Day 15: Bega, Wallagoot Gap & Merimbula

Kilometres: 230km

Diesel: $90.64

Food: 0

Ice: 0

After a restful night by the roadside, we began a little adventure out to Cobargo. We had read there was a market on and, despite knowing full well it would be tiny, what else were we going to do today?

We stopped in at Bega for breakfast by the lake. Surrounded by ducks and commentating their every move, we ate our muesli with delight. A couple of locals came by for a chat about our travels before we both made comments about the coming heat and went our separate ways. With a wave to our new friends on the way past, we continued on to Cobargo.

Turns out, Cobargo is a delightful little town. It’s exceptionally artsy with a few galleries and handicraft shops scattered up the main street. A couple of market stalls were mixed in with the shops today and vintage clothes, yoga, natural skin care, health food shops and smiling locals permeated our morning. Throw in a few congregations of local gnomes and Cobargo was as cute as a button.

Back in Bega we visited the Bega Cheese Heritage Centre because…well…Bega. To sum it up, there was some overpriced Bega cheese, some cheese that wasn't from Bega, a bunch of rusty dairy equipment and a cow with three udders. After checking the tide, we realised it would be perfect for a trip to Wallagoot Gap so we jumped in the car and headed back to the coast.

Disappointed that this would be our third National Park in NSW that we had paid to enter (three out of three) we gave in and paid our $8 to park the car.

A short walk from the carpark brought us to a delightful little beach surrounded by rock cliffs that left only a 10m gap between them for the waves to crash through. It was a swim, lay, snack, repeat couple of hours.

We decided to stop in at Merimbula next and were on the hunt for some showers. There were people everywhere! Compared to our sleepy Eden, we couldn’t believe that this hub of tourists had been congregating en masse just 20 minutes from where we had been enjoying beaches to ourselves.

The hunt for a shower led to a wander around some rocks and finding perfect snorkelling conditions. Not able to resist, we grabbed our things and set out on a snorkelling adventure. Schools of striped fishies greeted us as the seaweed waved and pulsed with the strong tide.

Finally, de-salted, we found a surf shop, hoping Chris could get his board repaired. The friendly man behind the counter sadly explained that they didn’t fix boards there. Somehow, about 2 minutes later, Chris had fetched his damaged board from the van and the shop-owner was fixing it up there and then for him. We chatted about his trips to the Gold Coast in his youth and about how the police would try and turn him and his ‘long-haired hippy friends’ away. I was reminded of Pete’s surfing safaris and wondered whether he and this man had ever floated out the back of the same set. After refusing to take any money for his troubles, we continued back to Eden for a couple of hours of the usual activities. You surely know the drill by now…say it with me…guitar, slacklining and tennis. Oh sleepy Eden, how we love you.