Merimbula to Sydney

---

Merimbula to Sydney
We awoke to sunshine and ate our breakfast outside looking at the lake. We were joined by a few sparrows and a beautiful white cockatoo, saying goodbye to Bruce who was managing Pelicans he showed us the scenic way to go and told us of a few spots we might like to stop at on our way to Sydney. We started out on this coastal route which meandered around woodland and hills, truly very pretty. In 30 minutes we had arrived in Tathra and walked around the memorial Park. From here you can see the sea all around and the Wharf a historic old whaling station now a cafe and art gallery. From here we went in to town for coffee, a real family destination with a fun fair, skate park and children's playground all next to the sand dunes bordering the sea. People were in surfing and swimming cared for by the lifeguards. We continued on along this stunning coastline. The countryside at times was hilly and farmed or we were immersed in forests of extremely tall trees many of which were eucalypts, and mostly there was this sapphire blue sea on our right. Carrying on up the coast this road should have been called lake road. It seemed the road went over many lakes all a beautiful colour and with sandy beaches. We stopped at Cuttagee and chatted to an English couple who had moved here in '88 from Nottingham and they obviously loved it, said that it was snowing back home so he obviously still keeps in touch. We arrived at the small town of Tilba Tilba another historic village which put us in the mind of Hahndorf . It was mostly made of wooden buildings very colonial and the shops were selling candles and goods of ethnic origins! Jumpers from South America, jewellery, carvings and there was a cheese factory. The vintage cheddar was one of the best we have tasted.There were so many places along this route that were very attractive and we hadn't gone very far in the 3 hours of travelling. We continued on the tourist route to Batemans Bay and stopped at Malua Bay for lunch at about 2. It was too windy to consider going in the sea so we travelled on a bit further to Surfside where we rested and Steve had to go for a swim. Steve dried off then we set off again, the road now went through an industrial area which wasn't particularly attractive. Eventually we arrived at Kiama and we were so hungry. There was a fish shop right at the end near the blow holes so after phoning Harry and Lea we stopped and ate the most delicious fish. We went to look at the blow holes but the tide wasn't in enough so we continued on the fast road to Sydney. Following sat nav we got to within a few feet of where Harry and Lea lived and by this time it was about 9.30 so we were exhausted however seeing them gave us a boost and we chatted about our journey and eventually went to bed about 11.30

---