Walkin' and Eden

The weather was not likely to improve dramatically temperature wise so we forged ahead! The rain thankfully was only intermittent, although the cold wind was somewhat unrelenting...

The group walked the Merimbula boardwalk to get our step counts up and then headed down to Eden. We learnt about the town's whaling history before going to Aslings Beach Rockpool. It was enough of a mini adventure to keep the children happy, clambering up rocks and playing chicken with the rough waves...Lunch was a simple affair at Fry Daze. Unfortunately the coffee man from our last trip had moved on. And just in case you were interested, Oma reported that the toilets at the Eden Visitor Centre was super clean! Upon speaking to the staff, we decided to abandon our plan to go to the Ben Boyd Tower. We headed home for coffee, wine, cheese and chocolate instead! 

The adults dined at Valentina's. The food was excellent and it was nice to have some children free time. Tomorrow will be our last day with the Ongs so let's hope the weather co-operates!

Blue skies!

Merimbula Boardwalk

Selfie time!

Tiny crabs everywhere

Dramatic coastline at Eden

Aslings Beach Rockpool

The rockpool in the distance

Fish and chips in the cold! It is supposed to be summer in Australia!!!

Dinner at Valentina's

Pambula oysters

Kingfish sashimi

Scallops

And...the skies have cleared again! Sheesh!

Merimbula Not Via Mogo

Today we discovered that Google Maps was smart enough to know when roads were closed, in our case, due to flooding. We had planned our route from Shoalhaven Heads to Merimbula, and braved the cold, wind and rain to get to the Oyster Shack at Bateman's Bay. The lady at the counter kindly informed us that the Princes Hwy further south at Mogo was flooded, and was only recently reopened to 4WD. The oysters were promptly abandoned as we reconvened at the nearby McDonald's to formulate a new plan that would see the Mazda 3 making the journey south. To our delight, Google Maps had red dashes marking roads which were closed. Trusting Google, we started our drive, hugging the coast briefly before detouring inland and re-joining the Princes Hwy at Moruya. It was a close call at Moruya with the road being closed just as we got through and crossed the river. 

We made two short stops at Bodalla and Tilba. These stops should be avoided at all costs by the lactose intolerant. For a family who lives on lite milk, full cream, non homogenized milk was heavenly. Both were essentially devoid of tourists on account of the weather. We continued on to Merimbula and arrived uneventfully. Oma delighted in trying to take photos of flooded creeks and rivers along the way. We were relieved that our lakeside rental was NOT flooded! It was otherwise as advertised although one bathroom was a bit dodgy. It was well situated near the shops and was comfortable and spacious. 

Our first planned stop

The Clyde River nearly bursting

Bodalla, ice cream and milkshake anyone?!

Very enjoyable lemon myrtle and christmas pudding ice-cream

Amazing milk says the children

The very picturesque Tilba

Interesting find...

Our rental

The view from our backyard

Berry Wet Again...Mostly

Yup, grey skies and rain everywhere. Didn't matter where we went. This was Gerringong.

I will keep today's post brief because we really didn't do much...

Back to Berry to buy more sugary treats was the first order of the day. This was followed by a brief trip to Gerringong. It was then time to retreat back to the house for lunch and to watch the cricket. Of course, this was the time that the weather remembered that it was actually summer in Australia! The sun made a guest appearance but by then the troops were settled and no one would move...

Dinner was at The Hills at Gerringong. Simple good food with great views. It was at least a lovely finish to our time Shoalhaven Heads. Onwards and southwards tomorrow! With more rain predicted...

Our first stop. It was at least indoors

Some of our loot

The Hills

The boys happy to have their own corner

Everything looks better with blue skies!

Berry Wet

The skies remained heavily overcast, however the rain held off after breakfast. We forced ourselves out the door to squeeze in a short walk. The walking apps suggested that the walk would be brief but the paths continued beyond their description. We weren't sure what the tide was doing but figured we must be there at the right time because we were able to walk around the end of the river just short of its entrance into the sea. This temporary land bar between the mainland and Comerong Island was a breeding ground for all sorts of local sea birds. It wasn't quite a minefield because we weren't the ones in danger, but we were still careful about not stomping in the wrong spot.

Change of scenery from the beach

Yes. We did it. We got to the end of the 1km track.

Bird sanctuary

Bird prints

Google says this is searocket. We think it was one of the "locally foraged leaves" we ate for dinner at Bangalay the other day...

Right on cue, the rain started at around lunch time. We settled in for pies and sausage rolls at home, with an afternoon of boardgames with the cricket in the background. We attempted to browse Berry in the late afternoon but it was just too wet. Dinner was at the Hungry Monkey before we called it quits for the day.

Berry wet...

Lolly purchases

Happy boy

Happy parents. $10 burger night! Bargain when there's 11 of you!! Yeah!

Southern fried chicken

When one is bored one buys ridiculous alcohol

A more serious purchase, quality tequila!

Time for more boardgames

Pocketful of Sunshine

Yes that is blue sky! And yes that is my mother on the phone 😂 social life doesn't stop just because you're on the beach!

