A boat with no paddle.

Our next stop is the small fishing town of Bermagui on the Sapphire Coast of NSW. We stayed at the Zane Grey Tourist Park, named after an American dentist who also wrote of his experiences in the western novel ‘ An American Angler in Australia’ (1937).  The port at Bermagui, (which means “a boat with no paddle”) was established in the 1830s for the local dairy farmers and the town quickly developed into a fishing harbour. 

On our first night we walked to the harbour and watched, with amazement, two guys cleaning the biggest fish I have ever seen. It was a Marlin and the two of them only just managed to get it from their boat onto the cleaning tables. Soon we were joined by a huge crowd of people wanting to witness the size of the fish.

Easter Sunday we were woken by squeals of delight that the Easter Bunny had managed to find us in our caravan! After an Easter egg hunt and a breakfast of chocolate, we waited patiently for our friends from home to arrive. Will’s best friend from school, also named William and his mum Michaela were coming to stay with us for a few days.  They arrived in the afternoon and we met them at the harbour.

After finding Michaela and William’s accommodation and helping them to settle in, we walked back to the harbour and went to one of the best fish and chip restaurants I have been to. The Saltwater Cafe looks like a small canteen-style fish and chip shop from the front but there is a cafe in the back that serves the most delicious food! With very full tummies, we walked back to our caravan for a cuppa before going to bed.

  

The following day we went to Blue Pool, a man made rock pool set amongst the cliffs and rocks on the South East coast of Bermagui. There we played in the water, swam about and had a great time.  The two Wills had so much fun in the water together that we decided to spend whole of the next day at the beach. The boys had a fabulous time snorkelling between the rocks, surfing on the waves and playing in the sand.

It was such a good week and so wonderful to be able to share it with friends from home. We were all very sad to say goodbye to Michaela and William, so we decided to follow them to Bega so we could spend another day together. There we visited the Bega cheese factory, where we all really enjoyed the cheese tasting! Upstairs is a cheese museum and the boys had great fun exploring how cheese is made.

We spent the next couple of days catching up on work and school and seeing a bit of the countryside, before setting off again. This time we are going inland!