Messing about in Wooden Boats - Narooma

Just home again from a great weekend catching up with friends in Narooma. We happened to be in town for the 2014 Narooma Boats Afloat Festival. This was the 9th time the featival has been held in Fosters Bay with a flotilla of over 50 boats on show. There were wooden boats of all shapes and sizes, clinkers, putt putts, steam boats, electric and sail boats, something for everyone, as well as arts shows in the quaint little boatsheds around the bay.

Narooma Marina  was the place to be on Saturday.

The flotilla arrived for just as the jazz band started playing and we had settled in for the afternoon.

Elixir- definately the spice of life!

Regularly on Sunday mornings, some of the town's sharpest  minds gather for a cuppa and a spot of trivia. This Sunday, quiz master Charlie, invited us and along  with some other boffins for a breakfast cruise on his beautiful "Wagonga Princess". 

Contestants boarded from the wharf near the Fishing Club laden with baked treats, Thirsty had his amazing gourmet sandwiches and Pig Slops was not going to part with the recipe for his special chocolate slice, needless to say we all had a jolly time.

Wagonga Inlet Cruises are a great way to spend a few hour next time you are in Narooma.Check out more photos from the weekend on the photo page.

Bungonia Gorge closed, doors open.

The fog on the Federal Highway was so thick on Sunday morning, that we missed seeing Lake George and the Collector turnoff, we passed several peletons blindly riding their way through the white out, thankful no doubt for their multi coloured Lycra and tail lights. Our destination was the Bungonia Gorge National Park 30 minutes east of Goulburn on Mountain Ash road.

The fog had cleared by the time we reached the park entrance. Where we joined a group of dismayed walkers, peering at the sign notifying us that the park was indeed closed for feral animal control. Not to worry, we were keen to back track to the old Bungonia township and pursue that other much loved pastime of exploring graveyards and old churches.

Christ Church - Anglican Church Bungonia

In its heyday the Great South Road (aka Hume Hway) passed through the townsip of Bungonia, when the road was rerouted the township fell into decline. The 2006 census recorded 258 residents, I would hazard a guess that the number would be much less today.  Bungonia's historical legacy is a number of fine building, a beautiful old stone police station, complete with flogging tree, St Michael's Catholic reputed to be the oldest standing Catholic Church on the Australian mainland and the Anglical church at the other end of the township.

St Michael's Catholic Church - 1847

After and hour exploring we drove out of town and followed  the signs to Tarago, but somehow got side tracked and spotted the quaint little church below in a paddock just off the road. This looked like a perfectly sheltered spot for lunch.

The church and graveyard were beautifully maintained with some very old headstones, dating back to the early 1900's as well as a memorial to those locals lost in war. We sat in the sun debating why churches were locked these days, we had found most of the churches in rural Tasmania were unlocked during daylight hours. You can imagine our delight when we found this one was also unlocked.

Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay and Eastern Bristlebird encounters

With  a weekend to do just what I wanted, it was a great excuse to head to the coast for some sunshine, to try an rid myself of a persistent cough and sore throat that has dogged me for the past couple of weeks.

I left Canberra on Friday after a couple of meetings in the morning and decided to make my way to Booderee National Park on Jervis Bay via, Nerriga. I tuned into a great community radio station, playing a mixture of, jazz, rock and blues, that fitted my mood perfectly and 3 hours later I was on Jervis Bay road. I had read that Green Patch was the best suited camp site for a van , all the other being walk in  sites. The visitors centre was closed when i arrived, so I wasn't able to get my camping permit or maps, but the park is well sign posted.

The weather at the coast was 10 degrees warmer during the day, the nights were a bit chilly and I missed being able to have a camp fire. I spent Friday afternoon getting set up and them heading out to explore, the area around Green Patch and Bristol Rocks.

It was well and truly dark by the time I got back to camp, I made the most of the hot showers, such a treat in at National Park. The campsite what just about empty, but I had set up next to a couple of Grey Nomads (Gomads) just for security. It was wonderful dropping off to sleep listening to the call of a Mopoke Owl in the distance. I spoke with the ranger on Saturday morning and he gave me a chit to pay on my way out, all very civilised.

Jervis Bay is picture perfect and I was having lots of fun, with my new camera. I walked out to Telegraph Swamp after breakfast and was soon high fiving myself after an Eastern Bristlebird walked across the track in front of me, I first for me and one that I hadn't dreamed of being lucky enough to see on this trip. The flowering heath was alive with honeyeaters this area will become a mecca for birders in the coming weeks.

