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Published: November 7th 2008
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Hello all - we've covered a few miles since Canberra. We decided to go to the South Coast after all, since we still have plenty of time. So zipped down the range to Bateman's Bay for a couple of nights, then further south to Merimbula for a few nights. All that area down there is SOOOOO very pretty (even if still a little chilly and the rain is STILL following us!). Anyway, from Bateman's Bay we did a day-trip south to Moruya and a day-trip north to Pebbly Beach and inspected several beaches all around. At Pebbly Beach we encountered some very tame rosellas and king parrots that ate bread from your hand! and the locals told us that it is the only place in Australia where the kangaroos actually go into the sea - swimming !!!! I remember going on holidays 'down South' as a child to places like Pebbly Beach, Pretty Beach, Durris Lakes, Moruya etc etc
When we left Bateman's Bay we passed Moruya and Narooma, then Bega (where of course we visited the famous Bega Cheese Factory) and into Merimbula. This is the pick lof the places down there - just gorgeous. From there we did
a day-trip to Eden etc. Eden, you may know, was THE place for whaling many decades ago - now it is a haven for their preservation and a big tourist attraction. We visited the Killer Whale museum and the views from along the cliff faces there are simply magnificent!!!
Melbourne Cup day was spent at a luncheon at the local Merimbula Bowls Club and a very enjoyable day was had by all. Beautiful buffet lunch, fashion parade, 2 free galsses of champers and Garry won $55 for first place in the sweep!!!
For those of you who don't know - Merimbula is like THE capital of Australia for oysters so we gorged ourselved stupid on them for the whole 4 days we were there!!! Went on an oyster 'tour' and learned all about how they grow and the work required - it's extremely labour-intensive. The 'Sydney Rock Oyster' is now actually cultivated from Victoria to Hervey Bay and there ARE ways of telling wether you've been served a Sydney Rock Oyster or a Pacific Oyster. Pacific oysters are inferior in quality and taste and are usually harvested at about 2 yrs old so the customer/diner thinks they're getting
Broulee Beach
Very secluded and protected little beach between Bateman's Bay and Moruya - would be just perfect for snorkelling. Unfortunately it was too chilly and windy for swimming Sydney Rock Oysters. The latter are not harvested until they're about 4-5 yrs old and much better-tasting. It was a very informative tour and then we sampled natural and cooked oysters.
Merimbula also has an abundance of prawns - so seafood in general was on the menu for 4 days...... natural oysters, kilpatrick oysters, rockafeller oysters, mornay oysters, garlic prawns, curried prawns, prawn sangers, prawn cocktails etc etc etc.
On the Wednesday we went whale-watching and saw about 12 whales. So very gentle and quiet and awesome. Unfortunately they didn't 'put on a show' for us - no splashing around/breaching/fin slapping etc. But I did see a couple of them doing that from the cliff-face at our caravan park at Short Point. Getting 'out to sea' was a mission in itself as the boat had to negotiate the Merimbula Bar. The channel from the port/river is extremely narrow and not very deep at low tide and then you have to leave the river channel and enter the ocean, over The Bar and the ocean waves and then 'out to sea'. Coming back was even more tricky as there are a couple of reefs out near the entrance that
set up quite a swell and the boat has to avoid them OR ride them back over The Bar. Quite a tricky piece of seamanship and manouvred very adroitly by our skipper!!
After leaving this fantastic coastline we headed back up the range enroute to Tumut. Tumut is the guts (you might say) of the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme, which actually comprises about 5 or 6 power plants and supplies about 85% of the power needed to the east coat. We paid a visit to Cabramurra - which is the highest town in Australia. It is owned by the government and only people who work at the power plant live there - and a couple of teachers, nurses etc etc. The rooves of the houses there have a VERY severe slope on them to allow for the slide-off of snow!!! Coming from the Far North Qld tropics, it's quite funny to see street signs saying things like "Slippery when icy", Take care in snow", "Snow plouhgs at work" etc!!!!! From Tumut, we continued on to Gundagai and visited the 'Dog On The Tuckerbox'. I'm reminded of the song we learnt as kids "There's a track leading back to an
old-fashioned shack along the road to Gundagai......" - although Garry has a somewhat bawdier version !!!!! There is also a marble masterpiece here. Apparently this Italian migrant built it from all-Australian marble - it's a miniature cathedral. It took him something like 21yrs to complete and it has something like 19,000 pieces in it !!! He waqs also one of the original stone-masons who built the marble altar at St Clair's Cathedral in France and he built a miniature replica of it in marble, which is here also.
We're now in Wagga Wagga (which is aboriginal for crows) and I'll have that instalment next time. Don't forget - get onto my facebook page to see LOTS more photos. Wish you were all here (miss you all) but SOOOOOO happy I'm not there !!!!!!!!!!! TTFN Gaz n Jools
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Janice & Mick
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I see you are still staying up late
Hello Friends, Just like to say how much I look forward to reading about your travels and the photos are just wonderful. Safe travels XXXXX