NEW SOUTH WALES SOUTH COAST

Wonboyn Lake turned out to be a lovely place. When we first arrived at the caravan park, we thought ‘what the?’ - but once we finally managed to get the van into our site and took a look around we really did like the place. The park owner, Bucky, is very easy going and the amenities are very clean. A van site cost us $30 a night. TV is only available at a few sites and the cabins aren’t really waterfront but the birdlife is amazing. I sighted over 30 different species but missed out on seeing the elusive lyrebirds which are apparently very common in the area.

The local satin bower bird had built a bower across the road from the park.

Unfortunately the heavy rain had left the water in the lake very brown so there was no point fishing. We were glad we hadn’t gone to the trouble of bringing the tinny but will definitely bring it if we come down again. The park has its own private jetty down at the bay and the local oyster growers have their shed there as well so if you want to buy oysters they’re handy. Again, due to the rain they weren’t harvesting. We’re told the Lake is great for flathead, whiting etc and it is quite sheltered so would be lovely in good weather.

Wonboyn Lake 

We drove out to Nadgee Nature Reserve which is typical coastal scrub with lots of really big banksia trees. 

This half opened banksia flower turns into the pod below -
inspiration for May Gibb's big bad Banksia Men.

The coastline is quite beautiful and spectacular and with the strong wind there was a good swell running at the beach. The track into the reserve isn’t bad and it would be a lovely place for a picnic, swim and bushwalking on a nice day. 

I would check the beach for blue bottles though.

Next day we took a short drive south to Mallacoota where we discovered another beautiful spot. The local council maintain a huge area of the foreshore on Mallacoota Inlet where there are around 800 campsites. There is plenty of room with lots of amenities blocks and power if required for $28 a night in the shoulder season. The town itself has plenty of good shops and is very neat and tidy. Again, the fishing is also good in the inlet. School holidays would not be a good time to visit I’d say, especially in the summer as the population swells by the thousands.

Mallaoota campground above and the view out to the ocean below.

From Wonboyn Lake we headed north up the Princes Highway through Eden to Bega, where we found a good little spot at the Showgrounds. The amenities block here was OK and the showers were hot. It was good value at $15 a night. The old pavilion here is a lovely building from the grand old days when the local show was the biggest event of the year.

While at Bega we paid a visit to the Bega Cheese Factory. Unfortunately we found it rather ho hum. There were some interesting old things in the museum area but the cheeses weren’t very exciting and like most tourist places, the prices in the gift shop were over the top. We were disappointed. Instead of discovering some delicious new cheeses we came away empty-handed.

After Bega we headed back to the coast and Tathra, a really pretty little seaside village with a quaint old jetty. Again, while it was fairly quiet I’d imagine it would be pumping during the school holidays and as with all of the seaside places along the coast, accommodation prices are inflated during holidays.

The old jetty at Tathra.

Further north is Bermagui, another lovely place but much bigger than Tathra. When we fuelled up here the price was 10c a litre cheaper than in Bega. Go figure! About 20 klms north or Bermagui is the turnoff to Mystery Bay. Here you will find a terrific camping ground called Mystery Bay Primitive Camping Reserve. Management of the reserve is contracted out by the Eurobodalla Shire Council. It cost us $8 per person per night. There is plenty of town water available as well as some cold showers and pit toilets but the grounds themselves are very big, with a choice of campsites either close to the beach, in the bush or atop the cliffs overlooking the ocean and Montague Island just off the coast. Most of the sites are very shady, being scattered throughout the bush. We chose a site up at the back of the reserve where there were some spots which got more sun for the solar power. The view from the door of the van was quite spectacular.

Unfortunately the wind was rather strong for most of our stay and we were a bit worried about having our awning out. But we tied it down well and it stayed put. Since the school holidays were upon us, we decided to stay at Mystery Bay until we were booked into the caravan park at Nowra. Every day more people arrived so we figured the camps further north would be filling up as well and we loved the spot we had here.

Late afternoon at Mystery Bay Campground.

Just west of Mystery Bay is a gem of a little place called Central Tilba. The whole town is Heritage Listed and has been developed as a little tourist attraction, while maintaining the charm of the old buildings. We also discovered that the ABC Cheese Factory here has some fantastic cheeses. It was hard to decide which ones to buy. We ended up with a vintage kalamata & garlic, a vintage blue and a super blue but there are lots of others to choose from. 

As you walk through the town, you will also discover a variety of specialist artisan type stores such as a bath kitchen which sells handmade bath bombs etc, a woodturners’ gallery, a toy and puzzles shop and a store specialising in leather goods like handbags, shoes, hats etc. There are a variety of other shops as well as the amazing old Dromedary Hotel. 

Looking up the main street to the Dromedary Hotel, Central Tilba

The town looks out over lush dairy country.

Inside the local store.

We really enjoyed a couple of hours wandering around here but it you are going to pay a visit be aware that parking space is limited, with just one larger parking area at the south end of town.

The closest place to go for groceries is Narooma, just 9 klms north. Again, it is a picturesque town built around a large inlet but a lot of money has been spent on infrastructure here to provide a safe harbour for boats. A channel is maintained with extensive rock walls and a lot of parkland has been developed for recreational purposes. 

