Finishing off Mallacoota - for this trip

Our final day was a short walk , pack up and head for home .It began with a fairly spiffy sunrise, due to looming cloud.

A pelican was keeping up the patrol from last night.

This is the route of our dog walk this morning.  The numbers show the location of the next few photos.

For the first time this trip we found some flowering orchids.  I'm pretty sure these are Dipodium roseum, rather than D punctatum.

A Jacaranda in full flower are Bucklands.

We often see these two dogs on their walk around Karbeethong.  They are very well trained and despite their obvious interest in Tammy stayed sitting as we passed  - the owner is just out of shot, wielding a lawn mower.

I think this is some variety of Leucodendron.

This shows the current state of the house next door, on the uphill side.  There is massive renovation going on: the cliche about "a great old axe - two new heads and 6 new handles" springs to mind.

Apart from dealing with some asbestos the builders have also found some termite damage. I discovered this when it appeared the power was out, but hear them using drills  so went to enquire.  They were using battery power, as the entire town was off power all day!

As we set off it was spitting with rain and this intensified as we got to Genoa, raining all the way to about Pambula.  The temperature was 25C as we left, and we guessed Nimmitabel to be 15 (M) or 13 (F)!  We stopped for pie (8.5) at Wild Ryes.  We also took a look around Pambula Beach  - marvelling at the prohibition signs.  The rain had stopped!

Our next stop was a visit to Kalaru to check out a place advertised on the internet.  It looked quite pleasant in the photos in a rather barren sort of way.  When we got there it was almost a triangular block (so much closer to neighbours than we'd anticipated) and the house was accompanied by the most junky collection of sheds etc.  Reverse was engaged.

Being in the 'hood we swung by the house we used to own at Blackfellows Lake,  It didn't look anywhere near as nice as it used to.  In part this is due to them having painted the bricks yellow and put in a colourbond fence to block the neighbours (who were a definite problem).

Our next stop was a house near Bega that we had arranged to inspect.  It was in a great location overlooking the Bega River, and very well built.  The big problem was that it had a pool that seem to be set up with a control system rivalling that of a nuclear powers station!  Clearly this was going to need much work and expense.  Pass.  (We have since heard that the agent has received a very firm offer so someone wants to go for a swim!)

The weather forecast had led us to expect a very hard drive.  In fact it was fine all the way with the temperature dropping to 17 as we ascended into cloud going up Brown Mountain.  Once we got to the top, warmth returned and it was 22C at Nimmtabel - so we both failed!

When we entered the ACT rain returned with one squall very intense: I dropped to about 60kph and was thinking of pulling off when it dissipated.  The only issue for the rest of the trip was this echidna wandering across the road when about 3km from home.