Bermagui & Yadboro Flats.

Well, Pack, it has certainly been a while; things just went royally pear shaped for a bit there - but we are back with the final installment of our blog from last year, just in time for us to leave permanently in a few days! This blog has actually been written for 6 weeks, that is literally how busy we have been, I haven't even had time to upload it.

Where we last left off; Wanterbadgery, out West near Wagga Wagga.

We wanted to head to Gundegai so I could get a photo of the kelpies with the Dog On The Tucker Box, but had to head back to Wagga Wagga first as we were hoping to get some replacement awning posts (we were unsuccessful, of course the one I broke is not common and has to be special ordered.)

Once again, we left too late; partly because we recovered someone and partly (or mostly) because we don’t plan anything and meant we didn’t really hit the road until lunch time.

We knew we were heading home to Jervis Bay in a week’s time at most, so we started heading towards the South Coast.

We did this by crossing through the Snowies – which meant not going through Gundegai, again! It is my mission to go before we head interstate!

We love this drive and are looking forward to staying there before we go as well. Last year when we tried, we got caught in a freak storm which sent us packing home.

During this drive, we ended up at our highest altitude so far, a crazy 1490m above ground.

We found a great stop off to stretch our feet and the doggos…….. Baker Street Playground, next to the Big Trout!

We then headed towards our intended destination; Mystery Bay. We arrived right on sunset – which was glorious, but as always, this was not the spot for us. There was no reception, even though it was gorgeous and we were dying to stay, I had to work the next day so this wasn’t going to work.

We went onto Plan B; Bodalla State Forest – again, thwarted by no reception!

By this stage, we had been driving for about 8 hours. We were hungry. We went to Narooma and because it was now closer to 9pm, nothing was open – except the Chinese Takeaway who were nice enough to make us their last order of the night.

We then drove to Moruya to stay at the airport! This was a great overnight stay, but boy it was crowded for the middle of the week and not school holidays. It was also $22 per night. You are right next to a dog friendly beach (you can hear it but can’t see it) but this was not our idea of a good place to camp. We stayed for the night (it was about 11pm by the time we set up) then we were out of there by 6am.

Not ready to give up yet, we had a few hours up our sleeve to find a location and we had Plan D, E, F and G by this point. Luckily, Plan D was great; Cobargo Pub.

Cobargo was much cooler than out West, and on the hotter days it was only about 15-20 minutes to Bermagui. We set up the camper, had a quick dip at Beares Beach. I then settled into work for the evening, while Jared did some washing at the Pub facilities ($4 per load of washing.)

We could also have a nice, warm shower for $5 per person, per night. We were more than happy to pay this, as the site is free. We, of course, had a pub meal (massive, and bloody delicious) and a few campside drinks.

The following day we went to Narooma. Rather than go to the beachside, we went to the River side. This was gorgeous and the boys loved going for a walk out into the basin-type water.

We then got fresh coffee, chips and other nibblies from the local takeaway store. This is my idea of beachside takeaway; it was crisp and fresh.

We then headed to Woolies for supplies in Narooma and then headed back to camp so I could work again.

The last day in Cobargo, as the site is a 3 day stay, we went to Bermagui again and actually enjoyed the beach. The weather was perfect. We tried to get some food around town, but town was full to the brim. We ended up finding a Woolies and getting some supplies for a fresh “sub” sandwich, and I settled in for my final night at work for the week.

*BREAKDOWN*

Facilities: Cobargo Hotel/ Pub

Cost: Free

Reception: Yes, plenty of phone and internet reception

Electricity: No

Drop Point: Yes

Toilets/ Showers: $5 per night, per person for a nice, hot shower

View: Yes, nice views of the mountains

Noise: Decent, it is right on the highway so some truck noise and then local pub noise

Dog Friendly: Yes, although a small area with not much room for the doggos to play

Long Stay : 3 days maximum

Close To ...: Narooma, Bermagui

Notes : $4 per load of washing

We headed off to Yadboro Flats next! What a weekend this was!

We took the navigation system in with Hema for Yadboro Flats, and what should have been 3 roads in was half a day and every road! We have learnt it’s best to look at the Hema map without navigation for places like this. We did enjoy the scenic route, though.

The Flats were nice and quiet when we got there mid afternoon on the Friday. We set up camp near the River. The Flats is a very popular camp spot and by 6pm, it was almost full. This place attracts a roudy younger crowd, so we had an interesting weekend watching 4x4s getting flooded in the creek, sedans getting stuck in the sand and people not quite making it up the old creek crossing.

We really like this spot, but it’s the second time now that there have been late night parties and shenanigans. We did meet some lovely families when we were hanging out in the creek.

We planned to stay until Monday, but on Sunday a freak windstorm came through the area so we packed up and headed off, where we have been homebound since.

*BREAKDOWN*

Facilities: Yadboro Flats

Cost: Free

Reception: Absolutely none, can barely use the satellite phone

Electricity: No

Drop Point: No

Toilets/ Showers: Drop toilets, no showers

View: Stunning, surrounded by State Forest and National Park, Pigeon House Mountain and the creek

Noise: Quiet during the week, but the weekends are always busy with dirt bikes and young people

Dog Friendly: Definitely, plenty of room to play

Long Stay : Yes

Close To ...: Ulladulla, but you’ll need to ensure you have all of your supplies when you get here as it is a trek to get back to Milton/ Ulladulla

Notes : Clean up after yourself! This site is notorious for people being disrespectful and leaving their rubbish

I can tell you, The Pack is dying to get back out on the road. It has been lovely spending time with my family and we have gotten through a fair bit of pre-trip errands we needed to do. We were going to head out for 2 weeks before coming back for Christmas, but decided it was more beneficial to stay put now to get the last of our trip in order. I have since found out I need to have revision surgery.

I’m taking this opportunity to look for work better suited to the road. I loved the job I had, however they kept changing my hours and days so it was impossible to plan our trip too far in advance. I was also always on the phone, so this didn’t work well because most campsites are actually really noisy, no matter where you are. I would also like something with more flexibility so that if things like this happen where sites aren’t what we thought, or we are really enjoying somewhere, I don’t have to worry about it. We spent more time and money trying to find suitable places for me to work than we made in money for the trip. It also impacted negatively on my husband as he had to be quiet and our trip was based around work, rather than work was just a part of the trip.

We will put our time at home to good use and then get back on the road. The upside is that the 3rd wave of Covid hit while we were at home; it would have been awful to be out on the road and wondering what would happen. I feel for everyone who had their plans changed and their Christmas’s ruined.

We hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and let’s hope 2021 is the year of the traveller!