Mount Dromedary
and
Montague Island
Our somewhat-planned Labor Day weekend started Saturday morning as we got away early on a beautiful, sunny day. The day warmed up quickly so shorts and T-shirts were the order of the day. Our first stop was about an hour down the road in Bungendore. We stopped at the wood museum to look at furniture, bowls and more made out of native Australian woods. Next we stopped in Braidwood, a fine country town where some Australian movies were filmed, for a cup of cappuccino at the Albian cafe. Then on to the coast and a stop in Batemans Bay for lunch at Reflections. Another stop in Mogo where we got an early start on Christmas shopping at several of the town's boutique shops. We finally pulled into Narooma about 2:30 pm stopping at the information center to check on the boat trip to Montague Island. We had booked for this trip last January but the trip was canceled due to weather. I think more trips are canceled than taken. At any rate, we were told that the trip was on for 3:30 pm which surprised us because in summer it left at 5:30 pm. So we rushed to our bed and breakfast, Green Gables, in Tilba Tilba, had a short talk with our hostess Gwen and rushed back to Narooma for the trip to Montague Island. Our boat was the "Kona" and we were the last onboard to fill out the maximum of 20 passengers. Since this is off season only one boat was going to Montague. In peak season two boats go out since the maximum number of visitors allowed on the island is 40 per day.
The trip out was a little rough because there was a slight headwind out of the east. Our captain took us directly to a seal colony of bachelor seals who lost out in the mating game. These were the Australian fur seals and they definitely had a pecking order where big seals had the best rocks and smaller seals were off on their own in another area. Then the boat took us to another seal colony of New Zealand fur seals who have taken up residence on Montague only in the last three years. They were smaller and had pointy faces compared to the other breed. Then the tour group went ashore while the boat anchored off shore. We couldn't go up into the lighthouse but could tour the grounds and living quarters. A park ranger gave us a tour and gave us details of the history of the lighthouse which was built in 1881.
As sunset was approaching around 6:00 pm, we proceeded to an area near the shore where benches were set up under lights for our benefit. We sat waiting and watching the beautiful sunset, scanning the ocean for sight of the penguins. This is the highlight of the tour as the small penguins, sometimes called fairy penguins, seem to materialize out of nowhere. They come in on a wave and suddenly hop up on the rocks. Then they marshal their courage to walk up past us but they believe in safety in numbers. The first group was about 30 to 40 penguins all about a foot in height. They waddled past us making a murmuring noise and, once past us, scattered into the dark. Three more groups came up at about ten minute intervals. These groups had about 15 penguins in each group. By this time the sky was dark and full of stars and we could see the lights of Narooma on the mainland. A few stragglers were still coming ashore but we carefully walked back to the pier and the boat came to pick us up. We were quite fortunate to have such good weather (it did get cold near sunset) this time of year and to see so many penguins.
Gwen had made us reservations at Tilba Teapot restaurant in Central Tilba and told them we may be late coming in from our tour. We were only a few minutes late but concerned about the way we were dressed in blue jeans. Not to worry as Central Tilba is not a dressy town. We had a good meal presented nicely in a cozy atmosphere. After a full day we drove back the three kilometers to Tilba Tilba and went to bed early.
We woke up fairly early Sunday morning and had our big, yummy breakfast on the porch with another couple staying at Green Gables. The atmosphere at Green Gables is very relaxed and with only three rooms you usually meet the other guests and share a table with them at breakfast. Gwen told us that the NRMA inspected her rooms recently and awarded her a fourth star. NRMA is the equivalent to the AAA in the US but only rate accommodations, not restaurants. Gwen is a widow who keeps busy running the bed and breakfast along with her little dog Jessie. Jessie loves to wait in the hallway in the mornings and as soon as you open your door she runs up and down the hall wanting you to chase her. She also loves to beg bacon off your breakfast plate - and usually gets some.
After breakfast we packed our backpacks and walked across the street to Pam's general store to have some sandwiches made for our hike. The trail to Mount Dromedary begins beside the store. We began our hike up about 9:30 am and hiked past Chinaman's grave and Halfway rock to the Saddle Back. At Saddle Back we took a short hike off to the Tors, an aboriginal site with phallic rocks and huge granite boulders. According to legend this is where the aborigines took their women who had problems getting pregnant. While there we saw two large wedge tail eagles overhead. We continued on upward through the rain forest with redbark gums, sassafras, brown barrel and other trees and ferns. Along the way we saw and heard bell birds and heard the whip birds with their unusual call. We also saw crimson and Eastern rosellas, gang-gang cockatoos and laughing kookaburras. We reached the summit (800 meters or about 2600 feet) at 2:30 pm just as the weather cooled off and clouds came in, blocking any views of the ocean. We ate our lunch and listened to the quiet. We had the mountain mostly to ourselves and the birds. Surprisingly, we saw only one other couple hiking on this nice Sunday. After a short time at the summit, we hiked down much faster than the trip up. We went back to Green Gables where I took a shower and Rita soaked in the tub for a short while.
Very few restaurants are open on Sunday evenings in this sparsely populated section of the South Coast so we were advised that the pub in Bermagui would be open and have reasonable dinners. We drove the short ten kilometers and found the hotel. The weather had become cooler and there was a fire roaring in the fireplace. We ordered our dinner and drinks at the bar and sat down near the fire. We had good, fresh seafood although it was smothered in too much butter. Since today was the Australian Fathers Day, several families were eating in the pub with small babies. However, all the babies were well behaved and we had a nice dinner. We returned to our beds and turned in early to a sound sleep.
Monday was the US Labor Day so we had the holiday while Australians worked. After another big breakfast we told Gwen and Jessie goodbye and headed back home. First we drove back to Bermagui to see it in daylight. Bermagui is situated on the coast between the ocean and Lake Wallaga, a sacred aboriginal site. We stopped along the lake and watched pelicans, sacred ibis, cormorants and gulls. We headed back north and stopped in Central Tilba. We walked in and out of some shops and did some early Christmas shopping. We went to the interesting Bates general store where Nescafe did a TV coffee commercial in 1991. We also went into the Tilba Cheese Factory where we bought some cheese and honey. Then we headed north up the coastline, stopping again in Batemans Bay for lunch. We considered ourselves lucky as we had good weather until today when we ran into showers which are surely needed by the farmers in this area. We stopped in Braidwood again and did some more Christmas shopping then home to unpack.
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