1/20/06
Sapphire Coast

We left Canberra for the coast. It was raining, so we spent the night in Narooma, a small coastal village on the Pacific Ocean. The coast here was rocky with low mountains that reached for the coast. The first town we saw on the coast was Bateman’s Bay, a large tourist town that we found too crowded. The rain had forced many holiday seekers into the shops in town, making for a lot of bustle. He headed further south to Narooma.

Sandstone was the dominant geographical feature in this area (and perhaps all of Australia), and I loved the way it was eroded away by the surf here in Narooma.

Another feature I found on the beach was the Blue Bottle Jelly fish. It’s not as lethal as the Australian Box Jellyfish, but its stingers can be pretty painful. It’s a good thing it was raining and too cold for swimming, because all Ellie wanted to do was get in the surf.

After a night in a cheap motel ($55US), we headed south past Bega. This town was a little inland on the Great Coastal Highway situated in the rolling hills and farmland.

We ended up in a small fishing village called Eden. There was a beautiful deserted beach with a campground at one end of it. With the short walk to the beach, we decided to give it a shot.

Eden had a protected harbor where the fishing fleet docks. It has become a popular destination for whale watchers to hire boat to see the whales migrate during the spring. You can also see it has become a stop for cruise ships passengers for an afternoon ashore.

We stayed at our first caravan park in Australia. They are popular with Australian families on holiday, and are pretty economical. They are self contained units with a kitchenette and bathroom.

Our one room unit had a full size bed with bunk beds for three. We came one day early and paid the holiday rate of $75USD for the night, but this rate went down to $50 USD the next day. With Australian kids about to return to school at the end of the month, rates should fall as we travel towards Melbourne.

We found these accomodations pretty nice when compared to car camping. The beach was right across the road, and we could hear the surf when we slept.

Previous Restoration Day
Next Restoration Day
Home page