Genoa, Lakes Entrance and Port Albert

On to Genoa .......

On our way south through to Genoa we followed the tourist drive rather stay on the highway. The roads were very windy with lots of single lane wooden bridges. When you are towing 24 foot of van it does make an interesting drive. We followed the coastline but the view were very restricted because of the strange looking mist (cloud) most of the way along the coast. We stopped in Bega to have a look at the old Cheese Factory. We tasted some great cheeses
 especially a nice hot pepper cheese that once bought didn't last too long with a nice cold beer.

We stopped at various beaches as Patrice does love the sand between her toes.

 A small stop at the NSW VIC border was a nice place just to show you that we are still talking and she doesn't hate me. I am sure that I am getting more greyer with each day of travel. (insert by Patrice - "nothing to do with me...")

On to Genoa ...

The Old Service Station that was once a thriving business.

This was once the main highway

Genoa was the centre of cattle droving starting in 1863 and it grew to a nice little town over the years. Large compressed earth 2 story pub, large stores, service station etc, later came the caravan park. But like a lot of small towns the highway was diverted as the 2 lane wooden bridge couldn't cope with the increase in travel and sizes of trucks. Genoa died in the late nineties and all that is left is a ghost town. The caravan park in now a free stay which is still in very good condition and survives of the donations made by travellers.

Orbost
The beautiful thing about the travel is the history of these small towns. Towns were built on the building of railway lines and mining. Schools were established every 50 miles to assist families to move into the areas and so the spread of the population occurred. Most towns you go to have majestic churches and numerous pubs.



 
 Our next stop is Lakes Entrance situated right on the coast just out of the Wilderness Coast. This is a thriving town relying heavily on tourism and fishing. The early days of lakes entrance saw large homesteads established on sheep farming, the homesteads now are either in ruins or used purely for tourism.

 The Cunningham Arm footbridge was originally built in 1937, repaired in 1966, refurbished in 1998 and replaced in 2009. This bridge takes you from the town centre across to the surf club based at the beginning of 90 Mile Beach.




There are numerous black swans all along the coast.

Went for a drive and found lookouts, dolls and crafts (closed, thank goodness) We went for a wander through one homestead called "Nyerimilang" (which was also closed) but we still saw many of the old things that are still there for you to see. The laundry which appears to be built for very short people still had the old boiler, wringer and various other pieces.

The shearing shed is still intact even with bits of fleece still hanging from the rafters.

We came across an echidna which has making a mess of the walking tracks.
Went for a walk this morning, cold, windy icy, cloudy, thunder, lightning and rain.
All along the main street are wood carvings all done by John Brady who has carved these numerous items from enormous tree trucks and a chainsaw.

On our way back it started to clear up giving us beautiful views from Remmies Point.


After our exploring, it was nice to get all dressed up and go out to dinner to celebrate a great trip so far.

More to come..........

Murramarang National Park, Waldron's Swamp Rest Area and Easts Narooma Caravan Park.

Pretty Beach.

Drove from Shoalhaven Heads to Pretty Beach in the Murramarang National Park, south of Ulladulla and about 30klm North of Batemans Bay. Car going well and now more instances with the Starship Enterprise.

Very nice National Park, powered sites, hot and cold showers which had to be paid for and trust me I had to pick the one that was broken.

The beaches are beautiful  but still a little bit cold. We went for a walk out on a rock mass which was huge but we were a little worried about the approaching tide as the waves splashing on the rocks were going higher and higher. We couldn’t believe how clear the water is, if you didn’t know you think  that there was no water in the rock pools. The algae on the rocks was the greenest we have ever seen, it was almost fluorescent.

Being Tia’s birthday we decided to write a birthday card in the sand and take a photo to send to her.

Went for a drive to Bateman’s Bay for a bit of a look around as we had decided we were not going to stay there. Great views from a couple of lookouts and again fabulous beaches.

Came back to Brooman’s State Forest, would have been interesting to stay there, all State forests are free to stay.

The camp oven has been a hit, we have cooked a variety of meals from yummy stews to roast chicken.

We went for a walk to Snapper Lookout and then around to Mary Beach, just beautiful and a nice walk to boot.  We were walking along when this guy on a bike chasing us, it was Wil who we met at Coromal. We are starting to notice that you start to run into the same people every now and then.

Waldron’s Swamp Rest Area

Packed up and moved onto a rest area called Waldron’s Swamp where we were intending to spend one night. It must have been a great spot because that night we had 16 vans in the rest area.

Met Gary first who was Mr ”Have a Chat” who bailed us up as soon as we got there, we later met Den and Lynne and Gary’s wife Pam, they were friends travelling together from Forster, what a great bunch who made us feel welcome, so much so we ended staying for 4 days.

It was hard to remember what we did but all I know is that we laughed hard and had a great time, met other couples, made a heap of signs for caravans and cooked a lot on the camp oven – pure bliss.

Went to the caravan and camping show in Bateman’s Bay, quite a good show with heaps of very nice vans and lots of toys. Bought a 12 volt shower for free-staying and the best bug zapper you have ever used.

Narooma

It was hard to leave but we packed up, leaving behind some great friends and moved onto Narooma Big 4 Caravan Park for a bit of luxury, after 7 nights of free stay we had a bit of washing to catch up on including washing the car and caravan. We wanted to use this as a base to do some site seeing so booked in for 4 days.

Our first day trip was to Bodalla where they have a cheese factory opened in 1914. The town of Bodalla was a town of many firsts. First town in Australia to use milking machines, Bodalla was the first commercially made cheese in Australia and the first to be exported to England. The All Saints Anglican Church opened in 1881 was a beautiful old church. The town was owned by one man Thomas Mort, everyone worked for Bodalla Cheese and included 16 dairy farms, 3 cheese factories, a school and a main street.

We came back through the tourist drive of Dalmeny, again more beautiful beaches, clear blue water and we even spotted a whale.

After we got back we decided to zip across to the shops and we bumped into our ‘Swamp’ friends, Den, Lynne, Gazza and Pam, they were getting water from the information centre and were heading down the road to Mystery Bay, another free stay.

The next day we decided to visit them to have a look at Mystery Bay on our way to Tilba. We all headed to this quaint little town of Tilba and had a another fun day, visiting little stores, another cheese factory and generally exploring this town. The girls had a go at Hoola Hooping which was a bundle of fun.

 

Today was windy and cold but we had a game of outdoor chess and went for a good walk up to the Bar Rock Lookout at Wagonga Inlet. The Narooma Golf Course overhangs the cliffs and has wild undulations, what a classic course. The wind blows so hard that the trees are bent over.