February 24: Kangaroos!

The day dawned cloudy and cool and set off for a a shorter drive today, just under 200km, heading for Mystery Bay.

The local government areas of New South Wales are institutions by which areas, cities, towns, municipalities, regions, shires and districts can manage their own affairs to the extent permitted by the Local Government Act established in 1993. These local authorities provide general administration, community amenities, recreation and culture, health, roads and debt servicing in the area controlled by the Council. Rural areas are called shires, where inner-city suburban areas are more likely to be called municipalities. I mention all this because today we drove out of the Shoalhaven Shire and into the Eurobodalla Shire. The signs for the local sights and parks and beaches would all refer to the name of the Shire, so I felt very much like I might be on my way to Frodo’s house.

And then, mid-morning we turned off towards the ocean — to Merry Beach and Pretty Beach — which sounded like lovely spots to see more beautiful beaches. And while winding our way through a residential area Will quickly pulled over, insisted I get my camera, and… Kangaroos! A whole paddock of them. Mostly they were simply lolling about in the grass, which is what they typically do all day in the shade. Since there was no sun today, they were happy to be right in someone’s back yard. We drove a bit further on, and there was a big old buck — looked like over 7 ft tall when he stood and hopped over to protect his does. Kangaroos are very social animals, and they live in groups called mobs. The overall size of it often depends on their location and the availability of food and water resources. There is usually one dominant male, and the females are his to mate with as he chooses. He must also fight off other males in the mob who are trying to usurp his position. These were Eastern Greys which are smaller than some other species found in Australia. I had some really good photos with my long lens, but I’m happy enough even with these from the iphone! The sighting made my day.

Then it was on to a little village called Mogo for lunch at a perfectly named cafe: Grumpy and Sweethearts. This little heritage town was established after the discovery of gold in the area in the 1850’s. This gold rush attracted many differs to the village and overnight a thriving town of hotels, churches and shops was born. Mining continued in the area until the closure of the last mine in 1984. Now it’s a cute little shopping hub with handcrafted items, antiques and artisan jewelry. There’s a spot just up from the main drag that is essentially a gold rush recreation/theme park claiming “a unique, living history and cultural experience”, for $20 AUD. We skipped that part and after a bit of poking into shops continued on.

Our airbnb tonight is a full house in a hamlet on the beach called Mystery Bay. It’s a full 10k from the nearest store, but there’s a lovely beach and large rocks that resemble huge petrified logs. Down at one end was a cave, not accessible by foot, and it was the first beach where I’ve found both some small shells and lucky stones!  Hopefully the luck will last for some better (warmer) weather for the remainder of our road trip.