I had literally walked my legs off and was tucked up in bed just after sunset,needless to say I was up again and on the road before sunrise.

This shot was not as spectacular as I had hoped, the sandstone cliff opposite needed to be in the sun not in silhouette, but well worth the walk just to see the sunrise. I drove over to Caves Beach and watched the surfers while I cooked my scrambled eggs and smoked salmon.

I then was the first into the National Botanic Gardens, more Eastern Bristle birds, here as well; as several Brassian Thrush, Shiny Black Cockatoos and a pair of Gang Gangs of note.

I decided to take the Kangaroo Valley route on the way home, and apart from taking an interesting detour via Mount Scanzi. Well some may call it a wrong turn but it was very picturesque albeit mostly dirt, thankfully Google maps told be I was not lost.

Gillards Beach, Mimosa Rock NP winter weekend escape

With the thermometer sitting on -1 most mornings last week, we decided to take a chance on the predicted 20 degree maximums forcast for the coast on Saturday and Sunday  being close to accurate to make mid winter dash for some warmer. A very large bag of firewood and the winter doona were thrown in also, just to be safe.

Clyde or Brown?

The trip to the coast via the Brown Mountain always seems so much more relaxing, no territorians, trying to break the land speed record by making it  Batemans Bay in under 2 hours. We were struck by the lush vegetation and green paddocks around Bega, no wonder they make such great cheese here. After several stops to buy food we arrived in Tathra around midday. Mimosa Rocks NP is a short drive north of Tathra, Gillards Beach is 5 klms off the main road. A dirt road, but it had been recently graded so the corregations, didn't result in any breakages this time.

Site map - Gillards Beach

We had the choice of the 70 sites that run alond the back of the sand dunes,great views, plenty shade and best of all grass underfoot. Most popular camp sites are so loved that the grass doesn't get a chance to recover. We chose a site with a fire pit and a great view.

One of the advantages of camping on the south coast in Winter is that is just about completely deserted. We had the pick of the sites and as the afternoon wore on the temperature did reach a balmy 18 degrees. Mr P opted for  shorts and decided to try his luck with his surf rod in the gutter just below the camp site.

Paul has the beach to himself

The total catch for the afternoon were 6 salmon, but no elusive tailor, despite all the conditions being perfect. 5 salmon were returned to the ocean, I love fresh salmon for breakfast so we decided to keep one.

Pan fried salmon with goats cheese,lemon and black pepper on toast

Birds and walks

The trees around the camp site were full of wattle birds and New Holland Honeyeaters. I made the trek to Blithrey inlet via Middle Lagoon on both days, with a total of 28 species. The lagoon had opened to the sea last week so was now tidal, large flocks of Australian Coot were fossicking for meal along the shore. Best bird of the weekend was a Crested Shrite Tit a lifer for me.

Photo courtesy Geoff Park

Time to get back on the road

I am writing this after my last morning paddle up the river at Sandon, we have been here now for 14 days and tomorrow we need to point the Dusty Campervan south to be home by next weekend.

Paddling, is like a narcotic, calming, sleep inducing and addictive. I have paddled up river for several klms every morning with the tide and against it. I am sure come tomorrow I will have withdrawal symptoms. 

My bird list for our stay has notched 68 species, with hours spent in the mangroves  trying to decide if the honeyeaters were white cheeked or white throated or both. Every bend of the river is dotted with whistling kite and sea eagle nests. There is also a large nest in the Norfolk Island Pine above our van and this has been our pre dawn alarm clock, a sound that will always remind me of our holiday here.

Shacks, the old beach shacks at Sandon have a charm all of their own. Their owners fought with the National Parks to retain possession and won the case. Although, they now must remain within the title holders family or relinquished. 

In the photo below I am returning from my daily ride to the rubbish bins.

Mr P is always on the look out for someone to have a chat with, here he is with Sandon local identity Bobby. 

Tomorrow we will drive south calling into Red Rock and Mylestrom on our way to Crowdy Bay NP. We have eaten fish every day for 2 weeks, I am thinking a pizza might be on tomorrow night's menu.

Yuraygir National Park, Sandon River Camping

Our fist week has passed and we are well and truly on Sandon River time. The days are very busy, getting up at daylight and paddling up the river, with good fishing and birding, back for a lunch of Paul's catch of the day. Our afternoons are spent reading,swimming and then more paddling around dusk. Life seems to revolve a round the tides. I have even taken the pushey out for a spin down the bumpy road for a couple of klms, to the point where the corrugations bounce me off the seat. 

