Back into Blues territory

Thursday 1 April

We departed Lakes Entrance at 0830 and headed for the NSW border. It was our longest day of travel so the early start, blue sky and sunshine aided the swift get away. A quick coffee stop at Cabbage Tree Creek upped the caffeine level and the wonderful bacon butty hit the spot and before long we were breezing into Mallacoota as planned for a revisit of a family Easter camping expedition of 30 years ago where it poured with rain. Bondy’s borrowed boat turned up, upon entering the water to have a significant hole in it, requiring a return to shore fairly rapidly, and Roger sneezed once too often and lost the nasal plug he had successfully lived with for 15 years requiring a middle of the night expedition to the Doctor on Call. This time however sans children and tents, we could enjoy a short walk around the lakeside to observe the remnants of the horrific fires that all but wiped out the township over New Year 2020, and the observation of a constant stream of caravans and camping trailers with more gadgets and conveniences than we had ever known, pouring into the caravan park. A fortuitous message from Jacqui Lavis who had just arrived in Merimbula set the scene for yet another ‘Francophile’ moment as we reunited with fellow travellers who had joined us for lunch in the Hamlet of Auriac two years ago. We covered many many kilometres of fire affected bushland, in some cases so charred that there was not even any sign of regrowth, and the silhouette of trees against the clear sky was a reminder of the absolute devastation that these fires caused across swathes of land. After an uneventful crossing of the border into NSW, we ventured to Merimbula for a delightful sojourn with Jacqui and Russell before heading into our final destination of Central Tilba via the delightful village of Cobargo which was all but wiped out in the fires of 2020. A  reinvigorated vibe exists now with some delightful craft and homewares stores, where lady P lingered longer than planned meaning that we missed the local General Store by mere minutes. There was some minor angst due to impending gloom on behalf of Captain catastrophe – ‘if there were no shops open in Mollymook on Good Friday, we could potentially starve’, and ‘perhaps there may not even be a place for dinner in Tilba either.’ Deeply concerned Lady Penelope deviated by 30 mins to Bermagui where she had established there was a Woolworths open, and we brought some essential sustenance to get us through and ice to chill the Gin and Tonic. We turned of the A1 to Tilba Tilba and low, another sign, in the small village of two shops and a plant nursery there was a French Café, Le Gallette.  Of course it was closed as it was now 6pm but on arrival at our Heritage listed Two Story Bed and Breakfast guest house, the first question was naturally about dinner and a recommendation to book the Dromedary Pub just two doors up the road, as it is very popular. Instead we ate cooked chook and salad on the little verandah upstairs along with a nice cold GnT. We ventured to the pub afterwards for a glass of red and enjoyed the social banter of a very passionate and eclectic community, eagerly planning the finer details of the Tilba Festival which was to happen on Easter Saturday.













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