The Life Aquatic in Narooma

FROM LIANA:

If anyone hasn’t been to Narooma yet – make your plans to go. Right now. What an absolute gem of a little town. A few weeks back when I was researching our next stops I came across Narooma as it was a place which offered seal snorkeling (more on that later) so I knew I wanted to make it a stop on our journey. What was initially planned as a 4-night stop ended up being 9 nights – we felt so at home in Narooma. Yet again we didn’t make much headway in terms of distance – making our regular hour and a half journey further south. I think by now Daniel had given up on the distance fight.

Without a doubt one of the reasons we loved our time in Narooma so much was choosing to stay at Big 4 Narooma Easts Holiday Park. We shelled out a bit more than we would ordinarily spend on campsites because of the new indoor waterpark and spa which they had recently opened. Together with the regular games room and jumping pillows we figured we’d get good value with things to keep the kids busy. The park is perfectly positioned right in the middle of the best bits of Narooma and situated right on the Wagonga Inlet. Narooma’s name means “clear blue waters” and wow does it live up to its name – this inlet is as beautiful as it is perplexing in its formation, and as we quickly discovered better than any aquarium.

One of the first things we went off to explore was the Mill Bay Boardwalk – a short 10 minute walk around the inlet from our campsite. The boardwalk itself is about 850m one way but takes you right over shallow, crystal clear reefs. Absolutely stunning and the kids loved it. We tried teaching Kaia that a group of fish were called a school, but she didn’t quite get it and now thinks that all fish are now going to school. Collective noun fail and certain that any potential future homeschooling isn’t an option. Luckily, to recover from our parenting fail we saw something break in the water just in front of us – a seal playing and dancing in the water. We’d barely recovered from the sight of this when giant stingrays were lapping at the shallows right next to us. At the end of the boardwalk is a designated seal resting area so the kids got to see them up close. Because of the unique formation of the inlet, when you are walking around it feels so small and sheltered from the sea that coming across such marine life was such a delight. We left completely in awe of everything we’d seen from a little afternoon stroll.

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The next day we took a walk about 15 minutes in the other direction from our campsite around the other side of the inlet to get to Australia Rock and Wagonga Head – you see what I mean about the holiday park being perfectly positioned. Doing a bit of research there seem to be mixed options about what caused Australia Rock – natural erosion from the tides crashing in, or an accident from when a ship was tied to the rock with large chains – whatever was responsible the result is an Australia shaped hole rock formation (minus Tasmania, sorry Tasweigens). Admittedly you need to use a tiny bit of imagination when looking at it but still a fun photo opportunity and another glorious stroll.

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A few meters further along you walk out to Wagonga Head which are the twin breakwaters extending out into the sea which serves as the inlets entrance to the sea. It was impressive to see the fury of the ocean waves being condensed right at this entrance so that the rest of the inlet is calm and protected. Its only about 50 meters between the twin breakwaters and I certainly don’t envy the skippers who have to navigate through that daily. Equally impressive, and much more fun to look at is the hundreds of seals playing in the protected harbor and resting on the breakwall rocks. They were absolutely gorgeous and we could have stayed watching them play in the water all day but there was a storm rolling in, so we decided to take cover (just in time) at O’Briens Pub –  home of the million dollar view over the inlet. The view was indeed worth at least a few pints of our time.

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What we didn’t know at the time was that this weather rolling in was actually the coldest March day on record – just making it in on the 31^st. We started this trip in the height of summer in Queensland – for most of our trip our biggest worry has been keeping cool enough at night not the other way around. We packed numerous fans in our camper but no heating. We’ve just been sleeping with sheets over us and although it’s cooled down as we’ve been going further south we’ve progressed from sweating to comfortable at night. Neither of us slept that night. I don’t actually know how cold it got – it probably just dipped into single digits knowing Australia – but we were freezing. I slept in my hiking thermals from Milford Sound and after shivering in his boxers the whole night, Daniel finally put some clothes on at 5am. Complaining about the cold for the whole night seemed like a much more warmth inducing option I guess.

Needless to say, first thing the next day we made the 100km round trip to the nearest Kmart where we stocked up on new doonas, blankets, flannel PJ’s and a heater. A few hundred dollars later and we were ready to take on winter. I just tried to not think of the four massive suitcases of doonas and blankets we left in storage as I was paying the final bill. Kmart please take more of my money! As Murphy’s Law would dictate once we had stocked up for winter, the weather got up to 30° so we took on a hike of Broulee Island Reserve. Given I don’t have much luck with tidal dependent activities, it was good news for me that there is a permanent sandbar which connects Broulee Island to the mainland. The walk around the island was 4km across endless rockpools and made you feel as if you were walking over the craters of the moon. I’ve never seen so many and such perfect rockpools in my life. The walk itself should only take somewhere between 1 – 2 hours, but ended up taking double that with the kids stopping to inspect every rockpool for marine life. I absolutely loved rockpools as a kid so I’m secretly happy they seem to have inherited this.

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Broulee Island was also the site of a few more trip landmarks. Walking back across the sandbar we saw our fourth snake crossing the track into the grassland right in front of us. While I still wouldn’t fancy having one get into our camper, I think we’re starting to see for ourselves that they are more scared of us than we are of them. Plus, as long as we have Kaia around her constant screaming will generally act as a repellent for most living things. On the hike Kaia also did her first “bush wee”. Given all the hikes we’ve done so far I’m surprised this hasn’t been an issue before but she took to weeing in the bush like a duck to water. So proud of her accomplishment she has been telling everyone she meets that she now does bush wees and beach wees.

