Today we said farewell to Jindabyne and headed to the coast.
Driving conditions in the first part of the morning were
wettish, meaning there was enough rain
to be annoying but not enough to engage the windscreens wipers fully.
Driving through the towns of Dalgety, Bombala and Wyndham,
the only unusual thing that happened was sighting a dingo whilst we were driving
past one of the State Parks. Am I 100%
sure that it actually was a dingo? No,
but for the sake of the rest of this narrative I’m sticking with dingo (No
photo, sorry).
We also saw a lyre bird and a wallaby, but they are more
common, especially back up in the Ranges. It’s hard to get excited about seeing
a wallaby in the wild when we had one living on our property a few years ago.
After a lunch break in Eden (food review below) we crossed
back in to Victoria and finally made it to our accommodation in Mallacoota.
My relationship with the town of Mallacoota began back when
I was in my early twenties (so early to mid 1990’s). I had organised some time off and had made my
way along the east coast; first to Loch Sport (south of Sale) and then on to
Lake Tyers (just outside Lakes Entrance).
I was feeling a bit restless in Lake Tyers and cut my time short there
and decided to head further east. I went as far as you can go and still be in
Victoria.
Mallacoota was a bit of a revelation. It was a quiet town
(population of around 1,000 – it hasn’t changed much from then until now) and
no mobile reception. Telstra had
installed about 12 public phone booths next to each other next to the round
about as you enter the town. This meant
that communication with the outside world was limited, and blissful! Mallacoota became the perfect place to unwind and forget about the rest of the world, even when mobile phone reception eventually reached the town.
One of the first holidays we had as a young family of four
was in Mallacoota. I think Ben was
around twelve months old, so maybe 2004?
That was probably not the best holiday experience we had due to a baby
that just wouldn’t go to sleep at night.
Despite this bad first experience Mallacoota became our
family’s holiday destination of choice.
The beaches were quiet, even during school holidays (we avoided the
Xmas/New Year stampede where the town would swell to 10,000 people during that
week). We had over a dozen holidays
in Mallacoota as a family.
Once the two boys stopped wanting to go on holidays with
their parents I had the opportunity to visit here a couple of times. Then Nick became interested in going away
with me again (He had left his teens and I think appreciated not having to pay
for a holiday). Our current trip makes
it three times that Nick and I have been on holiday here (well, two times – in
2023 we booked a holiday to Mallacoota that had to be cancelled due to heavy
rains causing a landslide that blocked access to the town. We then spent a very wet and rainy week in
Eden before stopping in Mallacoota briefly on the way home.
I was devastated when the 2020 Black Summer bushfires hit
Mallacoota. We had booked accommodation
a week after those fires, which was obviously cancelled. Due to my experiences back home I was
initially very reluctant to return here.
I was pleasantly surprised when I finally made it back here that the
destruction appeared limited and that regrowth and rebuilding had seemed to occur
relatively quickly.
Our accommodation overlooks the Mallacoota inlet, because it
should. The unit itself is a mixture of mudbrick, and old bottles. Quirky yet comfortable.
Tea tonight was takeaway from
Lee’s Pizza & Takeaway. I have made
it a tradition to get at least one meal here every time we visit. It's a classic takeaway with fish and chips,
burgers and pizza with the addition of Chinese cuisine. Nick normally gets fish and chips. This time with additions. I normally get the Mallacoota Special pizza,
which has – shrimp, ham, chicken, salami, olives, mushrooms, onion and
cheese. Not healthy but that’s the
point.
We will be cooking the rest of
our meals during our stay.
After tea we played a couple of
games on a Nintendo Switch that Nick brought along to allow me my once a year
game console experience. When we turned
off the lights to start playing Nick noticed some movement through the
air. We turned the light on to
investigate and saw nothing so we switched the light off to and returned to
play. More movement. This time, after turning the light back on we
discovered a small bat hiding behind the wood heater flue. A quick check with the owners, and no, it’s
not a normal part of the eco-experience here and someone will deal with it in
the morning.
After we finished playing I sat
down to start typing my blog when something hit the window from the
outside. Here he/she is:
As Nick turned around to head to
his bedroom he noticed another visitor:
Enough animals!
Food Review
The bakery in Eden we visited was Martin's Pie Place. The name sounded promising.
A man of few words, Nick said the sausage roll was good. I was a bit disappointed as he had chosen the "standard" sausage roll and not the pizza topped one that they had. 8/10
I chose a Hot Mexican pie. There was no Old El Paso seasoning in it, so that was nice. I think the only thing "Mexican" about it was the inclusion of chillies, the heat of which crept on up me. The cheese on top was a nice addition 7.5/10
Today's Album Cowboy Bebop (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Kms Travelled Today 311
Total Kms Travelled 1,403
