Monday, 4 June 2012

Eurobodalla Coast and Northward


May 27 – Bermagui-Tilba-Narooma
I had heard some plastic rustling in the night but couldn't figure out what was causing it. We found out quickly when we started getting things out from breakfast. Someone had broken into our oatmeal! We couldn't figure out how the thief had gotten in but we cleaned out all the cupboards. Since we had no other choice we still had oatmeal for breakfast. Fortunately our almost finished bag was the only victim and the thief didn't get into our dried apricots or currants. After packing up we headed up the road to Bermagui. Along the way we noticed some huge surf crashing in and a bunch of cars parked by the beach. We pulled over and watched some surfers. They had some sweet looking waves but there were a lot of them out there and some rocks close to shore. I can see it being a bit of a challenge to dodge rocks and people while keeping your balance on a wave. In Bermagui we stopped into the visitors center to find out some info on the area but the volunteer was next to useless. She did suggest we go see the blue pools which turned out to be a sort of natural/man made ocean swimming pool. It's too bad it wasn't nicer out so we could have enjoyed the pool. On the way out of town we stopped at Camel Rock as well. We only knew about this because of a picture we had seen in one of our many pamphlets. We tried to take a picture with the rock but between the angle and the wind they are all awful! Oh well. We continued on to the Historic Village of Tilba. It was mostly vintage buildings but is quite touristy with the shops. We did go into the Wood Turning Gallery which had some absolutely beautiful items in it. Being in wood working stores always reminds of Grandad. I wish I could afford some of the pieces but $1300 for a coffee table is a little steep for our budget even if it's made out of red gum. After leaving Tilba we had seen in another brochure a cool looking rock formation near Narooma called Glasshouse Rock. We made a guess at where to turn, Glasshouse Rock Rd, and followed the road to a cemetery. The view from one side over looked a nice beach but it didn't look like the rock formation. We walked around to the other side of the cemetery/point and there were the rocks we had hoped for. It looked pretty cool and there was some other very interesting rocks nearby as well. Once into Narooma we hit up the bank, info center and gas station. The girl at this information center was much more helpful and suggested a free rest stop to us for the night. We head down to the waterfront to make use of some electric bbqs to make lunch. We attempted our tuna cheese toastie again but it didn't turn out as delicious as the last time. After lunch we hit the road again. We decided to have a peek at the rest stop to see if it might be okay for the night. Turns out it's back from the road a bit and very well treed so the road noise is minimal. We made a cup of joe while I read and Beau played some more guitar. We made vegetable soup for dinner, it was a tinned soup but we majorly beefed it up with carrots, zucchini and an under ripe avocado. The rest of the evening passed with wine and some writing up.

Some surfing
The Blue Pools

Camel Rock

Cool Rocks by Glasshouse Rock
Glasshouse Rock
May 28 – Eurobodalla Coast
Our rest stop proved to be not a bad spot and it looks like our thief was left behind in the Park. Our journey took us onwards and we followed a tourist drive. We stopped at Broulee Nature Reserve and had a walk along the beach and around the reserve. It was a scenic little spot. Our next walk was at Guerilla Bay out on to Burawarra Point. There was an old WW2 bunker on the point. I guess that might have something to do with the bay's name. The walk had many banksia trees along it. They have these weird nut/pine cone like things that can get turned into really cool trinkets. They are holey and furry and woody all at the same time. I thought it would be cool to collect a few and try to carve them ourselves but we don't have the tools. There was some nice views along the way but the path started to become less visible and we had to do a little bush whacking to get back to the main path. By this time we were quite hungry so we made our down to Malua Bay where there were some beach side BBQ's. We had baked beans on cheese toast. Yum! Beau added fried garlic and onions to it too. We were going to stop in to the Bateman's Bay Library for some Wifi but they charge for it here! We were very put out so decided against it. We ended up using some free McD's wifi and found a campsite in town for the night. We got some more groceries and checked in. There was a Bunnings (Rona) right next door so we popped in to see if they had a Robertson bit and voila they did. This meant we were able to get the battery to be secured in place again. Beau also took the opportunity to shave down our one drawer a little. Some water got in at some point and made the wood swell so one of the drawers has been awful to open. But it's all fixed now! It's nice to get our few odd jobs out of the way.


Broulee Nature Reserve

Burawarra Point

Malua Bay
May 29 – Ulladulla
Our day started with the loud speak and forklifts going over at Bunnings. The caravan park backed on to Bunnings. We showered and had breakfast before heading out. We bought some fuel along the way to Ulladulla. Once in the town we spotted a Super Cheap Auto so we stopped in to find out if it would be reasonable to buy a battery charger so while we are plugged in we can be charging the battery and running the fridge. Turns out we wouldn't be able to do this but while we were stopped I topped up the cell phone and bought so egg rings (it'll keep the egg in place when on the bbq). We then headed out to Warden Head for a walk. We pulled into a car park and had a nice walk along the beach. There were a bunch of people surfing and boogie boarding on some great crashing waves. There was a dog on the beach whose owner was out surfing. I think the dog was a little upset about being left behind. We had thought there was going to be a path to lead us to the heads and light house but we couldn't find it. Instead of hopping in the van to go we hopped on our bikes for a short ride down the road. At the light house we were able to see some humpbacked whales! They were a little hard to see and we kicked ourselves for not having binoculars. My camera was able to zoom in some though; it was neat to see them. Afterwards we continued through town and stopped into the information center. The girl gave us some info on places to see further up and also some possibilities for places to stay for the night. We headed over to a park across the road and made bacon, eggs and homefries for lunch. It was delicious but greasier than normal since we were using a stainless steel bbq/grill. After our artery clogger we went back to the info center/library for wifi. Once we got updated we hit the road with hopes of a nice rest stop. The rest stop was a big disappointment so we continued on to Nowra. We had been told the Showgrounds had reasonably priced camping but unfortunately when we arrived we were supposed to have pre-purchased a permit from the information center in town which was now closed. I didn't want to risk a ticket so we made some phone calls to other parks in town of which only one was answering. We ended up at Shady Willows Park but it was definitely shady. Most people there were live-ins and the bathroom smelled like cigarettes. We didn't have too many options so we stayed there for the night. 

Warden Head

A humpback whale

Two humpback whales

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