Malua Bay

After our trip to Canberra we had 5 nights by the coast in a little town. Most people from Canberra like to escape to the beach, they are Australian after all. The closest point is a town called Bateman's Bay, which has everything you can think of gathered around the mouth of the Clyde River. Its other claim to fame is its seafood, namely oysters, which the tourist board website claims to be the best in the world. Now, the last 2 occasions I have eaten oysters, I've spent the night puking. If I was ever going to try them again, it would be the worlds best oyster from some of the cleanest water, but I just couldn't face it. Life is too short to induce vomiting.

We stayed just a little further south in a small town called Malua Bay. We spent the mornings pottering on various beaches, and having a picnic, before going home. Everyday we had 2 sleeping kids in the afternoon, they went to bed at 7:30 and were up about 7am. We don't know how we did it, but it certainly contributed to our refreshed feeling after the holiday. If we're honest we didn't want it to end, but the cheeky monkeys must have known as on the last morning they were up at 6am. We enjoyed ourselves so much, and achieved so little, a big lesson was learned.

The beach cottage we stayed in was very comfortable, but the highlight for Howard was discovering the chiminea. After that we spent our evening out under the stars, burning things and toasting marshmallows. It was sticky, but worth it. Evan has definitely inherited his father's love of fire.

I did a bit of jogging and surprised an early morning kangaroo. It was my first face to face encounter, and although we had heard a story about an estate agent who got boxed by a kangaroo, it clearly knew I was a GP. The jog ended less well, when I had to be rescued in the car by Howard, as I'd run a long way in the wrong direction. Every time I venture out in new territory without a map I regret it, but I don't seem to learn.


For a bit of novelty value, and a break from the beach, we went panning for gold at Old Mogo Town. We managed to find some small specks of gold, and had a lot of fun getting wet and muddy in the process. It was quite hard to drag Howard away, but Evan's persistence in trying to get into the water troughs meant we had to move on.










By the end of the week, we were beginning to worry that we might have to go home without Carys and Evan seeing a kangaroo, but then we found hundreds pottering in some fields near the beach. Depressingly, Howard and I were more excited than the kids, who just wanted to know if they could watch TV.

When we got back home we had a quick look at real estate in the area, as you do, and were surprised to find that Nicole Kidman payed 1.5m for these derelict beach huts. Somehow, I don't think we'll be having a holiday home here!