Days 5 & 6 - Nelligan and Batemans Bay

On the Saturday we took a drive down to Batemans Bay to have a look around.  I was trying to work out the last time we visited.  I can see a visit in 2017 on my blog, but I know we came again after that.  I’m pretty sure it was 2018, after visiting the Braidwood Quilts weekend, but I evidently didn’t get around to blogging about it.

We started our day by enjoying a fish and chips lunch at The Boatshed.

We noticed quite a bit of public art around the place.

Lat time we were there the old opening bridge was still in place and they were just doing the very early stages of the civil work for the approaches to the new bridge.

Now, the skyline looks quite different with the lower line of the bridge.  The weather was glorious, with the water sparkling.

Just below Batehaven we noticed a sign pointing to “Observation Point”.  That’s new since our last visit.

It sports stunning views into the Bay and out to sea.  

On the Sunday, we just had a quiet time back at the van.

Mick took his kayak out on the Nelligan Creek for a while.

In the afternoon we walked down to the Nelligan village to get an ice cream.  No photo, as they were really runny and we were trying to stop them running up our arms.  The village dates back to the 1850s, so there are a couple of cute old buildings.

Then it was time to finish reading the book I bought at the Bungendore op shop.

We finished our time at Nelligan with a delicious pub dinner at the Steam Packet Hotel, right over the road from the caravan park.  A very relaxing couple of days.

Get Outlook for iOS

Day 4 - Canberra to Nelligan

I’m finally back.  We have had poor internet coverage is my excuse.

After our visit to Canberra, we started to head east towards the coast.  Firstly heading back towards Bungendore.  As you can see, the weather was somewhat overcast.

Our intention was to just drive through, but as we went up a side street, we noticed “Phil’s Op Shop”, so of course we stopped.  What a bonus that was.

It turns out that the op shop is run by St Philips for Anglicare and on Friday mornings they host a community morning tea in the op shop.  They insisted we have morning tea, which consisted of barista coffee and a mix of bought and home made biscuits and slices.  They prepared the coffee while we went shopping. The morning tea was as good as any coffee shop.  I found several doileys and embroidered hand towels and a book.  An extra donation was made for the morning tea as well, as we were going to buy morning tea somewhere anyway.  It was nice to see a quilt on the back wall and some pretty doiley curtains.

Our next stop was Braidwood. We just had a walk up and down the street, as we didn’t need to get morning tea.  The quilt shop was closed, not that I needed anything.  Our only purchase was bread from the bakery.

After Braidwood the scenery made a rather rapid change from tablelands to coastal.  The grass was lush and green.

Then, as we started down Clyde Mountain we had the tall trees and were met by some rather moody, misty weather.

Our destination for the next three nights was Nelligan, which is on the Clyde River, just upstream from Batemans Bay.  Our van site had beautiful lush grass.  It was a very popular caravan park, being the weekend, with lots of families.  We were just going to have a chilled couple of days.

My first task was to finish the book I was reading.  A nice, light enjoyable read.  It was a nice gift from Jennifer of Bronze Wombat. 

Day 3 Evening - Canberra

The main reason we popped down to Canberra was to go to the cricket. 

The Australian women’s team was playing the Indian team in a T20 match.  This was the first time I had attended a T20 match and the first time that either of us had seen the girls play. They had played in Sydney on Sunday and the Aussies lost. We were hoping for a better outcome this time.

The match was played at Manuka Oval, so a more intimate ground.  The crowd attendance was 6,362.  Not too bad.

It was a hot afternoon, so ice cream was in order.  Mick does like is sprinkles…as do I.

Once the sun went down, we were treated to a gorgeous evening.  No sunset photo this time, as it was behind us.  Fortunately, we were sitting in the shade.  However, the sky was beautiful looking to the east.

Of course we had to take a selfie.

The Aussie girls batted first and did rather well, scoring 163.

At half time there was the requisite fireworks.

After the hot afternoon, it got surprisingly cool, as in we could have done with a cardy. That was not expected.

And the outcome…. We won!  That will make the third match in Adelaide the decider.  Fingers crossed we can win again.

It was a very enjoyable evening.

Day 3 - Canberra

We had most of the day free yesterday, so decided to take a drive out to Bungendore, which is a small, somewhat touristy village not far from Canberra.  

We had a quick wander around, a nice morning tea, and then back into Canberra.

Lake Burley Griffin was looking rather lovely in the sunlight.

Early in the morning I had received an email from Jennifer of Bronze Wombat to ask if I knew about the exhibition celebrating 50 years of the Canberra Quilters.  No, I didn’t.  Thanks so much for letting us know.  

Guess where we headed to next?

It was just a small exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery, but a nice little snapshot of the group.

They started from very humble beginnings.

Quilts were how I remember the first patchwork I encountered.

Some rather famous names in the Australian quilting world have emanated from the Canberra Quilters.

There was one special quilt that is normally housed at the National Museum.  

There were a few non quilt items on show as well.  

 

I really liked these jeans.

If  you get a chance, call in to see the display. It is on until mid March 2026.

While we were in the gallery, we visited the permanent exhibition of some of Sidney Nolan’s works.

By then it was lunch time, so we went for a walk.  There is some interesting public artwork in all the open spaces.  It turned out that we were right near the main shopping precinct of Canberra.  We found ourselves something to eat before returning to the van for a lazy afternoon.

Day 2 - Young to Canberra

As we headed off from Young, the weather was a bit different, as in it was rather cloudy.  It looked rainy, but we only got a brief sprinkle on us.  The landscape is looking rather summery - dry parched paddocks, reflecting the very hot and dry summer we have experienced, particularly as you go further south in the state.

From Young, we were going to travel on a route we haven’t been on before, as it is not on the direct way to anywhere from home.  We were to go through the twin small towns of Murrumburrah and Harden.

Murrumburrah was the first we came to.  It is a very historic area, as reflected by the architecture.  Sadly, it is all looking rather shabby, with only a few businesses trading.

We got chatting to one fellow.  He is the owner of this closed business.  It was opened by his Greek parents back in the 1960s and still has all the 1978 decor and fittings.

We stopped to check out the rather faded silo art, which was hard to get a vantage point for.

While looking at it, we noticed a sculpture.  It was a wonderful depiction of “Bill the Bastard” horse from World War One.

You can read about it here. 

After our little wander it was time to head over to Harden.  The main street was off to the side of the highway, so very little passing traffic.  There were three op shops.  The first was in the St Paul’s church.

The buildings were also old, but not as many as Murrumburrah.  Both these towns have died in recent years, as Young has grown to be a regional hub and is only about 30kms away.

Back on the road, we noticed a sign to the village of Galong.  We’d never heard of it.  As it was only a couple of kms off the road, we swung in to have a look.  There are no businesses there now, but another place that had been a hub back in the day.

Lunch was at Yass, and as we’ve been there a few times recently, I didn’t take any photos.  

We did see one oversized load.  I don’t know what was in that box, but it was obviously heavy, going on the number of axles on the trailer.

Of course Charley Bilby has come along for the ride.

From there it was just on to Canberra, where we settled into the caravan park for a quiet afternoon.  We did enjoy a piece of the passion fruit slice that we bought from the little CWA shop in Young.

The day ended with another lovely sunset.