Bermagui, NSW Australia

Leaving the sunset behind in Merimbula, I started my morning on the road again, excited about today’s adventure. I traveled through Bournda National Park, a wonderful park featuring the large saltwater Wallagoot Lake. The traditional owners of the land are the Dhurga and Yuin people, who lived off the land for thousands of years and quarried to make tools. The name ‘Bournda’ means ‘place of tea tree and kangaroos’, evident in the tea-tree-stained lake and ample kangaroos roaming the park. The park also features Bondi Lake, a freshwater lake close to the ocean, and Bournda Lagoon, a half-freshwater and half-saltwater swimming hole that occasionally opens to the ocean. Right next to the lagoon is access to Wallagoot Beach, which leads directly to the lake. In between all this are numerous hiking tracks.

My next stop was Tathra, a small seaside resort home to the last coastal steamer wharf in NSW. Built in the 1860s, the wharf was the last departure point for the iron steamer Bega, a reliable vessel that for 25 years plied the south coast shipping lanes from Eden to Sydney. Bega found its fateful end when it departed Tathra in April 1908 heading for the Commonwealth Bank, laden with cargo, livestock and gold coins, and succumbed to instability, possibly due to incorrect packing, although this was never determined with certainty. Shortly after its departure, the vessel began listing, taking on water at the bow, which slowly entered the deck spaces below. Unable to rebalance, the captain ordered everyone onto lifeboats. Sadly, an elderly passenger died after suffering a heart attack during the commotion. Staying afloat in boats and rafts overnight, the remaining 61 passengers made it to shore more than 12 hours later. The wreck was discovered in 2004, 76 metres below water, north of the town. Bega is now a protected wreck under the Historic Shipwrecks Act, and diving to the site requires a permit. 

Continuing my journey, I passed through Mimosa Rocks National Park, which is significant to the Yuin people. The park got its name from the paddle steamer Mimosa that ran aground at its northern end in 1863. The rocks in this area have a fascinating, craggy, castle-like appearance, shaped by the forces of folding, fracturing, and new rock formations. It's said that catching the sunrise at Bunga Head transforms these red lichen-covered rocks into a stunning sight against the backdrop of the pink morning hues.  

The park is close to the Ulladulla to Merimbula Important Bird Area, where swift parrots rely on the forest’s spotted gums and flowering eucalypts for food. At 10in (25cm) long, the swift parrot is primarily green with a turquoise crown and red patches above and below the beak. Breeding in Tasmania during the summer, the species migrates across the Tasman Sea yearly to the Australian mainland in search of food. Voted Bird of the Year in 2023, these critically endangered birds are found only in southeastern Australia. 

As I entered Bermagui, I headed straight to Blue Pool, another ocean-fed rock pool. It is one of 100 along the NSW coast, and I’m sure I’ll experience many more along my travels. I climbed down the cliff to find an Olympic-sized swimming hole, which was expanded to its current size in the early 1930s. Diving in for a refreshing swim, I dipped my head underwater to find the pool floor teeming with marine life, such as anemones, sea snails and crabs. 

After a splash in the pool and some underwater exploration, I dried off and wrapped up my day at two nearby ancient rock formations. The Horse Head Rock, which, no matter the angle viewed, clearly resembled a horse, and the Camel Rock, aptly named after the camel hump-shaped feature. At 500 million years of age and created by underwater avalanches, they are some of NSW's most ancient rock structures.