Water Shortages, Game Fishing, Wine and Diamond Beach

Water Shortages
On Friday morning, we left Sydney for points north, with no real itinerary or plans. Since we didn’t know where we were going, we knew we couldn’t get lost! Our first stop was the small town of Gosford where we stopped at a small restaurant for coffee. I noticed they had Iraqi eggs on the menu. I had to ask what they were. “They will blow you away” said the charming guy behind the counter. So I tried them. (I’m still here to tell you they were two eggs fried in olive oil with fresh mint and cayenne pepper.)

I was surprised to see many stories in the local newspaper dealing with the same topic; the water shortage. Australia has been going through a drought for the past six years, and I cannot overstate the prominence of this issue throughout the country. The drought has been particularly devastating for farmers and those in smaller communities without water reservoirs or back up supplies. (And yet all the bathrooms have these torrential shower heads!)

That afternoon, we found ourselves in Newcastle, a former steel town, (Hamilton?) that is now reinventing itself as a tourism centre. With its mix of heritage buildings, fabulous beaches, and a wonderful waterfront walkway and housing, it was really very impressive. I’m convinced it would be a good place to buy property. (Maybe it’s not Hamilton!)

Game Fishing

We followed a 'tourist drive’ and ended up at Nelson Bay, where we decided to spend the night. Sally wanted to come here since Red Ned’s is considered one of the best pie shops in Australia, with over a fifty different kinds of gourmet pies. We passed on the kangaroo.

We were surprised to find that most of the accommodation in town was fully booked, yet there was hardly anyone on the streets, on a Friday night. That evening we learned why. The next morning, the largest game fishing competition in Australia was getting underway, and the 1000 fishermen were having their briefing. So although good accommodation was hard to find, it was easy to find a good restaurant. During dinner we started to chat to Mike and Ginny, a couple at the next table. It turned out that they had been fishing all week, but had only caught two sharks, which was not what they were hoping for.

The restaurant was very attractive, and quite expensive, with the mud crab costing $45, the lobster (crayfish) $80, and a seafood platter for two $150. But there was no wine list. Like many Australian restaurants, it was BYOB. The corkage fee was two dollars a person.

Wine
We got onto the subject of wine, and I asked Mike if he was familiar with my great bookshop find, Quaff, Peter Forrestal’s guide to the best 400 wines in Australia…under $15. It offers three ratings, ‘Bloody Good, ‘Good’ and ‘Pretty Good’. Mike didn’t know the book so I urged him to buy it. Noting that he was drinking an Australian sparkling wine, I suggested that he might want to try the book’s recommendation, Sir James’ Pinot Noir Chardonnay.

Mike responded, in a nice way, that his wine cost significantly more than $15. He then shared that he was the senior wine buyer for Woolworths, one of Australia’s major wine retailers! I decided that perhaps it was time to change the subject, but not before telling him that Sally and I are slowly working our way through all the ‘bloody good’ wines in each category. As an aside, wine is relatively inexpensive in Australia. 90% of the wine bought is less than $15 a bottle. Mike told us the average price paid is $9.40
a bottle. Quaff reports that 49.8% of all wines sales are casks (cardboard boxes), that is down from 63.7% in 1988. We may give this category a pass.

On Saturday morning we got up early to join the town residents, family and friends and watch the parade of game fishing boats as they left the harbour.

We then played golf at Pacific Dunes, a highly rated new course. We asked in the pro shop whether it was walkable. “Most definitely”, said the sweet young girl behind the counter. But we soon noticed we were the only group walking, and by the eighth hole we realized why. With the temperaturein the high 30’s, and very little shade, it was much too hot to walk. We got a cart for the back 9.

Diamond Beach
That afternoon, we discovered that even though it’s hard to get lost when you don’t know where you’re going, you can. We took another tourist drive, but this time we ended up hot and hungry at a very dry and dusty old town, with nowhere to eat. We eventually made it back to the coastal town of Forster,but were disappointed with what we found. So once again, we went onto www.Wotif.com to see what nearby accommodation might be available. We found a ‘flaming hot deal’ at the Australis Diamond Beach Resort, a brand new property about 20 minutes north of town. At $89 a night for a two bedroom, two bathroom beachfront cabin with spa, plasma TV, and a gas barbq, it seemed too good to be true. But we booked it anyway and headed over to the fish coop and grocery store to buy fresh oysters, prawns, fish, steak, wines and other provisions. We arrived at the resort just after 7 and it was really quite interesting, except for one thing. There was no one there to check us in.

I called the manager’s phone number and got his voice mail. By 8 we realized this wasn’t going to work and set off to find another place to stay. We found Tallwoods, a nearby golf resort community. The reception was also closed, but at the clubhouse bar we found someone with keys to a vacant unit. We took it. Fortunately, it too had a barbq, along with a two car garage, four bedrooms, and a view over the course. We didn’t want to leave. But the next day, we did return to Diamond Beach where the management was very apologetic and accommodating, and we have been here for the past two days, playing golf, visiting the beach, and popping into town to seek out more ‘bloody good’ wines.

So once again, we’re off. This time we have a destination in mind: Coffs Harbour, and the Bonville Golf Course, at the southern end of The Gold Coast. I’m told it is Australia’s Augusta.