Eastward to Sydney
Summer is coming. We are heading to Sydney via the coast, with another workout for Bruce the Camper Car.
East Gippsland
This trip is a mixture of familiar and new places. We stopped for the night at the Kilmany Estate, a B&B with a very interesting history. It’s a wonderful old building, built in the style of a manor house by the son of a Scottish settler (aka invader), high ceilings, timber stairs, antique furniture throughout, but discreetly renovated with all the required comforts. Narelle was an excellent host, but she could have exercised more control over the other guests – Liz (not her real name) from Bendigo (not her real home) was one of the most obnoxious people I’ve ever met, and a reminder about the pitfalls of B&Bs where if one is to have the breakfast on offer, one must run the gauntlet of gregarious guests at the other end of the dining table.
Kilmany Estate was once the Kilmany Presbyterian Boys Home. While detail is scant, we see that CLAN has a pretty clear idea about what an awful place this was for many of the young boys brought here over several years, ostensibly to teach them farming skills and give them the opportunity for a better start to life than they might otherwise have had as the illegitimate offspring of wayward gals.
So first, this was the site of uninvited incursion into aboriginal lands and who knows what atrocities against the Gunnaikurnai people, then later it became a place of torture for hapless youth.
We checked out the site of the confluence of the Thomson and Latrobe rivers, both in serious flood. A spectacular spot, with the added bonus of an amazing old swing bridge. This is an engineering marvel, designed and constructed by John Grainger, the father of Percy Grainger! Built between 1880-83. It was part of the early occupation of the local area, providing the local farmer settlers a means of transport of people and goods before there were so many roads, as part of an extensive water-based transport system on the Gippsland lakes.
Heading further east, we decided to check out Cape Conran and the mouth of the Snowy River at Marlo. The road from Orbost to Marlo was closed because the Snowy was in flood – a spectacular sight – so we had to take the long way round via Cabbage Tree Creek. The campground at Cape Conran looked excellent, something to keep in mind for later. The Snowy mouth at Marlo also worth a look. And there is a fairly new honey business in Marlo – excellent honey, we bought a large container of ‘iron bark’ honey.
Our destination for night 2 was the Wingan Inlet campground. About 35km of fairly rough dirt road in, the instructions say 4WD only, but it wasn’t that bad. Evidence of the terrible fires 18 months ago was everywhere. Devastation, but the amazing regrowth was good to see. The campground is well set out, with space and vegetation between sites. Lovely view of the inlet from our camp site, and many gorgeous birds keeping us company. There was a surprising number of other campers here, for mid-week non-holiday period. It’s a fair hike to the beach, but close to a launching point for small boats for keen anglers and plenty of nice fish available. Also oysters I was told. The walk to the beach and the inlet was through scrubby woodland, and on raised walkways over the swampy bits. The inlet reminded us of the Nelson lagoon, you could ride the current down to where it meets the sea. Very beautiful, and a couple of pairs of what we think were hooded plovers skitting around. Back at camp, two very large lace monitors moseyed by. They love eggs, but we kept ours well guarded. Gas cookers only on the camp sites, but there were several fire pits meant for communal use.
Around the corner
The next destination was an old camping stamping ground, Picnic Point campground in Mimosa Rocks NP, between Tathra and Bermagui. We first came here to visit friends Angela and Tony who were camping, when Louis was just a few weeks old. We came again to camp the following year, then most summers for the next 20 plus years. It’s the perfect camping spot, with surf beach right next to the campground, as well as a slightly more sheltered beach on the lee side of the point. Also a 20 minute walk from Lake Wapengo, which is completely sheltered and excellent for safe water play, very good fishing, canoeing, and oyster farming. We are more in to oyster eating, so it’s perfect really.
Nowadays you have to book sites in advance. It’s much more organised than on our previous visits, but still very good. About 20km from Tathra, and the road is now sealed all the way. No phone connection, so we stopped in Eden to FaceTime with the Little People. Manny was not really in the mood, but we did have a nice chat with Louis. Camille was off with Julia on a photo shoot in preparation for the forthcoming inaugural dancing event, for which we will be terminating this trip for rapid return to Melbourne.
After setting up camp we had a quick dip. The water is nowhere near as cold as at Aireys, and the sun was shining. Heaven. As we cooked dinner, the neighbouring campers had a visit from a lovely little wallaby. It picked up a fork from their washing up dish and gave it a thorough licking. We noticed a very large wombat hole nearby too. And a large grey kangaroo wandered past. Also, what I think was a long-nosed potoroo checked out the food scraps in an old fire pit next to our camp. The wildlife promises to be good entertainment.
I take my hat off to the research expertise of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. They have discovered the thinnest paper that can be rolled around a cardboard cylinder and remain intact for extended periods. They provide this for use as toilet paper in the drop toilets. Brilliant.
This place carries many memories for us. For our kids it was their childhood holiday spot. Josie still regards it as a second home, and stops in here at every opportunity on her way south to visit Melbourne or north back home. We brought quite a few friends here over the years, as did the kids. And Harriet spent her last night on earth here. We were in the surf when we spotted two police officers who had come to inform us that she had been involved in a disastrous head-on collision on the Brown Mountain road on her way back to Canberra.
We have just returned from my favourite walk, a loop through the bush leading to the north end of the surf beach, and back along the beach. On the beach was a pied oyster catcher, and a large wallaby. Add to that wandering about or above the camp more Lace Monitors, a huge Sea Eagle, a pair of dark coloured wallabies for whom this is obviously home, and heaps of small birds – wattle birds, blue wrens, honey-eaters. Sunday saw a big clear-out of campers, with only three other groups staying on. Perhaps they didn’t like my sax playing.
Durras and on
The road north from Wapengo is now sealed all the way to Bermagui, where we stopped off to buy some excellent bread at a baker called ‘Honorbread’. Excellent sourdough, and other delights. After Bermagui, there were many spots on the road suffering the effects of recent rains, the camper car was not happy with the potholes and bumps. A stop-off for a picnic lunch at another childhood haunt of one who cannot be named, North Durras. A little cottage that was owned by her favourite Uncle Jim and Auntie Phyl, it’s now in a shocking state of disrepair. Ready for demolition and a rebuild as so many of the neighbours have done. We’d do it if it wasn’t quite as far away. Perfect get-away spot for anyone in Canberra. We caught the tidal run-out at the mouth of Lake Durras, then had a surf. The water was a beautiful temperature, at least for Victorians.
Further north for an evening with the best childhood cousin mate of she who can’t be named, the youngest son of the aforesaid Uncle Jim. Then once in Sydney we caught up with Tillie, daughter of the aforementioned Harriet. She is now a successful painter, with two sons to her credit. Lovely to see such a strong, engaged young woman.
The main event in Sydney was a session with a team of researchers from Macquarie University who have been investigating aspects of Machado-Joseph disease. Absolutely amazing work they are doing, taking advantage of the similarities between the human genome and that of Zebra Fish. Imagine that! A team of brilliant young researchers are discovering heaps about what happens at a genetic level, and what can delay or even reverse some of the effects of this disease. We can’t wait to see this knowledge being applied in human trials. A young woman from Corryong who has the genetic preconditions for the disease has done some amazing fundraising work, and we were there to present the proceeds to the research team.
Two nights at Coogee, after the camping and visiting, were just what the doctor ordered, and she who can’t be named was starting to mention the need to get back home and back to work. Lordy Lordy, please save me. So, a final night at Umina with “Ham” (two old and dear friends, Helen and Pam) before heading south. We can’t be late for Camille’s inaugural dance performance on Sunday. She is so excited and keen.
