Bermagui bliss

On a cool morning in Bermagui, a bit different from the couple of days we spent in a very hot Canberra, we’ve just walked along the beach, then re-stocked the pantry with some essentials, including fresh fish.

After our quiet time in a couple of national parks, Canberra was a shock to the system, but we had a great time with John’s brother and sister-in-law.

Pebbly Beach, in the Murramarang National Park just north of Bateman’s Bay was a favourite, particularly for encounters with wildlife. Even on the way there we called in at Bendalong, with John regaling me with tales of how for years people fed stingrays there. And would you believe it, as we pulled into a little beach near the headland, there were two people feeding stingrays!

I haven’t seen that since I was with a friend on Rottnest Island about 5 years ago.

The female satin bowerbird trying to clean up our
avocado dip (note her bright blue eyes).

And once we had established ourselves at Pebbly Beach, noting a rather geriatric wallaby lying on the grass nearby with one ear that couldn’t prick anymore, in swooped a rather super bird with green markings and bright blue eyes (a quick glance at our bird book identified her as a female satin bowerbird) who was all over us, literally.

As we sat outside, she jumped up on my lap, found a crumb on my shorts, then onto the arm of the chair. Later on she jumped onto my foot as I sat with legs crossed. It was a perch later favoured by a couple of rainbow lorikeets, much to our delight, but we weren’t quick enough to photograph them. The ranger’s wife, who came around later to collect our camping fee, told us they had probably been fed by past visitors, which had made them so trusting.

The female bowerbird later came diving in to pinch a nut from our drinks table, and after we’d cleaned up a bowl of avocado dip, she came looking to see if any was left.

And the wallabies! They were basking in the sun on ledges close to the sea, feeding on the grass, totally unafraid of people walking among them and generally being a delight for some of the overseas people among the day visitors to the park. Hardly anyone spent the night there so we were able to witness the usual late afternoon mayhem with rosellas and lorikeets flying from one tree to another, all making a huge racket until suddenly, as night fell, they all became silent.



Bermagui breakfast . . . our new Oz eggrings have their first
 outing for a beachside meal we enjoyed.



But back to the present. Yesterday we travelled from Canberra to Moruya, then south to Bermagui, not taking main roads when we could find a back road. So we went south from Queanbeyan to the little old mining town of Captains Flat, then east along forest and mountain roads (and they were mountainous!) until we were down in the Araluen valley where peaches and nectarines are ripening, and then headed for the coast.