Day 50 (March 21) - Mallacoota to Cobargo via Eden and Bega

Saturday 21 March

We had to head off by about 11am so there was time for waffles for breakfast. After we moved out from the caravan park we stopped in the town to do some shopping.


Mallacoota was the first town we'd come to which had been visibly affected by the bushfires. It was also highly publicised in the media as it was the town where people gathered on the beach during the fires and were evacuated by the Navy.

Remember this? This was Mallacoota three months ago.

So we were keen to do some shopping in town.

We were, however, surprised and pleased to see so many travellers and shoppers already in town. The caravan park had been pretty full and the shops and streets were looking healthy. Evidently people have responded to the appeal to help Mallacoota at least.

Our Pajero found another twin! :)

Plenty of people supporting the Foodworks in Mallacoota

Hand sanitation safety!

We got some fuel and were surprised, in a way, to see rubber gloves available for pumping fuel! The coronavirus issue is starting to become a lot more noticeable now.

By about lunchtime we went searching for a bakery, but surprisingly the bakery only opens on weekdays - go figure! Perhaps there's an opportunity for someone there! After we'd visited two supermarkets, a pharmacist, a failed attempt to secure a pie at a cafe which only had fancy food, and a failed attempt to find chicken at the local butchers, we were pretty well done with shopping in Mallacoota, but were surprised to see a police helicopter hover overhead and land itself just behind the shops. We followed the noise and found it had landed on the oval for a publicity thing, and people were chatting to the police officers and looking at the helicopter.

The remains of a caravan storage yard at one of the caravan parks

On the way out, we went past a number of burnt homes. It was very sobering to realise how many people had lost homes. It was also surprising the apparent random nature of the fire - there were strips where a number of homes were intact, and then one was burnt to the ground, and then the untouched ones continued. We stopped at a caravan park where the owner was busy piling burnt metal into a skip bin. We felt a bit guilty for not having stopped there for the night but he was quite upbeat about what had happened and invited us to stay there next time we were passing through. It was a very good attitude under the circumstances!

It is bizarre to see just how completely some of these places had been destroyed. It demonstrates just why 'fire' is such a good symbol of judgement in the Bible.

A burnt-out 4WD amongst otherwise untouched property

Another home, gone.

This digger may have died trying to make a firebreak.

This would have once said "Welcome to NSW". It didn't quite
seem right to be smiling for this photo, but serious face photos
don't always work that well.

From Mallacoota we crossed into New South Wales. As mentioned on our Coronavirus update post, we had been keeping an eye on the developing Coronavirus spread for the past couple of weeks and were concerned about potential State border closures, so were keen to keep moving north while we could. There was still clear evidence of the fires as we moved into NSW, indeed the official 'Welcome to NSW' sign was badly burnt! :(


We travelled up the coast and did our morning reading which was Nehemiah 10, followed by listening to some Just William.

One side of the bay in Eden

 A little while later we stopped for lunch at the town of Eden. Eden itself wasn't directly affected by the fires (the fires badly damaged the opposite side of the harbour), but like many other towns in the area it was suffering from the general downturn. We bought fish and chips, and the shopkeeper said things had started to pick up after the fires, but since the Coronavirus issue things had gone dead again. One problem for Eden is that they have a nice big bay and deepwater port, at which cruise ships often dock. These tourists are a great source of income for the town, and now they are locked out they've lost an important flow of money. So we weren't quite so bothered about $48 on fish and chips for lunch after hearing their sad plight!

Fish and chips for lunch in Eden

The entrance to the beautiful Eden bay. The fires razed the coastline in the distance.

From here we passed through the beautiful town of Bega. It was clear why this region has served the Bega Cheese company so well - there were cheeses growing on cheese trees by the dozen! Haha, no sorry, it was just a very lush, green area of rolling hills, just perfect for dairy! They had evidently not been affected by the fires.

Bega, NSW

From there it was a pretty straightforward drive up to Cobargo where we stopped for the night. Cobargo presented a different image to that of Eden. The fires had been through the centre of the town and wiped out a strip of shops on both sides of the main road. Again, as with Mallacoota, it was incredible to see such devastation flanked by other buildings which were almost untouched! It brought to mind the quote in Luke about the return of Christ "Two shall be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left". Of course the context is wrong, the stark division made it hard to ignore this quote.

One destroyed property just 100m from town. We were staying behind
the red brick hotel at the left of this picture.

We were staying behind the local hotel and went for a walk just before tea and found other examples of similar devastation. It appears the fire went along the one edge of the riverbank which runs through the town, then jumped up to some of the buildings.

As with Mallacoota, it was pleasing to note how many caravans were there supporting the local business. We had dinner in the hotel.

The hotelier again didn't seem too bothered or expressive of thanks that we had come there to support them, which is a bit disappointing. Maybe they assume people are there because they wanted to be, not because they came to help. But perhaps one needs to not be concerned if others are not gushing in their thanks and just ensure one's motives are pure and leave the rest to God. We are, of course, visiting these areas as part of our trip, and not only to try to help, but the purpose of our help is not and should never be to get pats on the back from anyone. It is always good when situations like this come up, one finds one reacts in an unusual way, and there is opportunity for reflection on what subconscious thoughts may be at play. I feel very blessed to have time for such reflections on this trip, and I feel I could have benefited from this earlier in my last job at Adelaide Uni (and in other arenas of life), but I was always too busy to really stop and work through situations where I found I reacted strangely.

Rigs from 5 states supporting Cobargo

The view over Cobargo with the hotel at the left and the
township to the right. Note the trees on the distant hills - you
can't normally see the trunks and branches of trees on a hillside...
they're all burnt.

Dinner at the Cobargo Hotel

From here it was straight back to the van. I checked the CALS diary and found an ecclesia in Bodalla, and phoned them to make arrangements to visit them tomorrow morning for the meeting.

-- Greg