No more stunning beaches for a while please
Trip Start
Nov 18, 2009
1
10
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Depot Beach Camp Site
Bodalla, New South Wales, Australia
Saturday, November 7, 2009
It's not yet 7am and I'm sitting on my camping chair, in my Herringbone nightshirt and genuine Ugg womble boot (thanks Sarah and Jack for these staple items - I live in them to the delight of other campers) laptop on knee, listening to the surf and the noises of our beachfront camp site at Depot Beach in Murramurrang Nat Park, starting to stir. I say starting in the loosest possible sense, seeing as it is full of children, and therefore we've had people crying and calling out since the dawn chorus at 5am. When we drove in here yesterday afternoon, A had his usual reaction of seeing more than one car and declaring the place 'rather crowded'. It is a large bush camp site near the beach, and by about 7pm it was half full. We put up the lovely tartan picnic blanket (thank you Jan) around our awning to give us some privacy and soon, the tarp was required to make a 3rd side to our awning. By 8pm we were surrounded. We got our swag and mozzie net set up in our 'den' of tarps and blankets and by 9pm were in our swags, as yet more cars kept arriving. It was only then, that the penny dropped, it was Friday night, 250kms from Sydney, so everyone was coming away for the w/e. And you can't blame them, it's a great spot. But you can blame them when they arrive after 10pm, have a row trying to put the tent up, and crash and bang and do it right next to your camp spot! You can blame them for everything then.
So...back to yesterday morning, we woke at our Golfer's Lodge, in Narooma - one of us having slept on the sofa due to extraordinary snoring. We packed up, made our lunch (salami and cheese sarnies - we're living like Kings you know) and packed the cruiser, forgetting in our excitement to actually turn on the fridge. This was to have considerable repercussions later!!! Chatting to the English girl in the next door room she told us they'd been having a glass of wine on their deck the night before we got there, and saw humpback whales in the ocean directly opposite, a mother and calf. How incredible. I stared longingly at the sea, willing some mother to appear. We saw something the other day that could have been a whale. Then again it could also have been a seal or just a diver in distress. It was suspiciously small for a whale and very quiet for a distressed diver, so we feel it was more likely a seal, with a flipper that raised out of the water - either way it was fun to see, and imagine it might be a very premature baby whale.
We set off and found a coffee en route in Bodalla, a little old cheese making place with All Saints church dating back to 1881. I went for a look inside while A ate an ice cream from the Dairy Milk Bar. He then came in and joined me and told me it was the 2nd church he'd ever been in to. We left there and pulled in to do a forest lake walk. A had decided to 'not smoke today' so was particularly chatty and relaxed and friendly towards me as we stomped around the lake and through a rainforest at considerable speed. He had intended to stop smoking the day we drove out of Toolangi, but given that the day we drove out of Toolangi, we drove back in again 3 times, he decided it was adding to his already high stress levels, so instead smoked a lot that day. I tried to be patient and kind as it's an incredibly hard thing for him to wrestle with and I am so proud of him being so determined, and want to encourage him.
We drove past beachy town after beachy town and decided we were on the set of Home & Away. It is idyllic, and I know it sounds awful but we're now a bit 'over' all this ocean stuff. We pulled up at another stunning surf beach called Lillie Pillie and watched a chap surf while Andrew gave a critique from the driver's seat, eating a sandwich. He had it all wrong apparently, and was approaching the wave from the wrong end, he was an idiot and he kept missing really good waves. Once we'd established that neither A nor I have ever surfed and are therefore perhaps not best to judge, we agreed he was probably a beginner and that we of course had the vantage point, watching from where we were, whereas he was in the thick of it and acknowledged how hard it must be to learn something like that when all you do is get dumped in the surf and forced to swallow a shed load of sea. Repeatedly.
I thought some more 4wd tracks might help A concentrate on something other than his cravings - so plotted a course to take us off road to Shallow Crossing, off the Princes Highway, described in one of my many local guides that are littering up the dash, as a Pioneer Settlement town in the tall trees. And well it might be, if it exists. We drove for a couple of hours, sometimes knowing where we were on the maps, sometimes not so much. We did some river crossings and envied the people floating on their lilos in the cool river - there was a bush camp there, but again it was condemned as 'crowded' from the driver's seat, (I saw at least 2 vehicles), so we motored on.
We finally found the Old Highway again after a bit of praying from me, and skillful driving from A, and were soon once again hurtling the wrong way down the Princes Highway, in search of a suitable campsite. We pulled into a few but they looked busy. So, fabulous sounding sites on Merry Beach, Pretty Beach and Pebbly Beach each got the heave ho and we ended up at the terribly named, Depot Beach.
There were some v friendly kangaroos at the site - and one helped A set up our camp. He actually let A stroke him, (see photos coming later) it was like being at Pets Corner.
So that brings us full circle. We're now sitting on a mountain top, 678m above sea level on top of Kangaroo Valley, heading to Fitzroy Falls, near Moss Vale. It is Henry Whitwell's 3rd b'day today so we are going to join him for pizza later in Sydney. When I chatted to him earlier on the phone, all he could manage was a nod - it's exciting turning 3. The metropolis calls, I'd better go. A has just produced an incredible lunch consisting of our usual fare - bread, cheese, salami, ham and thankfully not a smattering of vegemite/marmite!!
Comments
Dear Helen and Andrew,
Your adventures are so enjoyable to read. I am forwarding it to Cath Fisher and she wanted to send Duncans regards to you both.
Happy travelling.
Kindest regards
Tracey & Janine
more than one church you just dont remember ,surprised you didnt do the bridge climb aw but I guess that will come in time ,sunny here today Huddy working with dad in vegie garden sort of reminds me of old times ,all well and loving your blog glad the birthday went well.
love you Mumma.