting the van – one very
careful step at a time. What on earth
went wrong yesterday morning then? Oh
perhaps I was not fully awake, perhaps I was distracted by the sight of 7
fluffy ducklings all trying to get into our water dish, perhaps the flight of
the brightly coloured lorikeets flying around my head, or was it the friendly
maggie waiting for a titbit, perhaps I just momentarily lost my
mind..................whatever the distraction was it had spectacular results.
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| Was It These Jeweled Birds Flitting Around Me? |
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| Or This Colourful Character |
One moment perched
reasonably safely on the top step of the van and the next flying oh so slowly
thru’ the crisp morning air. It was
remarkable in many ways – firstly, never before have I had such clear and
distinct thoughts whilst heading towards a crash – they went pretty much like
this:
“Oh No - Faaaar Out - there was still a step to go!”
“Maybe if I do the stumble dance I can stop
the forward momentum and prevent a disaster”,
“Oh good, there’s the chair, I can grab hold
of that and save myself”, “Oh rats, the chair wasn't properly expanded and has
simply folded and fallen on the ground”,
“Oh bugger!” (this as my
face met the ground)
“Oh was that kangaroo poo?”
“Well, here I am lying flat on my face in the
kangaroo poo”,
“Gee, I just missed hitting
my head on that fire place”
“I better call Doug to come and help, oh no,
better not, don’t want to wake him – he had a restless night”
“How am I going to get up?”
“Can anyone see me?”
“Uh oh, my nightie is not
covering all of me!”
“Thank goodness there is
nobody around to see this!”
“Where the bloody hell is
Doug?”
“Is there kangaroo poo on
my face?”
“Oh, I hope I didn't squash
the ducklings!”
“Well it looks like the
cavalry is not happening; I will just have to try to move”
“Hmm, at least it doesn't feel like I've broken
anything”, “I see I have scraped my knees and I’m sure that is kangaroo poo”
“Hope I don’t get ticks”
“Well at least I’m able to
stand – sort of”
“Well I guess I should try to get back into
the van and clean off all this kangaroo poo”
“Where is the bloke when you need him?”
“What the ................he is happily making
a cuppa, awake after all”
As I staggered back inside
the van, scraped knees, shattered nerves, poo splattered, nightie awry, what
did that estimable bloke say to me? “Bit
damp out there this morning
sweetie?”
sweetie?”
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| The King Was There |
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| Looking Down From Safety |
No questions like, “where
have you been in your nightie?” or, “Is that Kanga Poo on your forehead?” or “Sweetie,
you poor thing are you all right?” Oh
no, not my bloke -
OH BLOODY HELL – he really
is just a bloke after all! Not that ‘anybody else’ asked, but yes I am
fine THANK YOU VERY BLOODY MUCH!!!!! Just a tad tender in a few spots! I was incredibly lucky not to have done any
major damage. I guess the angels were
watching over me – seems they have a pretty good sense of humour tho’.
Just to add to your mirth, I stepped out of the van this morning to try to feed 'just' the beautiful King Parrots as the Lorikeets are just such aggressive feeders, the other parrots have trouble just getting a look in. I should have known better as DD had already been out there trying to get a few more photos of the Kings and he had birds flying all around him and trying to land on his shiny 'runway'. As you will see from the photo, I was somewhat overwhelmed - what you can't see is the cheeky little bloke who just a moment earlier was trying to find his way inside my dressing gown!
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| Did She Just Try To Fly? |
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| She Had Roo Poo On Her Forehead! |
Just to add to your mirth, I stepped out of the van this morning to try to feed 'just' the beautiful King Parrots as the Lorikeets are just such aggressive feeders, the other parrots have trouble just getting a look in. I should have known better as DD had already been out there trying to get a few more photos of the Kings and he had birds flying all around him and trying to land on his shiny 'runway'. As you will see from the photo, I was somewhat overwhelmed - what you can't see is the cheeky little bloke who just a moment earlier was trying to find his way inside my dressing gown!
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| Is It Safe To Come Out Yet? |
Oh well, nothing like sharing
an embarrassing moment with one’s loved ones – look after yourselves and EACH
OTHER.............! Steph.
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| Pushy Dinner Guest |
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| Pair Of Uncommon Wonga Pigeons |
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| Mobbed! |
