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.