The rain was predicted to pause today. As this may be our only beach day, we packed all our beachly possessions on to our poor little wagon and set it to work. Seven Mile Beach was a stone's throw away, and we managed to get everyone there before 9 am to enjoy the lack of rain and relatively warm temperatures. To our delight, the sun even made a few appearances! At one point, one may even say that it was too hot. Geez there was no pleasing this mob...But have no fear! We had in our trusty little wagon one of many lockdown purchases. The very handy Cool Cabana Beach shade was awesome. It was easy to set up, stable and kept the grandparents happy. 

The children kept themselves busy in the sand and surf. Boogie boards were put to good use both down the steep sand banks as well as in the water. The cricket set, as well as various other balls were also played with. After 3 hours at the beach, the sun was still out! We decided to have a quick simple lunch of pies from the local bakery and make our way to the river side of Shoalhaven Heads. This time, the kayaks from the Ong's rental house were put to good use, along with our fishing gear. Alas, no fish were caught.

Go little wagon go!

Cool Cabana. An awesome lockdown online purchase!

Sunglasses = sun!

Happy boys!

Seven Mile Beach - unfortunately a lot of erosion due to weather :(

Time for river activities!

And he's off with rod and bait ready

The non-water, sudoku puzzling crew

By mid afternoon, tiredness started to creep in and it was time to head home for a quick rest before Christian's birthday dinner at Bangalay Dining, a higher end dining venue which focused on native and local ingredients. The food wasn't too bad but the service was SLOW. They were obviously short staffed. We were the first to arrive and the last to leave! By the time we left, the sky was rumbling with hints of the predicted storms. Let's hope we do get some more rain reprieves in the coming days. Otherwise we will be watching test cricket which isn't a bad alternative wet weather activity!

Murray cod in Nasturtium flower, our favourite dish. Back left - smoked crocodile. Back right - cucumber with goat's cheese and pepperberry

Emu tartar

Oma and Opa still happy!

On The Road Again

Another trip, another covid-19 update...

Previously, ...on "Albany Trips Derailed By Covid"...we had our Queensland trip cut short due to an outbreak in NSW. Fast forward 6 months to today, the NSW delta variant outbreak had spread to Victoria and ACT, thousands have been infected, hundreds have unfortunately died, but as a result, we now have an excellent vaccination rate in Australia and the country has abandoned a covid-zero strategy. However, states within Australia have been fragmented, with tensions high between "Covid' states and those who have been "covid free". International borders are open to Australians in half the country but we are still unable to travel freely within Australia. In short, the country is a mess. And just when you think you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, enter Omicron! Curse you new variant...

We had cancelled our December trip to Singapore and Thailand in the face of so much uncertainty and so we find ourselves on the road again exploring the great state of NSW. Curse you Delta. Lara now can't come because her piano exam had to be rescheduled thanks to an unvaccinated child submitting a false vaccine certificate. Curse you covidiots. Hopefully, our planned trip to South Australia to watch the test cricket between England and Australia won't be affected by a nervous South Australian government. Fingers crossed...

It felt rather odd leaving Lara behind in the morning, but she seemed happy and relaxed with Moose and so off we went, for our traditional McDonald's breakfast on the road. We didn't quite manage to follow through on the "leave before light" tradition, due to too many Christmas parties on the day before! It was an achievement to have packed, load the car and tidy the house by 8:30am! We didn't quite bring the whole house this time around but somehow still managed to bring a lot of STUFF!!

Our first stop, to buy MORE stuff. Specifically, we had to buy more remotes for the Nintendo switch, as it was one of our rainy day contingencies, and the chance of rain was very high. Curse you La Nina. With the most important "to-do" of the day ticked off, we made our way to visit my Uncle Andrew near Wollongong. It has been a while since we have seen him, and the first time since his diagnosis of bowel cancer in June. Curse you cancer! My parents had driven down earlier to spend more time with them and deliver them Indonesian food from Sydney. 

It was great to see Oom Andrew in good spirits and good physical health. It was also nice to have Tante Chiko cook us Japanese food. Yum! We scoffed down our lunch, sipped and learnt about hojicha, and enjoyed apple pie biscuits from Coles. Can't get better than that!

Visiting Oom Andrew and Tante Chiko 

Along with my parents, we continued our drive down towards Shoalhaven Heads. We last came in winter and thought it would be a good place to return to in the summer. Fortunately, we had booked a house on Stayz well before the heated local accommodation booking craze, and the resulting price hikes. The rental was comfortable, had enough space for the extended family, looked as advertised, and was close to the accommodation of our friends, the Ongs. Elliot and Jonah made a bee-line for the skate park as soon as we arrived, making the most of the break in the rain.

Loving our new wagon! Courtesy of Nana and Grandpa. Awesome big wheels, great manoeuvrability, and takes 100kg!

Simple but clean and modern

Big backyard with fire pit. Moose would have loved it.

Excellent local skate park

We dined with the Ongs at their holiday rental on local fish and chips. The adults had wine and rocky road, the kids had nintendo time, and all was well with the world. We had to make the best of the situation. The forecast, unfortunately, for the upcoming days was rain, rain and more rain. For good measure, throw in a bit of cold, and then just to make sure...more rain. It was rather a shame, as we were right by Seven Mile Beach, a most beautiful and long stretch of beach. After a few messages to Lara to make sure she was ok, we settled in and called it a day.