We enjoyed a fantastic bbq evening with Terry & Sue (who met at Bramston Beach). Their hospitality was warm and friendly and they made us feel extremely welcome, even though we parked the van on their driveway overnight! Les & Jan also popped by for the evening - more folks from Bramston, who live locally to Terry & Sue. It was like a Bramston reunion!!
Alas, next day it was time to move south... getting closer and closer to home....
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| Most of eastern Australia advertises Motackle on TV -we couldn't resist visiting the store! Talk about hog's heaven!!! |
River camping
We stopped in at Gumma, to stay beside the river, and to catch up with Barney & Therese, a fishing-mad couple we met at... you guessed it..... Bramston Beach. Barney makes regular appearances on TV to show the public his talents in and passion for fishing, and we loved being shown their beautiful home which includes a massive cast of a marlin Barney caught some years ago, which is proudly displayed on the wall in their living room!
The Gumma Reserve is one of those special places that are becoming rarer on the east coast, and we hope it is here for everyone to enjoy for many years to come. A long grassed area flanks the river and campers can pitch their tent or park their van right on the water's edge. It's really family-friendly, and every day there are kids swimming in the river or running around playing. ...getting fresh air, like the good ol' days!
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| The view from our campsite |
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| The view of our campsite from the water |
During our stay we enjoyed fishing with Barney and his father-in-law Terry (caught some nice Flathead), fishing off the riverbank right at our caravan site (but only caught a mullet and whiting), and taking the Zodiac out for a spin whenever we felt like it (we set the boat up once and left it at the shore - it's all very safe and friendly here at Gumma). Other exciting events included the commercial fishermen who created tremendous conflict when they set their nets right at the campground (one camper was literally abused physically and was close to pressing charges), and the fire brigade conducting a control-burn which blazed and smoldered all night, just metres from the campsites (several campers packed up and left. We stayed to watch the show).
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| Nice catch of flathead, up to 46cm |
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| Not usually a welcome sight... |
Getting outside and enjoying the scenery
I've also decided to do a little more about keeping fit and have endeavoured to walk 5 or 6km every morning. Gumma is just so pretty - other than a lovely river system, there are small-scale farms and forests everywhere. Walking for 45 minutes or so is easy when the scenery is this good.
Next stop?
Point Plomer for a spot of beach fishing, then onwards to Canberra!
Canberra??? You're right next door. Great that you're almost home. But wait ..... what will I look forward to reading every day once you are home???? No more rodeos, fishing tales, beach jaunts, colourful characters .... Come to think of it, chatting to you in person will be pretty darn good!!!!
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