to lamington via the pacific COAST

20/9/2024

Our house-sitter was comfortably installed and Agnes the pussy cat was nestled in. It was 9 September and we were off in the Troopy for our next adventure: a spin across Gippsland to Mallacoota on the eastern edge of Victoria, then north up the Pacific coast past Sydney to Lamington National Park in southern Queensland.

This was to be a savouring trip, not a frenetic rush. Our plan was to settle in for a minimum of two, preferably three nights, and enjoy some slow travel. This meant drives of (at most) about three hours every few days, enjoying bush walks and birding in the morning, and hobbies in the afternoons. The Troopy was packed up, ready to camp if we chose or needed to, but this was planned as an Airbnb trip. We divided up the jobs, as we usually do: Beverley was the driver, packer and navigator (and eBird hotspot finder); Rosalie was bursar – she made all the accommodation arrangements, managed provisions and cooking. And we both looked forward to good pub meals when the options looked promising.

First stop: SalE, VICTORIA

We’d been here before but ever so briefly. So this time we decided to tarry: we checked into a yurt in our host’s backyard just blocks from town. It was extremely colourful, reflecting our host’s artistic talents. She was very hospitable, introducing us to friends around her firepit, and making us feel very much at home.

There were two highlights in Sale – no, make that three. The first was the Annemieke Mein exhibition at the local gallery. We had wanted to see the more comprehensive event earlier in the year but couldn’t make it, but the Sale gallery has a smaller permanent exhibition on view. Well worth stopping for: nature images created in paint, with added three-dimensional needlework. What an imagination!

The second highlight was dinner at the Sporting Legends Bar – we really liked this place: good value meals in a great family atmosphere. We really enjoyed watching the locals gather and enjoy each other’s company, including the blokes playing pool in the front area. It was ‘going off’ even on our second visit when there was a deluge outside – the first of several rain events on this trip.

Oh my goodness, that's a generous serve!

The third highlight was Sale Common: this is an excellent (massive) wetland very close to town, with an array of habitats including a great deal of water, and home to many birds. We made two visits there, it was that good! Rosalie suggested it was like the Western Treatment Plant near Werribee without the drive across the Westgate Bridge (which she never enjoys).

The beauty in Sale Common was the combination of bush birds and water birds. One find was what we called the Nankeen Night-Heron tree: it was a tree next to the Swinging Bridge which looked very ordinary until we realised that about 20 large and beautiful birds were roosting quietly in its branches.

On our second visit to the Common we ran into the local Sale birding group out for their weekly excursion: this is always THE best way to find out where to see birds. When we told them our plans to head to Mallacoota the next day, they pointed us to a great spot enroute…which was as good as they suggested…

To Mallacoota

And that great spot was Log Crossing Picnic Area, about half an hour after Bairnsdale if you were on the road to Lakes Entrance. We ducked in there for a brief visit, and the highlight was finding two Gang-gang cockatoos making a nest high in the canopy.

After a brief walk around, we pushed on. The road to Mallacoota was pretty amazing, this being our first time going that way. Sadly, bleak weather set in so we didn’t see Mallacoota at its best, but we were warm and cosy. Apart from having a brilliant dinner at the Mallacoota pub, we met a few senior gents having a coffee down by the foreshore, and they turned out to be keen and very active birders.

Once again, local knowledge: at least we knew where to look. And we did look but the birds were tucked away as the rain and wind pounded us. Still, we tried. We did manage to see a lyrebird right in town, a satin bowerbird out by the airport, and several bar-tailed godwits in the bay - but the best memory is the warm fire and endless supply of wood from our generous hosts. After each excursion, we were able to pursue our hobbies in great comfort.

Next stop: Malua Bay on the Sapphire CoasT

We enjoyed the drive north from Mallacoota – the terrain was amazing, and then we got glimpses of the coast. We were particularly keen to see the little settlement we’d heard so much about called Eden. Hah! Turns out it’s not a small place but it is pretty spectacular.

We headed up through Tathra, and then on towards our next destination: Malua Bay. Perhaps you’ve never heard of it – and nor had we: wisely, Rosalie had booked us into small and preferably remote accommodation places. WE could have perched at Batemans Bay at this point, but Rosalie had opted for the lesser known Malua Bay, and it was just perfect. We spent our time in that locality and had two brilliant bird walks: one to Pretty Point, a few minutes south of our base, and one a bit further south: Guerilla Point at Broulee. Both tracks were spectacular coastal walks on an isthmus out into the sea. Whale watching had the locals excited. On the first we saw seals basking on the rocks. We would have been happy to see the whales, too, but we just loved the spectacular scenery and the birdlife, especially a very showy Variegated Fairy-wren in a forest of banksias.

We also met great people: often they took the time to chat and ask us what we were doing, then they’d share a few tips about where to go and what to see. We reminded ourselves that this was often the best bit of any trip: the people you meet. We were chatting to one lady about Glossy Black Cockatoos – she didn’t know about them, until she casually showed us a video she had taken her local park. Oh yes, that’s the Glossy Blacks all right, crunching on she-oak cones.

