Entering our 4th (counting WA) state and 1st territory of our trip, we crossed the Vic/NSW border on the Princes Hwy today, aiming for our campsite at Merimbula Lake Holiday Park.
Jules found a “stay 4 nights, pay for 3″ deal and we’re glad she did as it’s a good park with nice views over the lake, outside the hustle of town, but only a short drive to Merimbula and Pambula.
En route from our previous stop at Mallacoota, we took our time and drove in to view Green Cape, including the Lighthouse and Pulpit Rock, Boyds Tower, and finally stopping for a toastie and coffee in Eden.
There was a very strong, and cold, wind blowing at Green Cape which made some of the ocean views pretty epic, but also meant we were hurrying for the warmth of the car again. Pulpit Rock was a bit more sheltered and provided some great views, however, there was a bloke there with a couple of youngish kids fishing off the rocks, and both Jules and I felt uncomfortable with how close they were to the edge, and the large swell and crashing waves coming through. Not wanting to witness a rock fishing incident, we moved on to Boyds Tower.
Boyds Tower, built in 1847 by Benjamin Boyd, he intended it to be used as a lighthouse by night and a whale spotting tower, for the burgeoning whale hunting business, by day. However, the government of the day never granted his lighthouse license and the tower was not fully completed, but it still stands proud today at the entry to Twofold Bay.
Being Sunday, with a nice sunny day forecast, we spent our first (of three) days on the South Coast exploring Pambula and Merimbula. 1st stop was the Pambula Rotary Markets where we met the young designer of some cool surf wear, with me buying a t-shirt and Jules buying a hoodie. It was then off to breakfast somewhere, and with nothing open in Pambula, we ended up at the Waterfront Cafe in Merimbula, where we stupidly bought a Big Breakfast each. Neither of us could finish our brekkies, but as it was 10:30 by this stage it ended up being our lunch and meant we only needed some toast for dinner that night. We then explored the beaches and river mouth around Merimbula, liking what we saw, but agreeing that it’d be packed in Summer with holidayers.
We explored North today. On the advice of the helpful lady at the Merimbula Visitors Centre, we drove up the coast, taking in Tathra, Bermagui and Central Tilba, before looping back via the Princes Hwy through Cobargo and Bega.
The day started full of promise, with plenty of sun and light winds, which made the ocean drive lovely. Tathra is a nice little town, with a lovely memorial park on the point, but it seemed most of the people and businesses are based down the hill, away from the main strip, along the beachfront.
We were advised that the main attraction at Bermagui was the “Blue Pool” which is an ocean-fed swimming pool at the base of some steps. There was a fair swell running today which meant the pool was a bit choppy, but we could imagine it’d be chockas in summer. The town itself seemed nice, but the ocean coastline and Bermagui River inlet definitely seemed to be the key locations.
Our last stop heading north was Central Tilba which was the key recommendation from the lady at the visitors centre, and we’re glad she gave it as we’d not heard of Tilba, and we were unlikely to have unearthed and visited this spot otherwise. There are actually two town sites here, Tilba Tilba and Central Tilba, both are nice, but Central Tilba is great, with the tiny and tight main street adorned with old heritage-listed buildings which are now shops for various arts, goods (think candles, yak clothing, leather) and food, the key foodie spot being the Tilba Real Dairy from which we bought some amazing cheese.
Our Tilba favourite, however, was Sweetwater, a really quirky small bar, come coffee shop, come music shop. Walking in we first noticed the bloke managing the bar who at first glance looks a bit intimidating as he looks like he’s stepped off the set of the TV show “Sons of Anarchy.” However, he was really engaging and welcoming and we knew we had to stop and enjoy something in the shop. The ‘something’ turned out to be a cheeky lunchtime cocktail. Jules had a Long Suffering Bastard and I had one of my favs, a Whisky Sour. Both cocktails were delicious, really well made and balanced, and we enjoyed talking to the couple who ran the place as we sipped our drinks and heard about the horrific fires that luckily circled, but missed, the town in 2019. Cobargo, just down the road wasn’t as lucky and a good portion of Cobargo was lost to the fires and is still being rebuilt today.
Finishing up the day, we headed south again, driving through Cobargo and stopping at Bega. The obvious question now is: what came first, the cheese-making company called Bega – or – the town called Bega, in which the cheese-making company established its business?