We took a trip about 17km south of Narooma to Mystery Bay where there are fantastic rock formations over perfect blue water. The bay itself got its name from an abandoned wreck which was found there in 1880, and its five passengers were never seen again. A beautiful little spot to spend a morning.

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We had a couple days of bad weather so we used the time to catch up on some life admin and some camp modifications. For the first time we got our toilet ensuite set up. Together with the annexe kitchen/laundry/storage area we’re gradually becoming a three-room camp. Great for ease and comfort of living, the downside however is that packing up and set up is becoming more complex and time consuming. We met another travelling family Clark Family Crusade who also left Brisbane around the same time we did so we’ve followed a very similar route. They have 2 boys a newborn baby girl – full respect to them! An absolutely lovely family who I hope we meet up with on the road soon. All the kids spent the rainy afternoon turning the recreation room of the campsite into an indoor jumping house by putting all the sofa cushions on the floor. Pretty sure the campsite hated us but it kept four kids out of trouble for the whole afternoon and completely wore them out.

Finally on our last day in Narooma, we did the first paid tour attraction of our trip and the reason I wanted to stop in Narooma in the first place – snorkeling with seals. There are a few companies in the area which do similar tours but we went with Narooma Charters. In the 25-minute boat ride to Montague Island we were lucky enough to come across a “school” of dolphins (still not using it right Kaia but getting closer). The pod of about 12 dolphins were so close you could almost touch them playing in the wake of the boat.

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First stop was an hour and a half tour of Montague Island. The island is rich in wildlife and its shining star is its original lighthouse from 1881. It’s beautiful and historic but the hour and a half tour about the island’s history and nature hardly intrigued the kids. The climb up to the Lighthouse was pretty impressive, until Ryder decided to throw his dummy off the top, involving me having to ask the National Parks and Wildlife Service volunteer to climb over the fenced cliffs to get it.

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From there it was on to snorkeling with seals. For two days Kaia had been giddy with excitement over getting to swim with seals. Our plan was that we would rotate staying with Ryder on the boat while the other snorkeled with Kaia and the seals. So we go through the process of getting Kaia changed and into a wetsuit, get all the equipment fitted to her size. She gets halfway down the ladder and feels the temperature of the water and starts screaming blue murder. No amount of coaxing, encouragement or bribes was going to get her to change her mind. Luckily, the family friendly team at Narooma Charters were so kind and looked after both kids on the boat so that we could go snorkeling with the seals together. Our GoPro had somehow healed itself after nearly a year of not working, which was perfect timing for this once in lifetime experience. We got to spend about half an hour swimming with seal pups who are anything but shy. Couldn’t be more thankful to the team at Narooma Charters for giving us this experience together.

How I’d never heard of Narooma before I don’t know, but will now never forget it.

FROM DANIEL:

Narooma. What a fantastic place. One of the best stops so far. Picked a great site with plenty to keep the kids busy. They had an indoor waterpark and spa – given the weather was mostly rainy and cold we took advantage of the spa pool wherever possible. However, they decided that it was adults only except for a timeslot in the morning and afternoon. Surely it would make sense for it to be the other way around being a family holiday park. Their timekeeping of these hours was almost Germanic in its accuracy. The site was perfectly located for walks around the bay and the other attractions.

Took Kaia fishing on the boardwalk. When I say fishing I mean I spent most of my time putting prawns on the end of her line as her idea of fishing seems to be knocking the fish on the head with the prawn. Pulled in a few leatherjackets but still chasing the elusive catch big enough to eat.

Temperature severely dropped whilst we were there. The bottom must have fallen out of the thermometer as I can’t remember being so cold. The result being blowing a huge portion of our budget on warm bedding and heaters – which is great because I was wanting more stuff to pack and unpack each stop. Not to mention we traveled pretty much back to our previous stop for this shopping expedition.

Liana arranged a special day out for us with a boat trip to Montague Island and snorkeling with seals. She kept it quiet until the last minute. She said she wanted it to be a surprise but I have no doubt it was more about the fact that she was spending over $300 on this activity. I would have played the veto card had I been given the chance but no doubt she knew this. Awesome crew who bent over backwards to help with the kids. The tour of the island with a NPWS guide was probably one of the most boring activities I can recall doing. Don’t get me wrong the guide was fantastic and very knowledgeable but how interesting can you make a rock? The whole time Kaia was complaining she just wanted to go swimming and come the end I agreed with her. We all got wetsuitted up; Kaia pushed her way to the front and dipped one toe in the water before deciding it was too cold. The crew came to our rescue and took care of the kids while we went snorkeling and man, what an experience getting up close with the seals who put on a great show.

Back at camp Kaia made some new friends. She had asked for a piece of bread which I gave her assuming she was hungry and thought nothing of it.  While doing some man jobs around the camper (washing up) she called me outside where I found her covered in rainbow lorikeets. All over her arms, head and shoulders. “See Dad – animals love me!” she told me.

Two weeks not smoking – everyone and everything annoying me.