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.