Well according to my detailed research (a quick Google), when the Imlay Brothers, some of the earliest settlers in the district, arrived in 1839 they established a property that they named Biggah which is thought to be a Yuin word meaning either “big camping ground” or “beautiful”. A few years later the spelling was changed to Bega.
So there you go, the town, or at least the area, came first, then the origins of the Bega company were formed in 1899 through a butter factory, which changed its name to Bega in 1944 and began making cheese in 1954.
So with all the history out of the way, how was our visit to the Bega Cheese Heritage Centre? Let’s politely say it was disappointing and underwhelming.
Apparently, they stopped running public tours of the cheese factory during COVID (makes sense) and have never re-started them. The heritage centre out the back of the factory has a floor of old cheese and butter-making instruments which is ok, but seems somewhat thrown together in a space with little thought to making it informative or engaging. Downstairs, there’s a fridge where you can buy maybe five different cheeses, most of which were common Bega brands you could buy at Woolies!! The only upside of our visit was by happenstance we visited on Bega’s 125th birthday and they were giving away free Cheese Toasties all day. Bonus! So Jules and I asked for a toastie from the very dispirited teenage serving girls and then were further disappointed at the mehness of the toastie. Being free, we weren’t expecting the world’s best toastie or anything, but they were barely passable as a toastie. So with the poor Bega cheese factory experience at the front of mind, we were then further meh’d by the Bega townsite itself. The heavy clouds and the start of rain probably contributed significantly to our mood, but we couldn’t find the energy to get enthused about what we saw in town.
Shit happens and plans change…
It was another night of steady rain last night and poor old Goldy developed a leak. It happens when you get older…
It was just a drip, but it was a steady and frequent drip that required action. The immediate fix was to jack the van up as high as possible at the front so the rain would run off the roof as quickly as possible, rather than pooling anywhere. Then this morning (Tues 16/7), we bought a tarp and tied it over the roof to stop any further rain from getting through. I then spent the rest of the day on the phone, speaking to our insurance company and caravan repairers in Canberra as we’re heading that way tomorrow. It’s highly unlikely we’ll be able to get any real fix applied in the near future so it’s looking like our best option is to continue our trip, chucking the tarp (aka “the condom”) on whenever there’s a chance of rain, and then get it fixed when we’re back in Perth.
It could be worse though. It was just a light drip in the middle of the van which was easily caught in a bucket. It wasn’t over the bed or any other sensitive area. We’re more disappointed that the tarp makes Goldy look broken, which she is, I suppose. We’ve taken Goldy to some amazing and rough locations, including Cape York, so a little wear and tear is to be expected. She’s served us very faithfully and hopefully, we’ll get her fixed up soon enough so she can continue camping with us for years to come.
The drive from Merimbula through to Canberra was pretty epic. Taking the route up through Candelo we passed through lovely rolling farmland, before having to climb up Mt Brown. As we approached Mt Brown there was a road warning sign stating “Steep Climb, next 10km”, and it wasn’t wrong. The drive up though was lovely, through alpine bushland, before hitting the flatter and brown grass farmlands atop the range. It was a chilly 12 degrees as we left Merimbula, but it had dropped to 4 degrees as we pulled into Cooma where we stopped for a quick coffee and cake. Then it was off to Canberra, camping for the next 3days out at the Epic Exhibition Campgrounds.
Day 1 in Canberra was spent on foot, revisiting our favourite haunts from when we lived here in 2019, before catching up with friends Kat and Steve for dinner.
On our 2nd day, we walked from Civic, over to the National Art Gallery and spent a few hours wandering through there, enjoying some of the art and wondering how other art could be classified as such. One of the more interesting pieces was Jordan Wolfson’s “Body Sculpture” robotics piece. It was very cleverly done and I enjoyed it, Jules was far less impressed though. Then it was out to dinner again with other great friends, Ange and Burgo for a night of laughs and reminiscing about the good old days of transition.
It was very cold, very wet and very windy for our 3rd and last day in Canberra. But we managed to time our run through the showers and walk through the farmers market at the showgrounds, before driving into Kingston where we re-explored the Glassworks, and sat for over an hour in the viewing area of the hot-shop, watching various glass artists do their thing.
So that wraps up another post and leg of our trip. We’re heading West again tomorrow, making for the Flinders Ranges, then turning North for Darwin.