Flashes Of Inspiration
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday October 13, 2001
VISITORS/ BOOK
THE PLACE BUNDLE HILL COTTAGES,
Bawley Point, NSW 2539
BOOKINGS
Phone 4457 1527, fax 4457 2057, email bhillcot@scoastnet.com.au, Web site www.bundlehill.com.au
PRICES
Friday to Sunday, $185 a night for two, minimum two nights. Monday to Thursday, $145 a night for two for more than one night, $35 a night for each additional person. Single night, Monday to Thursday, from December 24 to January 31 inclusive and all public holidays, $185.
HOW TO GET THERE
Head for Bawley Point, 31/2 hours from Sydney. Turn off the Princes Highway at Termeil, about 20 minutes south of Ulladulla. Cottages are signposted from Bawley Point. ROOMS AVAILABLE NEXT WEEKEND No.
CHILDREN
No, at least not young children (the pole houses are too high). Teenagers are accepted. WHEELCHAIR ACCESS
Redgum can accommodate wheelchairs, but the bath may be a problem. Best to phone and check.
SMOKING No.
PLUSES
Secluded, tasteful, wonderful views, close to good beaches.
MINUSES
No nightlife (apart from possums and kangaroos).
RATING 16/20
Visit our Weekends Away Web site http://weekendsaway.citysearch.com.au This week's special feature: Dress-circle digs for the Melbourne International Festival
A bush break gets off to a perfect start for Steve Meacham.
There's something magical about showing off Australia to foreign visitors. Even our violent thunderstorms can excite, thrilling those raised in more temperate climes with the awesome intensity of our lashing torrents (rain seems too gentle a word).
So it was as we arrived at the approach road to our weekend retreat, our two guests from Britain cowering in the backseat from a night sky which burst with electricity like a scene from The Rocky Horror Show.
Suddenly someone shrieked. Who or what had they seen? Frank'N'Furter? Godzilla?
No, but something equally exotic to them a mob of kangaroos illuminated by the streaks of lightning and our headlights.
Despite the weather, it was a perfect start to our short break on the South Coast the first time our friends had seen kangaroos in the wild. Both had been to Australia before but had never had time to explore outside Sydney or Melbourne. This time they had asked to see rural Australia.
After some discussion we had opted to head down the Princes Highway to Batemans Bay so they could enjoy one of this country's most beautiful coastal drives, then return inland via Braidwood, Goulburn and Berrima to experience the classic cattle and sheep country of the Southern Highlands.
As our base we chose Bundle Hill Cottages, a few kilometres south of Bawley Point, between Ulladulla and Batemans Bay. From the Web site it looked ideal: four pole houses, each a little different from the others, perched on a hillside with glorious views through eucalypts, ferns and burrawangs to an unspoilt rocky coast. The Web site offered us ``200 acres of natural bush and rainforest gullies".
We weren't particularly bothered about the view as we negotiated the steep approach road, located our two cottages, unpacked the car and sheltered from the storm. Fortunately we had phoned ahead to tell owner May Powell that we would be arriving after dark and she promised to light the log fires. So she had, and a few minutes later we were tucking into a light supper of salami, cheese and tomatoes in front of crackling flames, watching the free fireworks show still raging outside. Things couldn't get much cosier, could they? Oh, yes they could. Open another bottle of shiraz.
That night, under two roofs, we all slept soundly, lulled by the unrelenting drumbeat of water hitting wood.
The next morning a break in the weather proved those photos hadn't lied. The views were spectacular even from our bathroom. We had Island Cottage, the smallest, which was open plan and best suited for a couple, with a corner bath that allows you to see some of the best scenery on the Eurobodalla coast.
Our guests were 50 metres higher up the hill in Boobook, a larger, two-bedroomed pole house which could easily accommodate a family or a group of four friends. Both cottages have airy interiors, with steep pitched roofs and outside decks with gas barbecues. They also have TVs and CD players.
After breakfast croissants, coffee, juice, cereal, milk and home-made jams are all provided and included in the price we made our way further up the hill to meet our hosts. Darry Powell was for 10 years the chief executive of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Hobart. Then he and May decided to move to NSW, discovering this wonderful patch of land. What made it so remarkable was its location, sandwiched between State forest and land held in trust for the Australian National University so it could never be developed.
They resolved to create an ecologically sound business, initially building Boobook and living in it themselves while they cleared the other sites and put in septic tanks and other services.
The result, nine years later, is an oasis of uncomplicated tranquillity. The only disadvantage is that the wallabies seem to grow more numerous each year, feasting mightily on the shiraz grapes which their son, Greg Duncan Powell, a wine writer, has planted in the lower paddock. There's plenty of other wildlife, including parrots and possums.
Taking Darry's advice, we drove south, following the coast through the scenic towns of Mossy Point and Broulee to Moruya, before looping back along the Princes Highway to Batemans Bay. On a better day we would probably have signed up for a Merinda Cruises boat trip to Nelligen, which leaves at 11.30 most mornings (adults $22, children $11). Or we might even have tried a sea-kayak tour through Bay and Beyond (half-day $45, no experience needed other than moderate fitness).
There were even some keen to use the little Gourmet Trail booklet we had picked up at the Batemans Bay Visitors' Centre (phone 4472 6900), perhaps calling in at Christos Paschalidis, in North Street, to see how Clyde River oysters are brought every day from leases along the river to the workshed, or stopping off at Nelligen Honey Cellars, where Brian Reader will show visitors how the extraction process works (phone ahead 4478 1163).
But no, one of the great things about a rainy day is that you feel no compunction to do anything much. So we settled for lunch at Starfish, which despite its name, proximity to the Batemans Bay fishing harbour and wonderful position on the promenade was disappointingly light on seafood (not to worry the fish and chips, English style, washed down with a verdelho, were declared well up to standard by our visitors).
In the afternoon we just headed back to our cottages, enjoying a lazy day in front of the fire, curled up with newspapers. Again, had the weather been up to it we would have used the barbecues; instead we cooked at Boobook and spent the evening watching some classic Australian videos we'd rented.
The next morning the rain had improved sufficiently for us to go out for a run to Kiola Beach, about two kilometres down the track.
Then we packed our car and set off along the Kings Highway, through the rainforested slopes of the coastal divide to Braidwood. The nightmare weather disappeared as soon as we crossed the range.
In the words of the song, we could see clearly now the rain had gone. Yet our visitors agreed we couldn't have had a more enjoyable and restful break if the weather had been what they'd expected from the movies.
Establishments featured in Weekends Away are visited anonymously by Herald writers, who pay their own way.
© 2001 Sydney Morning Herald