The camp is now well and truly at capacity and we are so glad that we got here and secured a great spot on the foreshore before it became  busy. The 40 sites and 8 beach shacks get water from 6 large rain water tanks, the toilets are serviced with bore water. We are keeping our tanks full incase of any shortages in the coming week.

This is the view from across the river at Sandon Village, the only access to the settlement is via boat or 4Wd along the beach.

The campervan is holding up well to the rough roads,we have found that our batteries only hold enough power for 3 days and have been chatting to other campers about the benefits of getting a solar panel.

On the fishing front, the catches have been consistent, with the best fish being a 9kg flat head, this was given to a large family group camping nearby, they very nicely reciprocated with a nice bottle of red. Stay tuned for the photos. 

Sandon River Time

We arrived back at the Sandon River camp in the Yurigar NP on Monday, after a great time with family in Yandina and Mount Tamborine.

Our decision to get here before the school holiday travellers has paid off and we have secured a great camp site on the river and 100 metres from the surf beach. This is probably one of the best camps that we have stayed in, it ticks all the boxes, camp fires, warm water to swim in and the fish are biting, not to mention that there are flush toilets and tank water on site. The only downside is the 9 km of coregations on the way in or out.

Internet connection is non existent so I am posting this  from Maclean, this morning. We have come into town to get some supplies for the next week and to charge the batteries in the van. Weather permitting our plan is to stay here for another week or 10 days. Today's temperature is 29 degrees and the water must be about 21'so life is good. My bird list is averaging around 35 species each day with 5 new birds on my life list.

The Great Sandy National Park

A visit to the renowned RANSAR listed birding site of Inskip Point was high on my list of priorities for this trip. There were still some migratory birds in residence all showing lots of breeding plumage, feeding at low tide. I have to wonder why these frequent flyers return annually for a stop overin this area. The Great Sandy NP, is all about the 4WD, the beaches a far from being safe habitats but busy access roads.We stayed at the camp ground at Inskip point and I was surprised that nearly everyone had bought their dogs along with them. Hardly ideal for nesting sites for endangered birds species.

How not to exit a camp site.

Dusty took a wrong turn on our way out of the campsite and ended stuck in the sand. Fellow campers stood around and offered advice so we unhitched the venter took the bikes off. Then "Tiney" arrived and hitched up his 4bee with some slick knots on a borrowed rope of help and we soon back on the road. 

We have headed back south to Boreen Point looking for some paddling and fishing. The water hasn't cleared after the heavy rain at the weekend. We will call into Noosaville tomorrow to collect our new shade screen and then off to Eumundi Markets.

Road trip to the Sunshine Coast

It's taken a visit from the Dusty Camper to break the drought in South East Queensland.  Torrential rain followed us most of the way from Grafton inland to the border. The sun came out  in the afternoon as we arrived for a night at Toollum Falls This was the first water over the falls in 8 months and the talk of the nearby town of Urbanville bringing the locals came out for a look. 

The sun continued to shine into the afternoon and there was some excellent birding, of note some Golden Whistlers and Lewins Honeyeaters in good numbers as well as a huge Diamond Python curled up beside the path.

We have used the Camps book (7th edition) to find these great out of the way sites. After a smooth trip, this Brisbane we arrived  at Chez Seidl at Yandina in time for a delicious home grown lunch on the verandah.

Capertee Valley

We left Narooma on Sunday morning, with the view of making it to Abercrombie River NP by evening. After a stop at Surf Beach to catch up with my mum and dad and to wish mum a happy 91st birthday for next month we were back up the Clyde and on the road to Goulburn by early afternoon. 

The road through to Oberon is almost all sealed except for a few patches of bone shattering coregations. We reached our destination at Bummaroo Ford (camps no 430) around 4 o'clock and were lulled to sleep by the sounds of Powerful Owls calling down the valley.

Apart from a semi trailer roll over we had an in eventful drive through to Lithgow and on to Wallerawang

Where we stopped for a cuppa and to our delight found that the rest area loos also has hot showers, does it get any better?

Our next stop was the birding mecca of NSW the Capertee Valley. This beautiful valley is largest enclosed valley in the world and the home of the elusive Regent Honeyeater. We camped at Glen Davis (camps 381), a community run site. A great spot, run on the honesty box - donation. Our only neighbours were a couple of twitchers, looking to tick of the Honeyeater.

Posting this on the road north of Grafton it's raining so we have decided to leave the coast and find some fine weather.

