Sun, sea, and seafood in coastal NSW

We’d been travelling through south-eastern Victoria in Australia, enjoying its beaches, scenery and historic places. Then we crossed the border into New South Wales (NSW), and stopped in Eden, a pretty fishing village.

Leigh in her new jacket, Eden, NSW

We had a look around Eden’s historic township and lookout point, then visited its fishing port on Twofold Bay. Leigh found a jacket that she liked in the Marine Discovery Centre there, and as it was her birthday, we bought it.

Our next stop was the supermarket because we were out of food. We’d read that we couldn’t take certain fresh food items across the border into NSW, so the night before, we ate as much of our fresh food as possible. Driving into to Eden, we didn’t even realise we’d crossed the border – it was a total non-event. But we now needed fresh supplies!

View of beach from restaurant, Tathra, NSW

After that, we drove north along the aptly named “Sapphire Coast” of NSW, seeing some lovely golden sand beaches backed by beautiful blue sea. Arriving at stunning Tathra Beach, we looked for a nice picnic spot to have our lunch. But instead, we found a nondescript building on the beach-front that advertised meals.

We popped in, only to find it was a silver service restaurant. So we changed out of our shorts and singlets into something more appropriate, and had a fabulous seafood lunch with up-close views of the beach, to celebrate Leigh’s birthday. It was wonderful.

Cuttagee Lake and Wallaga Lake, NSW

Driving on after lunch, our route took us through the Mimosa Rocks National Park, and past beautiful Cuttagee Lake with its fingers of golden sand reaching into the water. Following that was Bermagui, a pretty harbour town with lovely beaches, then aptly named Horseshoe Bay, and then Lake Wallaga. So much water and sand and so many pretty vistas.

Leaving the Sapphire Coast, we headed inland and soon after, we arrived in the historic town of Tilba Tilba, then around the corner was equally historic Central Tilba.

Historic Dromedary Hotel, Tilba, NSW

We found a decent-sized parking spot outside Tilba’s old Dromedary Hotel, and had a walk around the small and quaint village.

Apart from its historic buildings, Tilba is known for its cheese. So, we wandered to the ABC Cheese Factory that began as a dairy in 1891, and sampled some of their award-winning cheeses. After making a cheese purchase, we also bought a rich and creamy ice-cream that we enjoyed while admiring Tilba’s architecture. Eventually, happy with our short time in Tilba, we returned to the van and continued on.

The bascule span bridge at Narooma, NSW

Our next stop was Narooma, a small coastal town (population around 3,000). Narooma is surrounded by beautiful beaches and waterways, and sports an interesting bridge. It is a bascule span bridge; the only working one in NSW. A bascule span bridge is one that opens to allow boat traffic through the bridge. However, this one doesn’t open very often so we only ever saw it closed.

We set up camp for a few days in Narooma, and went for several walks. One walk was around Narooma’s attractive Mill Bay Boardwalk, a coastal walkway around the Wagonga Inlet that took us to lovely Bar Beach. Along the walk we saw some huge stingrays that we were told, are frequent visitors to the area.

Fresh oysters and prawns for lunch at Narooma, NSW

Narooma is known for its seafood, particularly its oysters. So after our walk, we stopped quayside and bought some fresh oysters and also prawns for lunch, that we enjoyed with bread from the local bakery, and some local wine. Yummo!

The next day, we went for a longer walk which took us up through the township and over to the western side of the Wagonga Inlet to the marina at Forsters Bay. It was an interesting walk through the town, past an historic church, and beside mangroves, with great sea-views from the hills along the way.

Mum plover and chick, Narooma camp, N SW

We shared our campsite in Narooma, with a couple of plovers who produced a chick while we were there. They were very cute and entertaining.

We also shared our Narooma campsite with some very strong winds that had popped up overnight. They were gusting to around 50 km per hour, and coming overland from the west. It wasn’t cold, but it made it uncomfortable in the van as it rocked around in the wind.

By the time we left Narooma, it was really blowing, and there were gale-force wind warnings for coastal areas. But, we carried on, driving north, hoping the extreme winds would die down.

Fantastic coastal views and unusual lighthouse, Guerilla Bay, NSW

On the way, we stopped at the tiny community of Guerilla Bay to see its lighthouse. After winding our way through many narrow and sandy streets, we found a place to park and walked up to the lighthouse. It was a steep walk with platforms for whale watching and sea viewing along the way. At the top, the lighthouse proved to be quite a modern but interesting structure, and the views were stunning.

Back in the van and still following the coast north, we saw more beautiful beaches, and small beach communities such as those in Malue, Cosseys, and Batemans Bay. It was a very pretty drive, but the winds were worsening, making the drive tricky.

The beautiful Jervis Bay at Huskisson, NSW

Our next overnight stop was in Jervis Bay, which is supposed to have some of Australia’s most beautiful white-sand beaches. We based ourselves in the town of Huskisson, in the central part of the Bay.

It was a beautiful stop and we thought we’d stay a while. However, that night, the wind really got up. It was officially classified as gale force by this time, with the wind still sweeping from the west. That night, the van rocked and rolled sickeningly. Most unpleasant.

We moved on the next day, seeking a sheltered campsite.

The historic lighthouse at Kiama, NSW

After a very long and windy drive north, we paused at Kiama, a coastal town of around 7,600 people in the Illawarra region of NSW. Our first stop was its lighthouse. Built in 1887, it is located high on Blowhole Point, and looms over the man-made Kiama Harbour at 36.5 metres above sea level.

After that, we drove through Kiama township which proved to be a pleasant surprise, as we spotted many lovely historic buildings dating back to the mid-1800’s.

But Kiama's main claim-to-fame is its famous blowhole, the largest in the world.

The non-blowing blowhole at Kiama and geological formations at Bombo, NSW

There is a 2.5 metre opening in the rough rock-face fronting the Tasman Sea at Kiama. It spurts sea-water to an amazingly high 30 metres or so as the waves hit it. Unfortunately for us, the strong westerly winds blew the waves away from the coast, so there was no water to spurt!

Then we drove a little further up the road to Bombo Headland to visit a geological site that consists of unusual basalt columns.

It was incredibly windy walking to the site. Gusts of 102km/h were recorded in Kiama and Bombo that day according to the local news. Then we heard that the high winds that were plaguing this part of the coast, had died down further north.

The beautiful beach at Shellharbour, NSW

So, we cut our time in Kiama short and continued north, stopping for the night at the coastal village of Shellharbour just to get off the road. We found a beachside campsite that was slightly sheltered from the winds, then went for a walk along the beautiful beach.

But getting out and about in the high winds was really unpleasant, so we didn’t stay out long. Instead, we hunkered down, bracing for a rocky night.

Unusual rock formations at Shellharbour, NSW

Before returning to the van though, we found an unusual rock formation along Shellharbour beach. It reminded us of a similar pattern we’d seen along the Atlantic Way on the west coast of Ireland, called The Burren, which has been shaped by thousands of years of erosion.

By this time, it was so windy that we decided not to go to our next destination, which was west, up into the mountains. Somehow, driving into the mountains in gale-force winds did not seem appealing, so we decided to stay on the coast, and to keep travelling north. But that story is in our next blog.

This is part of a wider blog on our travels around south-eastern Australia, that began in Melbourne, Victoria.