Corroboree West South Coast NSW
After an informal dinner we set off early to bed to prepare for our next adventure – sea kayaking! I’ve kayaked before and I know it can be hard work, so I was very pleased to see that we were in two-seat kayaks. Getting into the spray skirt at 6am was entertaining, but once we were all paired up and fitted into our kayaks, we were off with the RegionX lads leading the way. As we were of mixed ability, we took it gently and arrived at our deserted beach feeling we’d earned our breakfast. I was a bit disappointed that we weren’t firing up the barbeque, but we had a lovely breakfast all the same and a short break to prepare for the next half of the paddle. What none of us expected was to be joined in the water by Southern Right mother and calf whales for around 10 minutes and before we knew it, we were pulling the kayaks back onto the next beach feeling on top of the world – and it was still only about 9.30!
After a quick change back at the hotel we made ourselves look respectable for out next treat – a visit to an oyster farm. Now I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the Oyster Shed was exactly that – a pretty shed on the docks. The oysters were absolutely amazing and I’m now a convert after tasting them and hearing how they’re farmed. Next stop – Bodalla, a historic town where wonderful cheese is still made on several of the town premises. We were heading for lunch at Bodalla Cheese Factory & Dairy Shed. This is a step back in time with a retro jukebox and the most wonderful ice cream and milkshakes or wine tasting with a cheese plate for the adults. A real family friendly place where everyone’s welcome and you can bottle feed the calves and goats and get up close and personal with alpacas.
After a relaxing lunch we were off again to walk it all off at Narooma. We met the National Parks and Wildlife Services for a guided tour of Glasshouse Rocks. This rock formation on the Eurobodalla coast is recognised by the Geological Society of Australia as dating between 510 and 440 million years old. It’s still a fairly well-kept secret as the pathway down to the beach is reached through a cemetery, it isn’t signposted and there are quite a few tracks that lead you round in circles rather than down to the 700m long beach, so our guide made it much easier.
Our last day on the Sapphire Coast took us to Tilba. With Mount Gulaga never far away we visited the Apma Aboriginal Arts centre where works from Yuin and Ngarigo artists were on display. A very small frontage hides an Aladdin’s cave of paintings, jewellery, artefacts, books, crafts, prints, sculptures and weaving and Apma is a fascinating lady who was happy to explain the inspiration for some of the pieces. The rest of the town is designated as a National Trust Village and it was a delightful way to spend a couple of hours.
On our way again we stopped at the Blue Pool Historic sea-bath at Bermagui and heard about the exploits of Billy Connolly when they filmed ‘The Man who Sued God’ in town. We didn’t have time to stop but the film was shot almost 20 years ago, and the town still retains much of its charm.
The one thing that got cancelled in our itinerary was the promised whale watching boat trip. From mid-August to the end of November humpback whales can be seen on their migration route. We managed to spot them from shore in the distance, but we had to make do with a visit to the Eden Killer Whale Museum instead. This is housed in a cute lighthouse and was actually very interesting. I’ll keep the secret but if you’re ever around that way it’s somewhere else that’s worth a couple of hours of your time.
Keeping the sea theme going, we had a private visit with dinner at the Marimbula Aquarium and Wharf Restaurant whilst being entertained by one of the local boat captains.
Next morning, we were up and away early again on the 0630 flight to Sydney. We had a walking tour around Paddington, breakfast at Micky’s, a site inspection and a whistle stop tour around Sydney before setting off to the airport for our flight home at 2pm. Our thanks to Tourism Australia, Destination Gold Coast, Tourism Queensland, Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines for making it an amazing trip.