The extensive rock walls at Narooma.

A Narooma local lazing in the sun at the lookout.

The golf course here is really impressive, sitting atop a high headland overlooking the ocean. Like Mallacoota, there is a large variety of shopping and dining options for the holiday maker and again, there are large oyster leases in the inlet, as well as lots of oysters growing wild on the rocks of the inlet. Unfortunately they are all pretty small so we decided against going up again to pick some. Tasmania’s giant ‘feral’ oysters have spoilt us.

Mystery Bay Reserve backs onto Eurobodalla National Park so there are plenty of nice walks into the park and down onto the beaches which are interspersed with high rocky cliffs which proved too much of a temptation to some young lads we saw jumping off into the sea. I’m glad their Mums weren’t watching and also that my three boys weren’t there to join them as they no doubt would have. A bit of a worry but boys will be boys. We really enjoyed the walks and the beaches around the campground and even climbed down the cliff below us at high tide to explore the foreshore.

John was also pretty happy when he discovered a patch of mushrooms growing in the reserve. After much asking around and checking on the net we established that they were French brown mushrooms. I still waited until John had eaten one for breakfast before trying them myself. They really were delicious though and we ate wild mushrooms for a few days.

Just a few of the mushrooms John discovered in the campgrounds.

A cute local

The beach is very sheltered and of course Leo loved swimming every day.

We were impressed with this unique home-made camper.

This beautiful ground orchid was growing near our camp.

Our next stop was Palm Beach Caravan Park at Sanctuary Point in St Georges Basin, an inlet adjacent to Jervis Bay. The area itself is quite nice with lots of calm water for fishing in the Basin, but the van park only had one small bay for a van which was very tricky to get into. The facilities were great but at $45 a night we didn’t think it was value for money. I imagine most parks in the area would cost the same and there were several in the area but few take dogs especially in school holidays.

From Sanctuary Point we took a drive back down to the little township of Mogo, 10 klms south of Batemans Bay. It is another old town which has re-invented itself with an eclectic collection of shops, cafes etc aimed at the tourist market. We quite enjoyed a couple of hours wandering around town checking out their unusual wares then took the coast road back to Batemans Bay which was quite scenic.

Interesting name for a store!

One of many beaches between Mogo and Jervis Bay.

For Christmas, we moved up to Nowra where we met up with our boys and spent a couple of days sightseeing in that area. Nowra Showgrounds, where we stayed is quite a nice spot perched high on a cliff above the Shoalhaven River. There is an excellent walking track at the bottom of the cliff which follows the river for quite a distance. While the showgrounds seem popular they aren’t crowded and there is plenty of room. If you need to use the amenities you need to get a key from the information centre in town. It costs $23 per night plus a $20 refundable deposit for the key.

Nowra Showgrounds overlooks the Shoalhaven River.

Nowra is a great spot to use as a base to explore the surrounding area. We took a drive out to Kangaroo Valley and did some exploring along the way with our sons, one of whom is into geo-caching. Our first stop was at the lookout atop Cambewarra Mountain. From here you get impressive views of the surrounding countryside and out to the coast. We could even see the hangars at HMAS Albatross where our son is now based.

In Kangaroo Valley there are a few quaint little shops and galleries to explore. The unusual bridge across the Kangaroo River to the west of town was a popular photo spot for tourists and is also home to the local canoe hire companies which seem to do a great trade. 

Just past the bridge is the turnoff to Bendeela which is a fantastic free camping reserve where we had camped on a previous trip. This spot is also very spacious and of an evening it comes alive when its large population of wombats come out to forage. They are everywhere but all you can see during the day is their huge burrows.

From Bendeela we did some more exploring in the Gerringong Creek area. Again there are lots of lovely walks and in a couple of spots we discovered impressive suspension bridges across the creeks. Of course the boys had to have a swim which they found very refreshing.

Next day we took a drive down to the Jervis Bay area and visited some lovely beaches including Hyams which is popular with the surfers. We also got to visit HMAS Creswell where the kangaroos seemed to have moved in while everyone else was away for the Christmas break. 

From Creswell you can look right around the bay all the way out to Point Perpendicular, an impressive headland at the entrance to Jervis Bay.

One off the beaches adjacent to the Navy Base.

Our final day was spent exploring north of Nowra. We took the highway north with some detours to the coast and stopped at an amazing cemetery at Gerringong, situated atop a headland with fantastic views. 

Further on we had lunch at a lovely little spot on a headland at Bulli. We had eaten here years ago but were disappointed with the food this trip. The beach however was lovely. As in many spots along the NSW south coast, concrete rock pools have been built to provide safer swimming enclosures and they are well used. We even saw fishermen pull in a nice black bream just fishing from the swimming enclosure.

Our last stop was Stanwell Park to watch the hang-gliders and para-gliders soaring above the cliffs. While it looks like it would be amazing I don’t think I’ll be taking a tandem ride any time soon. We did see several people braving it while we were there though. 

Some of the gliders land back at the launching site while others
land at the small park at centre right in the picture above.

All in all I would have to say that this part of our country is impressive, providing a wide range of activities for everyone as well as true scenic beauty.