For quite some time I had wanted to go back to Mallacoota, in the far east of Victoria, my home state. I can remember going there about 6 years ago, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was one of those places that you think you must go back to and then don't for some time cos of work or study or other stuff that gets in the way of going on holiday and enjoying yourself.

I intended on being there for a few days, only good old winter weather struck Melbourne and gave us the coldest start to winter that we have had in quite some time. I figured that it would prolly be quite cold in Mallacoota, so I thought I might go a little futher up the coast and northwards to Merimbula, then back to Mallacoota after the weather had moderated. It was prolly the right thing to do, but it cut back on my time in Mallacoota. More on that later.

The drive to Lakes Entrance, my first stopover, was uneventful, if cold and wet. Great big grey clouds kept crossing my path and dumping rain on me. OK, on my car, not on me - my little chops does not have any holes in him that should not be there and he keeps me nice and dry and warm. All the way through the La Trobe valley, where great big coaldiggers rip brown coal out of the ground and feed it to our power generators, great grey fluffy rolls of clouds rained on us. eventually, though, i drove into a great big clear patch and saw my first does of sun in days - very nice... At Lakes, I had my dinner of fish and chips from L'Ocean, where they do gluten free fish and chips, and it was very yummy (though since I can't have "normal" fish and chips now, it was also very yucky cos Ihaven't eaten that much fat in one go in ages), and stayed overnight at Riviera backpackers YHA. (Recommended.)

The next day was a bit clearer, and I flogged on up to Merimbula, which is about 300km (200 miles) further on. I saw quite a number of things to stop and do, but didn't cos I wanted to get to Merimbula. hence you only get shots of stuff from the car, like this pic of driving through a patch of rainforest int he tiny alfred National Park. I did stop at Genoa, a tiny town at the turn off to Mallacoota. (genoa? Oh, met her once or twice. Jamaica? Nah, she went of her own accord) This Genoa isn't exactly a bustling city of great age... I had a pleasant interlude standing in the cafe (the only shop apart from the pub) waiting at the counter for the owner to notice someone was in his shop. To be charitable, I guess he doesn't get much business on a Thursday morning. Alternatively, he is as blind as some of those stupid "automatic" opening doors that simply fail to see me unless I do a song and dance in front of them. I may not be ginormous but I am by no means insubstantial. I also took shot of the bridge over the Genoa River. It is the highlight of the hamlet. See for yourself and then make judgement.

I also stopped a few k up the road after entering NSW at the Wallagaraugh (try saying that without your teeth in or even with them in :-) River rest stop with its convenient conveniences and many species of fungi. The photo-taking really began at that point. Of the fungi! Not the loos (though the latter had good quality 2-ply kleenex dunny paper - very unusual to find in a public loo. They usually supply el-cheapo single ply scratchy and/or shiny stuff. I'll stop here again if going this way!). I scrambled down to have a look at the river too.

Then onwards, through Eden (it wasn't really that good) and further north.

Merimbula is a smallish fishing town turned tourist tart on the south coast, the so called Sapphire Coast, of NSW. It is heavily geared towards tourism and the retirement industry. Its weather is usually mild, making it popular year round, and it has many many beaches, being built on an ocean bay and river inlet. The YHA, Wandarrah Lodge, is excellent - purpose built, quite new and with an excellent host called Rodney (and his wife and family, but you mostly see Rodney). Rodney is prolly the ideal sorta chap to be running a place like this. He runs tours for the guests, loves having a chat, is happy to tell you what is good to see and is always available to help (OK, except for when he is not actually in cos he is playing tennis).

home | next

Dr Bunny's trip to Merimbula and Mallacoota/email me/last modified 30th August 2000.