Road trip planning

Mr P is back from his fishing trip to the coast and Dusty is in need of an overhaul inside and out before next setting of on our road trip, north to Queensland.

First things first, curtains and seat covers were stripped out and put in the wash, this was a long overdue chore.  We will need to go out to Fyshwick tomorrow to get the shower tent and pump. I think Anaconda will be out best bet for these. Monday it's new tyres and a trip to Bitch'n stitch' for the privacy screen for the Fiama awning.

We are hoping to get down to Narooma next Saturday for the school reunion and a catch up with friends before hitting the road north on Sunday. Our first stop will be the popular birding spot at Capertee Valley, driving up through Goulburn to Bathurst will also by pass Sydney.

Stay tuned for more reports.

Snowy Mountains Road trip - Canberra Day Long Weekend.

Like a lot of Canberrans we made the most of the 3 day weekend, to take a break from the city. The weather at the coast was predicted to be wet and windy, no better excuse was need to head the hills. We were on the road by 8am on Saturday morning and made a stop in Cooma, I love a good Tourist Information Centre. All those free maps and  the local bird list. Our destination was the thermal pool at Yarrongabilly Caves in the Kosciusko National Park, via Adaminaby and Kiandra.

I forgot to take the camera down with us, so this image is uploaded from the Internet. The pools are down a steep track from the car park, the walk takes about 15 minutes on the way down and was a bit of a trek back up taking us twice as long. We enjoyed the afternoon swimming in the 27 degree water, despite a couple of showers of rain. There is no camp site at the pools so we drove on to the site of old township of Yarrongabilly, to a great little camp site beside the river.

Although we saw lots of warning signs and poo on the road we didn't see any of the reported 7,500 brumbies running wild the the park.

The VW really went well and ate up the hills arriving at the camp in time to get the fire going before dark. We were relieved when this storm passed to the north, entertaining us over dinner with a lightening show.

The drive through the mountains to Tumut follows the side of the Blowering Reservior, most of the campsites along the way were patronised by water skiers, so we decided to continue on stopping for lunch at the 24 hour RV camp at Gundagui. This site is really interesting as it under Gundagui's beautiful old wooden  bridges, you can just make out the railway bridge in the background..

Sunday night was spent at the great camp at Jugiong Showground. This is a very clever move by the showground trust and the Harden Shire Council, to bring grey nomads into the area. Thus tapping those tourist dollars.

I had a great paddle up the Murrumbidgee River while Mr P peddled around the town. Our camp spot was beside the river complete with a camp fire. We were able to burn some more of our supply fence posts we carry in the Venter. 

We very happily made a donation for our nights stay.

Lakes Roadtrip - Paddling in Conjola National Park

Berringer Lake Conjola National Park

Although we had both done some research for our 3 day road trip to explore the lakes in the Milton, Ulladulla area, we really had no set plans. Best way to travel I think!

We had decided to take the road to the coast through Nerriga on Friday afternoon. Although mostly sealed there are very few opportunities to overtake. At one stage we had a convoy of 10, 4WD utes behind Dusty, we obligingly pulled over just outside Nerriga and had a chuckle when all 10 utes pulled into the Nerriga pub car park 2 klms down the road.

Friday night we free camped at a spot I had spied on an earlier trip near Bendalong, toilets, electric BBQ and a waterfront view. Good birding as well, I ticked 1 rufous fantail just near the toilet block (a first for me).  Saturday morning was overcast and drizzling rain so we decided to make the trip down the coast, to see if we could get access to Termeil Lake south of Ulladulla. Unfortunately the road into this part of the Meroo National park is 4WD only. We took the 2WD access road to Meroon Headland and spoke to some the fishermen camping they were pulling down their tents as the fish were not biting.

Time for someserious fishing,so we opted to pull into aptly named little hamlet of Fishermans Paradise for a paddle. This is a backwater of Lake Conjola, I had a great paddle in the falling light up the picturesque Porter Creek as far as the wooden bridge. The creek goes under the highway and is navigable up to the dam a trip for another day. The fishing back at the ramp was pretty ordinary, but was an ideal spot to spend the night.

Sunday we made for beautiful Berringer Lake, in Conjola National Park. This little lake is much quieter than the adjoining Lake Conjola. Unfortunately the mouth of the lake is very silted up and like most extuaries along the coast really need a goodtidal flow to improve the fishing. Mr P managed to bag a nice flathead and swag of tailer for dinner.

Overnight camp spot

Sea Eagle nest

Don't know the story behind this sink in the middle of nowhere

Fish were biting, trailer and flathead.