Months ago some friends had invited us to go along camping with them on the Canberra Day long weekend. They were heading to the Mystery Bay campground, a popular spot just south of Narooma on the South Coast. I‘d been there solo in 2024 and found it to be an excellent campground, so I was keen to take the family there. We hadn’t caught up with these friends in a while either so we were looking forward to a good weekend away.
As is becoming tradition, I took the Friday off to get set up and packed so we could leave as soon as Ollie finished school. It’s just so much less stress to have almost a whole day to work through. It really gives you time to shop for food and other last minute supplies, and it’s much less rushed to pack everything up.
Once Ollie was dropped off we jumped in the car and headed off towards Bateman’s Bay. It was sunny and warm in Canberra, but as we headed to the coast the clouds came overhead and the weather dropped 10 degrees. As we climbed up the Clyde Mountain we were caught in a cloud bank and it became very foggy, but we made it down to the other side without any issue. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, though at 3 hours from our house we did comment that this campground might be a bit too far for shorter camp trips.
We arrived at the campground around 7.30pm, just as the sun was setting. Fortunately we had enough light to drive around slowly to identify our site. The parents of one of our friends had got to the camp much earlier and had fenced off a great position. We found them pretty easily and they lowered the rope barrier they’d set up so we could get in. We found a great spot for the camper, but had to manually swivel the camper around so that we were facing the centre of the site. Fortunately the Ultimate is quite light so it was quite easy for two of us to pivot it around to face the direction we needed. Set up was all finished just as the last sunlight faded away, and then with that all done we caught up with the lovely in-laws/parents while we waited for them to get there.
Dinner that night was steak and sausages on the bbq, and our mates arrived just as we were finishing up. We’d set aside a big site for their massive camper trailer, but it was a tricky entry to get properly aligned close to the edge of the site. We got there eventually without much issue and then they started set up. We’ve been camping with these guys heaps of times before and we know it takes them a while to get fully setup, so we sat around the fire with some drinks and offered helpful advice. Once they were (mostly) done they came and sat down and we all caught up around the fire.
Our friends had brought their 3 month old puppy Milo with them, and he was a big hit with Rosie and Ollie. They’re constantly pestering me to get a dog, and Milo only made things worse by being incredibly sweet, well-behaved and charming. That night was quite a late one, with a surprisingly robust amount of beer and wine consumed.
The next morning after a far too early wakeup, we pottered around camp for a bit having breakfast. After that was all done we went for a bit of an explore of the campgrounds. It’s an unusual setup, with a maze of tracks and dirt roads weaving their way through groups of trees and bushes. It leaves some excellent spots for camping that are relatively hidden from neighbours and other campers.
We wandered down to the cliff edge that was only about 60m away from our site and had a look around at the unusual rocks in that area. After that we headed up the coast through the campground to Billy’s Beach. This is a fantastic little cove with a relatively calm beach and some great caves and other rock formations to explore.
Back at camp we huddled up under the awning and caught up with everyone. Lunch was assorted charcuterie eats (savouries) and a couple of beers for good measure. After lunch was done a few of us headed down to the other beach on the other side of the campground. The sun wasn’t out, but it wasn’t that cold and it hadn’t started raining fully yet. I managed to close my eyes on the beach for a bit – it turned out that the late night and early morning had caught up with me. Once the rain came in proper we headed back to camp.
Dinner that night was pizzas cooked on the BBQ. The rain was relatively steady, but after our last Eden and Cotter trips there were no issues with leaks or damage in the camper. After quite a big day, Rosie was asleep before Ollie. I wasn’t far behind both of them.
The next day was another early wakeup. Rosie put on her swimmers and headed to the beach for a quick dip by herself around 8am.
Given the rain was still coming off and on, we packed up into the ute and headed into Narooma for a bit of shopping and lunch. We ended up at the Narooma Hotel (“Home of the Million Dollar View!”) and got a million dollar car park right out the front. Lunch was pretty good and the view was lovely over the harbour and inlet. After stopping for a couple of bags of ice we headed back to camp.
We hadn’t planned on drinking that afternoon, but with the rain overhead and a bottle of Ratu open, all of the adults kind of gravitated under our awning for a chat. The kids ran wild alternating between the rainy outdoors, playing with the puppy, annoying the adults or playing video games in one of the two campers. There was a walk to the beach as well. Ollie got to walk the puppy which was a real treat for him.
Later that afternoon we were treated to a homemade version of ‘Celebrity Head’ made by Mel, our friends father. He’d made a simplified version so kids and adults could play together. As he was explaining the rules, we discovered the unique categorisation system Mel had for the taxonomy of living creatures. We had great fun playing the game underneath the camper while the rain was going on outside. We had even more fun when we discovered how certain animals had been spelt.
We got an offer to help with a roast dinner that night. Our little BBQ was in charge of the veggies, and the other BBQs cooked up some lamb and chicken. The veggies were a little crispy on one side due to all the heat coming from the bottom, but overall it was a fantastic meal for the adults. The kids watched a movie in the camper and kept out of our hair. Some of the adults stayed up to catch up, but overall it was mostly an early night after a big day.
The next morning we had breakfast and then slowly packed up. The camper was spun around manually again to connect it back to the ute. We left the campground around 9.30 after saying goodbye to everyone.
We were heading for the main beach nearby for a final swim, as the sun was shining and the weather was perfect (typical that you only get perfect weather as you finish up camping). We had a great time at the beach, but eventually it was time to get changed and head back home. We decided to go through Bega and then up Brown Mountain to get home rather than taking the Clyde with a lot of other Canberra drivers heading home. The distance and time was about the same. Travel home was fairly uneventful, though we did stop for a great pie at Cobargo on the way through.
A big thank you to our friends for inviting us along to this trip. We really enjoyed Mystery Bay Campground and will definitely head back there in future. The layout and facilities were really good and the beaches and cliffs were fantastic.
Boring technical stuff
Due to an awkwardly shaped caesar salad kit, during the first night the fridge door didn’t close fully and the fridge chewed up quite a bit of power trying to cool the entire camper. With all the rain and cloud cover we weren’t able to provide any power during the day to top up the batteries either. Fortunately after 3 nights we packed up with about 25% power left on the battery. We would have had enough for another day I think. The other camper and caravan had battery issues and both needed to run their respective vehicles for a few hours each day to top off their own batteries.
The patches and repairs I’d done on the camper held up well, with no leaks detected after some fairly decent rain. The safari roof repairs held up as well through a few gusts of wind, though I’ve fixed that using a relatively short term repair that will need to be properly sewn in eventually.
The ute had two wheel bearings replaced recently, so the noise I mentioned in a previous post while travelling at certain speeds has gone away.
