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.

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.

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.

Australia Day Long Weekend Road Trip

Australia Day marks the end of the Christmas holiday season on the South Coast of NSW. This now means that all our favourite weekend haunts are not so busy. After an afternoon fish at Preddys Wharf at Moruya we drove down to Potato Point and parked at our favourite picnic area and toilet block. We didn't want to attempt the road in the the National Park during the storm and in the dark. Dusty does not have great  undercarriage clearance, the low hanging water tank takes a bit of a pizzling on dirt tracks. After a top up with water and and a dash to the loo we set off to find the spot Mr P had located a few weeks earlier. This area is a maze of tracks and after a couple of wrong turns we found the spot in time for breakfast on the lake and what a view.

Saturday morning paddle to Borang Lake

I had hoped to photograph the 2 Little Eagles that I had spotted last weekend, so loaded the camera and tripod and set off after breakfast. Given the windy conditions, this was going to be a challenge. Midway down the creek past Horse Island the wind picked up from the south, I made good time with the tide in my favour reaching Borang in 1 hour and fifteen minutes. The paddle back was fine until I was  back in the open lake. My little boat had taken in quite a bit of water by the time I reached camp on the southern side of the lake. Round trip time 4.5 hours of paddling, I was shagged and no Little Eagles.

Sunday Morning and the north easterly was up early again, so we decided  to drive over to Coopers Island and explore that part of the river system. We have often given these bucolic dairy farming areas a wide berth because of the flies, but with the breeze today they weren't too bad. It was a beautiful paddle downstream in to Trunkatebella Lake and upstream towards Tuross.

We decided to explore the camping possibilities along the river near the bridge on the drive south to Bodalla. Given that it was Australia Day proper, there were lots of Aussies, water skiing, jet skiing and sitting in plastic wading pools eating sausage sangers  so we opted for a quiet spot down stream of the bridge. We had the area to ourselves, probably because this part of the river does not have deep water access. A great spot for some more fishing and exploring of the river.

Fishing and birding

The windy conditions didn't help, but we managed to eat fish each day with a nice bream to bring home. On the birding front I spotted 45 species, with this one seen on the shore of the lake closer to the beach, I think it's a Black Fronted Dotterall and other suggestions?

Tuross River kayak trip

My hectic work schedule and the thermometer hitting 40 for the last 3 days, had me feling rattey and  in much need of an escape to the coast. Mr P had discovered some excellent kayaking spots along the Tuross River on his last 2 solo trips and was keen to show off the fishing and bird life in the area.

We arrived in the early Thursday afternoon, I was still not sparking on all cylinders and decided to veg out and tackle a longer paddle around Horse Iisland after a good nights sleep. This is such a pristine waterway.

Friday morning and I set off in a thick fog for a paddle around Horse Island, I always feel a bit nervous paddling with my camera gear, even in dry bags. My lenses are great only if you get up reasonably close to the subject. This Willy Wagtail was very obliging and didn't seem to mind me hanging around it's nest trying to get a good shot.

The paddle around Horse Island (named, we think because it is shaped like a horse) takes around 1 hour not counting stops for birding, I managed it in about 2 hours. I was battling the tide and a strong north easterly breeze on my way back to the camp site.

Sunday morning we were both on the water by 7am, Mr P off to his fishing spot and I went further down river to Borang Island. I never knew that this lake existed, lots of birds in this quiet backwater surrounded by now defunct dairy farms. The trip  took around 2 and a half hours, in that time the fisherman had been busy, wcatching this stud 70cm flathead. 

Our first roadtrip for Summer

Destination Preddys Wharf.

An early start meant that I was able to get away from work by 3pm. The Friday afternoon traffic down the Clyde was orderly, probably the increased police presence helped. A wet road, down a mountain needs  a bit of respect.  At least 3 drivers were having a bad start to their weekend.

A stop in Moruya, for bait and a wood fired pizza, at a new place I had spotted on a previous trip. We opted for the Moruya River, great choice, just the right amount of anchovies. It was raining by the time we arrived at Preddys Wharf. So beer and pizza and wait for the rain to stop, in my case in bed early with my book.

Fish for lunch and diner, was the challenge and Mr P came up trumps. Shovel nose shark fillets and a nice pan size bream. Saturday morning and not a breath of wind, perfect  glassy conditions for my paddle up the Moruya River to the heads. Of note was a flock of 30 Little Terns, perched on the rocks. 

After a trip to the Moruya markets and a stop in Broulee for the SMH, we headed to Tomakin, by now the sun was shining and we launched the kayaks and paddled up the Tomakin River. Mr P dropped a very nice bream, bigger than the earlier catch. I obligingly paddled back and collected the landing net from Dusty.

We decided to camp the night at Windsock Beach and try the beach for some salmon. No visible gutters along the beach and a large school of dolphins meant that the beach was not going to be fishing today. Fortunately there is always birding.

Dusky Wood Swallow

Noisy Friar Birds

Narooma, swimming, fishing and wooden boats

No work Friday, meant that we headed to the coast early. Mr P took Dusty down  the mountain on Thursday and I hitched a lift with No1 daughter and No1 grandchild on early Friday morning. We made for Batemans Bay, we had a date with family to make our Christmas puddings.

Puddings made and Mr P arrived showing off his fishing spoils from the previous night. We hit the road south at around 2 o'clock for a night of fishing up the river. No joy on the fishing front, it was a perfect night though for dinner around the fire and a bottle of red.  Saturday dawned and I set off for an early morning paddle, at that magic time when the mist  rises off the water, before the breeze comes up. P kept up with the fishing, but apart from being bitten off by a stingwray it was pretty uneventful.

Nice flathead

After a clean up of rubbish from  around the camp site we headed into Narooma for the Wooden Boat Afloat at Fosters Bay. It was a picture perfect day for snappers, Narooma has the most amazing blue water and you need a just the right light to show it off.

Fosters Bay has some really cute boat sheds. After a wander through the sheds set up as art galleries and some lunch we drove over to Bar Beach, to do what everyone does at Bar, sit and chat with mates, swim and more chatting. Fortunately we made the most of the glorious weather before the Southerly hit on Sunday mid morning.