20 November 2012 - Berry Showgrounds, Shoalhaven, NSW

Indecision, indecision! It rained on and off all night and as I lay awake at one stage of the very early morning, I decided we should just pack up and head on through to Wollingong and to hell with Kangaroo Valley, Kiama and everything thereabouts. However by the time breakfast was done, the day was looking a little more promising although Chris was confident we would still have showers. Kangaroo Valley was definitely off the agenda. We poured over our maps of the region, again for the umpteenth time, considering the possibility of doing long day trips from a base much further north. Neither of us had much appetite for sitting around Nowra any longer and so a compromise was reached. We would head on up the Princes Highway, call in to Berry and take it from there.

The beautiful trees of Berry

In fact Berry had been on the agenda as a base for some weeks. Showgrounds appeal to us with their down to earth ambience and generally very fair tariff. Finding a showground at Nowra had made Berry’s showgrounds redundant, so we thought. Berry is, after all, only fifteen kilometres from Nowra.

The expected showers never eventuated and we soon pulled into Berry, The Town of Trees as it is known, because of the extensive stands of  English oaks, elms and beech trees planted by settlers in the 1800s. Many remain today giving the town a distinctly English feel, or at least as much as any Australian town can have.

The town is just full of antique and craft shops, cafes and delicatessans, boutiques and speciality shops; a bit yuppy-like for our taste. We found a park up a side street, had a quick walk about the main street and then went in search of the showgrounds to see if they grabbed us. Well, obviously there did because here we are, well and truly set up.

I discovered that there was a rather large and smart washing machine tucked away in one of the cattle stalls and for $4 a load, I was most welcome to make us of it. I am not sure how it has happened, but it is about a fortnight since I did laundry. Needless to say, there were many bags stowed in all sorts of places. One large load was dispensed with this afternoon before we went for a long walk about the residential part of this charming town. We admired the beautiful gardens and the lovely old buildings, the partly developed retirement villages and the several small parks, before heading back to the showgrounds after an hour and a half’s exercise.

Here at the showgrounds, there are about half a dozen vans in, a friendly lot who have invited us over for Happy Hour. We will take our mugs of coffee across and stay just a short while. There is a high likelihood we will catch our little Matthew on Skype before he goes to bed to wish him a happy third birthday in person, so we shall make our excuses before long.