27 May 2023 - Eden to Mallacoota

Up betimes to a cool but clear Eden morning with no particular plan or destination in mind. 

Thought we might head to Bemm River but on the way took a detour to Wonboyn (where some rellies of Mrs P once briefly lived) and, having said a fond farewell to Mrs P's State of birth (New South Wales) ended up at Mallacoota.

The detour to Wonboyn was not profitable. We couldn't find where Uncle "Dusty" Rhodes and his wife once lived and we couldn't find the beach. Did manage to get a brief glimpse of a Lyrebird though.

A Lyrebird - but almost certainly not the one we saw

Decided to take another detour to Mallacoota, a place we had visited twice before. 

The first time was in 1986 with Mrs P and "the two little Props" at which location the Prop observed Halley's Comet (a much less enthralling event than the Prop had been led to believe)

A picture of Halley's Comet - much more impressive than anything the Prop ever observed

The second time was in 2014 as part of the "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" (see the Blog for 14 July 2014).

The Prop was therefore interested to see whether, and to what extent, the community of Mallacoota had recovered from the devastating bushfires of 2019/2020.

Mallacoota, 2019

(For more info see:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-01/mallacoota-bushfire-first-hand-account/11836264)

Mallacoota Inlet- pretty as a picture again

Three years on it is still very evident that the bush surrounding Mallacoota was incinerated but the verdant, vigorous regrowth tends to obscure the charred trunks of the older trees that remain. More remarkably there are very few homes left in the town that appear to be more than three years old!

A Mallacoota local - fully recovered

Mallacoota in the late arvo sun

Mallacoota Inlet with Gabo Island barely visible in the background

The lighthouse on Gabo Island just off the coast of Mallacoota (Ben Boyd, eat your heart out!)

The MV Loch Ard, still in service! - The Prop, Mrs P and the Little Props all cruised in her in 1986

But not everything in Mallacoota can be said to be completely "tickety-boo". The Prop was very surprised indeed to find, at the local recreation ground, some Wallabies apparently engaged in a form of Association Football!

Wallabies playing Soccer - blatant code-hopping?

 (Again, Mrs P wishes me to inform the reader that she disassociates herself entirely from what she calls "that atrocious double-entendre" in the immediately preceding caption.) 

Perfick!