Beautiful Bermagui

We spent a delightful seven days in Bermagui, a beautiful little town, with plenty to see and do. With Cool Change berthed at The Fishermen’s Wharf, we had easy access to hot showers and laundry facilities, as well as leaving our bikes on the shore, so we had ‘wheels’ as well.

Over the week we explored many of the local sights, as well as venturing out to some neighboring towns. Local attractions included Camel Rock and Horsehead Rock, Wallaga Lake, the Montreal Goldfields, Camel Rock Brewery, and The Blue Pool. My favourite was the gorgeous Blue Pool, a clean and crystal clear ocean pool that we swam in several times.

Clocking up the kilometres on the mountain bikes, we cycled to the inland towns of Tilba Tilba and Central Tilba. Lush and green, it was lovely to see the countryside in such good shape. At Tilba Tilba we ate delicious crepes at the French Cafe, La Galette and then we wandered up and down the old style tourist town that is Central Tilba.

Unfortunately the mountain bike trails in Bermagui that Matt had been hoping to ride were badly affected by the bushfires. However, we discovered that Tathra, a picturesque coastal town about 45 km south of Bermagui, has some of the state’s best mountain bike trails. But how to get there? There is no bus from Bermagui to Tathra but there is a bus to Bega. We figured that if we were able to catch the once a day bus to Bega (at the unsociable hour of 6.05am), we could then cycle to Tathra and then cycle directly back to Bermagui from Tathra. The bus would cut 30 kms off the journey, and although it would still be a massive day of riding, we thought we were up for the challenge.

However, at the yoga class I attended on Saturday morning, I met the lovely Jordan who was the class instructor. Chatting to Jordan before the class, I told her about our sailing trip and mentioned some of our plans while in town. I thoroughly enjoyed the yoga class (it was great to have some direction after just pottering away by myself) and thanked Jordy afterwards. Out of nowhere, she offered to drive us to Bega one weekday as she commutes there for work and thought she could fit two bikes in the back of her Forrester. I was blown away by her generosity and gratefully accepted.

And so that is how we found ourselves in a car heading to Bega (the first trip in a car for Matt in over 5 weeks). Jordy was excellent company and we chatted the whole way, learning about the local area and hearing firsthand about the bushfires from a local’s perspective. To our delight, Jordy also offered to pick us up in Tathra at the end of the day and drive back to Bermagui by the more scenic coastal route. Again, we were blown away by her kindness and generosity.

And so, after briefly visiting the famous Bega Cheese Factory, we headed off to Tathra. For most of the 18 km cycle we were riding our mountain bikes on the side of the main road, with little to no verge at times, heart in mouth kinda stuff. You can imagine our relief when we saw the brand new (still under construction) bike trail 5 km out from Tathra. And then you can imagine our disappointment when it ended after just 300 metres!

Nevertheless, we made it safely to Tathra, a very pretty, if hilly, little town. Matt set off to the mountain bike park while I searched the shops for a cheap towel as it was a hot day and the beach beckoned. The water was surprisingly cold but very refreshing and I had a lovely relaxing afternoon. Matt was pretty wrecked after his 3 hours on the bike trails and admitted that he didn’t think he would have made it all the way back to Bermagui (this being the day after the 38 km Tilba cycle). Thank goodness for Jordan, she really was a lifesaver and we were both so grateful.

We had a couple of quiet, chilled out days in Bermagui after this; reading, napping, swimming and doing jobs like cleaning the boat, changing the bedsheets and doing loads of laundry. Boring, yes, but still important jobs to be done, and somehow strangely satisfying. Matt also spent a leisurely afternoon polishing off several bottles of red wine with an old salty he’d met, listening to his riveting and larger than life tales.

One evening we invited Jordy and her partner Nico to the boat for dinner. We wanted to say thank you and thought a dinner party on a yacht might be a novelty! They were both fascinated by the boat and interested in checking it all out. Jordy and Nico were great company and it was lovely to have some different people to chat to. Thanks for coming guys!

And so our stay in beautiful Bermagui came to an end and we prepared to make the relatively short passage to Narooma where we were meeting Matt’s Uncle Geoff and his mate Bernard. These guys were going to take us fishing for kingfish – and apparently they actually know how to fish! Stay tuned!

Following are some photos of the sights and highlights of our time in Bermagui:

Dolphins rode the bow wave as sailed to Bermagui.

Matt fishing from the bow of Cool Change, berthed in The Fishermen’s Wharf, Bermagui

Yellowfin tuna caught by the professionals at the Fisherman’s Wharf, Bermagui.

The Humungous Marlin (caught by some guys in a small fishing boat who tied up near us).

The Blue Pool

Camel Rock

Horsehead Rock

Montreal Goldfields

Tilba Tilba and Central Tilba

Tathra (Beach and Wharf)

Emu (we came across this guy on one of our cycles).