Malua Bay

We were able to go away for a short trip to the coast during the winter school holidays. We left on a Sunday afternoon and came back the following Wednesday. The forecast was for showers most of the time we were there, but we were able to go out and explore during the breaks of rain. It was good to have the change of scenery.

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It was about a 2-hour drive to get to Batemans Bay. We made a brief stop at The Braidwood Bakery for a late afternoon drink and snack. The drive up and down Clyde Mountain was windy and a bit intense with some showers and seeing the affects from the summer bushfires. Catherine used the word sadness to describe it all. 

As we were approaching Batemans Bay, we joined our weekly family WhatsApp group call and were able to show the family scenes on the road. We stopped at Woolworth’s where Phil left the call to buy some groceries and the rest of us stayed in the car. Phil also bought takeaway fish and chips from the Boatshed. 

Our home for the next 3 days was at Abode Malua Bay. We had a 1-bedroom apartment which was very spacious. We had a wall of windows to look out from and we enjoyed our view of the beach every day. 

On Monday the rain wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. We went out to Pretty Point Beach in the morning. There were showers here and there. Catherine collected many shells. We explored the rockpools and saw some crabs. The water was surprisingly not cold. Phil skipped rocks and Nicholas took lots of photos. 

Nicholas pointed out that it was weird to be at the beach in winter and during Covid-19. I must admit that I did initially feel uncomfortable at the hotel. He also thought it felt strange to see all the burnt trees surrounding all the houses that survived the fire – an indication of the remarkable firefighting efforts. It was a bit surreal being on a holiday at this part of the coast. Malua Bay also brought back childhood memories for Phil as this was his family summer holiday destination growing up.

On Tuesday we drove to rugged Guerilla Bay where we watched huge waves crashing until we needed to take shelter from the rain. We thought we’d try the Burrewarra Lighthouse walk but the rain wasn’t letting up and surprisingly there were a lot of cars parked at the trailhead. So then we drove to Mossy Point lookout. Nicholas and I jumped out of the car to quickly take photos. We then bought some drinks from the Mossy Point Café before heading back to our hotel. The sun came out later in the afternoon so we headed out to Pretty Point Beach once again to collect more shells. 

The next day we drove to Burrewarra again and did the lovely walk before driving back to Canberra. We enjoyed the beautiful oceans views. Catherine’s fear of heights got the best of her towards the end of the walk so she and I turned back before Phil and Nicholas did. The rain had cleared so it was a beautiful sunny morning. It was nice to go away even for a short time. About a week later, the coast was declared a Covid-19 hotspot. We were lucky we stayed put at our hotel for our main meals as it turned out there were some infected people around the same time we were at the coast who visited the local clubs for dinner.