Merimbula

Sunday morning and the skies are looking very grey and threatening, not to be discouraged we set off to walk to Merimbula. A kind Aussie couple stop and offer us a lift to town, which we gratefully accept, it turns out they have been coming here for 20 years and love the area, even in the rain it is beautiful. An emergency shelter in a coffee shop to order 2 Americano’s, this causes immense confusion “what’s an Americano?” is it a flat white – no – but at least a small part of Australia is not impacted by the global giant that is America!!! followed some window shopping while’s away the time until the rain passes. We walk back to the campsite via Rotary Park and Bar Beach, through what feels like rainforest. There are plaques along the way giving descriptions, pictures and uses of the indigenous plant species and all the while through the trees glimpses of the expansive bay.

After a brief stop for lunch, we set off to explore the beach behind the campsite. From the top of the cliffs the beach is spread out in a broad arch of golden sand with a lake behind the beach providing still waters. The walk is hard going at times with the soft golden sand squeaking as we walk over it and all the time the wind whipping up the sea into white foam. The sun provides pools of warmth that chase us along the beach. The day might not be the beautiful hot, sunny Aussie weather we dreamed of but it certainly is dramatic.

Now, the last thing you expect at a campsite in Australia we’ve come to believe is a vibrant music scene and a café serving surprisingly haute cuisine food. We wandered up to The Cheeky Mango expecting an average evening of entertainment, how wrong we were. The Aussie’s (and one New Zealander) were wonderfully welcoming, 3 brother-in-laws given a pass out by the sisters they were married too and here for the 4^th sister’s wedding, chatted to us (1 Farmer – arable & livestock, 1 general maintenance/lumberjack, 1 sheep sheerer-200 sheep/day!) as if we’d known them all our lives. Then there was the music, acoustic guitar, blues, harmony, blue grass and all with an Ed Sheeran look/sound alike, absolutely brilliant. I haven’t even reached the food yet, salt and pepper calamari with alioli and filo wrapped prawns (huge) with sweet chilli, a great unexpected evening after a wind-blown day.



Live music at "The Cheeky Mango"