Gillards Campground is in Mimosa Rocks National Park.
We left Tomakin with 11 minutes to spare and our first stop was Bingie point, where we did a very short walk (1/2 km) and saw a snake on the path in front of us- The bush was thick enough to hide many more on this warm day, so we were discouraged from doing more walking here, even if Trev’s heel had been feeling good enough for it.
Just south of here we followed a track in from the end of a road and out the other side of the park , where we located a lovely camping ground area. We also came across an echidna happily snuffling along.
As we followed the road back to the main highway we stopped to take some photos of the unusual roadside letterboxes etc that we had enjoyed on the way down.
We took the scenic route to Tuross Head past Coila Lake, and looked out over the narrow spit of land called Coila Bar Beach with a steep slope of sand to the ocean protecting the calm lake and enjoyed the waves crashing on to the sand.
The walk to here from Bingie Bingie point would probably be rather nice on a cooler day, but you might have to check tide times to make sure you could get across the inlet, which we assume is sometimes open.
At One Tree Point, just a little further along, we sheltered from the crazily strong wind, to make a cuppa, after a quick walk out to the tip of the point to admire the views.
There is a natural spa here, but I think you would have got a bit too much buffeting today if you chose to use it.
At Tuross head we stopped at a little fish and chips cafe hidden away on the bay, had great lunch and watched a kid fish from the family boat as they waited for theirs to be cooked as well. He lost plenty of bait with lots of nibbles, but caught nothing.
We drove on to the south, taking a detour to Duesburys beach for a bit of a quick look and look out over Montague Island (Barunguba) before continuing on.
At Narooma we looked out over the sandbar and sparkling clear water and understood again why people flock here for holidays. We admired Australia Rock and walked to the top of the viewing platform to admire the amazing long distance panoramas.
A little later we stopped for a cuppa at Mystery Bay, where the boat of Lamont Young (a NSW surveyor) was found empty on the 10th of October 1880, with no explanation for how the 5 men who had been on it had disappeared.
We took the Bermagui Scenic Drive to see Camel Rock where a woman’s face can be seen in the rock if you look from the correct angle (or a camel, or both)
and admired yet another beautiful beach.
We saw the stunning Bermagui Blue Pools (complete with a couple of fellows swimming in the chilly looking water)
..and took a photo of the local dot painted water tower.
We continued on our way South, starting to keep a lookout for somewhere to stay tonight, and eventually made our way down the 4km steep dirt road into Mimosa Rocks NP, where we found quite a few nice flat camp spots at Gillards camp, separated by patches of native trees. The beach was very near , and turned out to be very noisy all night.
The fee ($24) was supposed to be collected by someone, but they never turned up to collect it, so we suspect that this is only the case in the busy times of year.
The beach was empty and was the only place to get phone reception. A few wallabies cruised around the campground, unphased by the people camping, and we heard quite a few birds, but couldn’t see most of them, let alone identify them.
This was our first bush camp for quite a while, and we enjoyed a soothing scotch, a quick heated up meal, and a bit of quiet crossword solving, before dropping into our swags just after dark.
Luvapuzzle 