Also at Malua bay we discovered a great Chinese restaurant called Raymond’s which made the location even better as a waypoint on our journey. This was a slick restaurant serving a range of excellent Chinese fare at reasonable prices.

On the way to Guerilla Point we found a hidden gem: The Boatshed Cafe was tucked away quietly at Mossy Point. It served great coffee and the location was spectacular. The locals shared tips on the birdlife and the potential for great photography of we wanted to launch the drone. So we did!

After our three day stop, we were back on the northern highway again, this time covering plenty of territory quite quickly: we didn’t do any of it justice, but we really did enjoy our stop at the fresh fish market at Nowra, and our Japanese lunch next door. Oh, we’re still talking about that one!

Yallah near Lake Illawarrah

For the next few days, our home was just south of Wollongong, and inland from Lake Illawarra. This time Rosalie had chosen digs on a rural property. In addition to a horse and a dog, we were surrounded by rosellas and corellas, and kookaburras that wished us good morning at 5am (thanks for that).

Ten minutes’ drive and we were walking the 6km return path along the Tallawarrah foreshore (on the shores of Lake Illawarra). This was a splendid walk and the weather was perfect. We saw such a variety of habitats and birds and was a real highlight, particularly king parrots, a very friendly grey shrike-thrush and the often heard and rarely seen eastern whipbird. We also glimpsed but didn’t manage a shot of two red-whiskered bulbuls – a real highlight!

One of our discoveries, being newbies, was that our NSW coastal neighbours build their houses on the incredibly steep hills that punctuate the Pacific coastline: even the Troopy was gagging as we hauled ourselves up to our spot in Malua Bay. And we fervently prayed that leaving the car in gear would be a good insurance policy for the Troopy’s renowned unreliable handbrake…and it was. Well, in this vein, our departure from Yallah took us straight along the Pacific highway past Wollongong, and then we headed up the most incredible hill towards the hinterland: it just went on and on, and up and up. Chugalug went the fuel!

This was was our day for going through Sydney: we chose highway 31 which we’d done before. We headed across from Wollongong to join the Hume Highway, then around the big city we went on highway 31. Roadworks for at least half this long drive mean that the road will be twice as wide next time. We turned north at the Northconnex tunnel – nine kilometres in length – and finally saw the sun again before we sailed up and over the Kur-Ing-Gai Chase National Pass. What amazing scenery!

And what another amazingly steep hill we slept on: our digs were on the tippy tippy top of the highest hill in Bateau Bay with views from the deck to match. Our main outing was to the Central Coast wetlands at Tuggerah – this was a stunning walk with so many birds, and stunning landscapes.

To Newcastle

After just a two day stop, we headed to Newcastle via the Entrance – where we stopped for a look at the birds and the scenery. This was just over an hour’s run, and the weather was fab.

This was our first visit to Newcastle, and once again we set up camp in our Airbnb just out of town at Stockton. We had the most magnificent view of the harbour and the ships, which were silhouetted at sunset.

Beverley had a family history day and met distant cousins. Rosalie worked on her king parrot watercolour.

Then we had a birding day at Ash Island and this was outstanding with another spotting of an eastern whipbird, a black-faced monarch and a shining bronze-cuckoo – all very beautiful and elusive. We saw the cuckoo fly to land and on to the bark of a tree where it stayed very still behind some twigs like it was saying “if I don’t move you can’t see me”. We saw the cuckoo – and many other exquisite birds - on the rainforest walk which we had to abandon due to overwhelming mosquitoes.

and then...rain and more rain

Our final destination on this trip was to be Lamington National Park where we had booked accommodation and a bird guide – quite an investment. We were now just a couple of stops short, and the brilliant weather was about to change. An unusually heavy rain band was heading across the top end and was heading to exactly where we were destined.

We had booked two nights in Korora just north of Coffs Harbour. We were pretty much confined to barracks for that stay, though we did get great birds coming to feed in the trees around our digs. The alpacas were also very cute.

Our last stop before Lamington was for three nights in a rainforest retreat just out of Mulimbimby (inland from Byron Bay). The rain came down with vengeance during that drive, and for almost all the time of our stay. In fact, the nearby creek got so flooded we were locked in.

. But we were prepared for this and just decided to enjoy our lovely cabin until the rain passed. And during the occasional breaks, we slipped out for a walk and enjoyed the spectacular forest and the flora. We also found some lovely local birds - our favourite was a little eastern yellow robin who was darting about gathering food before returning to its nest, despite the maelstrom all about.

Despite the weather on some of the sections of our trip up the coast, we found it very spectacular, and we count ourselves so lucky to be able to enjoy this stunning country.

And then, we headed up the mountains behind the Gold Coast to Lamington National Park - see our next blog.

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