Having spent yet another lovely day touring the region,
we have returned to camp to attempt yet again to link up with our daughter on
Skype. We managed to have an excellent conversation with my parents last night
and now we just need to check all is well with Larissa, who with her husband,
has spent the last few weeks on the east coast of the USA, returning just in
time to miss the terrible storms that have the whole coast on alert.
This morning we headed back north on the Pacific
Highway, passing through Pambula and on out to Merimbula. I had noted down a
couple of must dos, one of which was the boardwalk walking track along the
northern shore of the Top Lake, part of the estuary that almost surrounds this
seaside town. We crossed the lower reaches of the lake on the road bridge near
the town centre and were at once adjacent to the car park, so took immediate advantage
of the opportunity.
The walking track is only a distance of 1.75
kilometres each way, most of it on boardwalk elevated above the edge of the
cleanest of inlets. Oyster farms cover most of the lake; however there are narrow
clearways for boats to travel up from the sea and for kayakers to puddle about.
It seemed that most of the Merimbula population were out making good use of the
facility; dog walkers, mothers pushing prams, grandparents with grandchildren,
fat women and fat couples, athletic slim young things, you name it, they were
all there.
From there we moved the cruiser along the road a little,
close to the Information Centre, picked up a street map and set off on a walk
about the town which lies on the hill side. I had expected it to be a fairly
large place but a seaside resort rather than a service centre like Bega. We
were surprised therefore to find out how big it really was.
The population in 2006, within a radius of ten kilometres
of the centre was 17,000; however the town proper only had a population of 3,775.
That larger area encompasses the satellite towns of Pambula, Pambula Beach,
South Pambula and Tura Beach. Apart from the trendy boutiques and cafes, the
town also has a Woolworths, a Best & Less (budget fashion and linen), a
Country Target (for more of the same), Rivers and Go Lo, basic shops which any
self-respecting town that is not right up itself should have, in my opinion.
We drove further around the bay and sat in the
cruiser out of the wind eating our lunch watching others brave the blustery
conditions and delighting in the views across the “harbour” and up toward the
town. It really is a charming place and would be even more so without the wind.
Refuelled, we followed the coastline around until we found ourselves parked up above
the ocean beach at Short Point, at the entrance of Back Lake which really is
the estuary of the Merimbula Creek. Here at Merimbula there really is something
for everyone; surf, river, estuary, lake and hill.
We had considered driving up the coastal road to
Tura Beach, which we had seen from Short Point, but then thought there was
little point in doing so, and instead headed back toward the Pacific Highway,
turning back toward the coast near Pambula, to Pambula Beach. It too has
something for everyone, although there seem to be few shops if any and is a
mini version of Merimbula. We parked by the mouth of the Pambula River and
watched a skilled kite surfer skip back and forwards across the lumpy entrance
and a small fishing boat head out into seas which looked far too big for such a
small craft.
 |
| A kite surfer at Pambula Beach |
Heading back again toward Pambula, we pulled into Panboola,
a conservation and rehabilitation site, encompassing 77 hectares of wetland,
farmland, the remains of the old racetrack, saltmarsh and the river. We did see
birds and a large mob of roos in the centre of the racetrack watching us
watching them. I also watched a small Golden-headed Cisticola, small like a
finch, perched on the seed head, swaying in the breeze. He was a first and the
name is fabulous, is it not? I am always happy to wander in the fresh air
surrounded by nature, in places such as this even more so than the seaside.
And that was enough walking and sightseeing for the
day so from here it was straight home, sort out of the eski, a couple of cups
of coffee and a good sit down with the day’s newspaper, which is still full of
Syrian bloodshed, the ensuing American election and today, the Asian whitepaper
from Julia, full of promise and vision but little in the way of the “how”. Pure
spin, but then is that not what politics are all about?
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