🏕️ Mystery Bay camping trip — October 2026
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Over the last week, Clare and I took the dogs and spent the week in Mystery Bay, NSW. A ~3hr drive from Canberra, Mystery Bay was so named due a mysterious disappearance of five men, who left behind only a holed ship they had used to get to a nearby goldfield. The campgrounds are about 10 minutes drive from Narooma, which made it really handy to pop into town for supplies and such.
The week overall was an incredibly relaxing and restorative experience. Being in nature, in the ocean and under the (few) stars each night was truly one of the best ways to live!
Day 1 — Monday 19 October
We were in absolutely no way ready to start our holiday by rushing to leave first thing on Monday morning. Clare had just come back from another weekend trip the night before, so we took our time packing and getting as organised as one can. We had made a super rough list of essentials over the previous week and picked some things off of that to each procure and pack. I also wanted to pick up a battery pack and a headlamp (as I remember it was a bit tricky to take the dogs out in the middle of the night last time with a torch).
But, at about ~1pm we set off on our adventure!
After a few false starts (I left my phone at home), and a detour to pick up an esky from Clare's dad, we were finally on our way — actually 😆
We arrived shortly before 6pm and immediately got to setting up our home for the week.
I really do enjoy the feeling of getting a blank slate to setup a tent and a living space how you would like! And having to work a little bit for it makes getting to sit down and take in the view at the end all the more special.
A quick trip in to town to pick up some things for breakfast and a pizza for dinner finished off the day in style.
We sat out under the stars for a bit with a gin and tonic, and then called it a night.
In the night we were visited by (what we would later discover to be a possum or two) who got in to the food we had left outside of the tent 🤦🏽♂️. I woke up at some wee hour to hear it crunching on something, but wasn't sure if it was leaves or something else.
Day 2 — Tuesday 20 October
An early start today after a somewhat sleepless night, and we found our sweet potato had a big chunk taken out of it. About 1/3 had been scooped out by little possum teeth. There was also an attempt to get into the dogfood, which was thankfully unsuccessful!
We made a breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and bread toasted on a propane stove 😋, then after some quick knitting wandered (the long way) down to the beach with the dogs.
Despite being half poodle, and being bred to splash through puddles, these two decidedly are not for getting their feet wet!
At this point it's about 9am, and we've already settled into what is a very relaxing cadence of go slowly and with the flow of what we feel like.
Time for some more knitting! We found a really lovely spot under some trees to spend the rest of the morning. Shaded from the sun and easily visited by all kinds of small coastal birds, we each carried on with our projects.
Clare has been knitting a jumper for Sebby, and made more progress on the body. I have been knitting a jumper for myself, and spent the better part of the first 2 days trying to join the collar. Turn out I had added a couple of extra stitches, but also I had picked up the wrong stitches when folding the collar on over to itself to make a donut. Kind of like when you button your shirt and realise you have an extra button or two at the end.
Despite all the doing and undoing, it was really lovely to spend the time learning how to do and undo with Clare to guide me (and to commiserate with 😆).
(📸 by Clare)
Later that afternoon we went on down to the beach to lie in the sun and warm up before braving the ocean water. The water was cold-ish, but there was also a strong chilly wind, which made it feel even colder as we swam around. So back on to the shore to read and dry off we went! There is something so nice about drying off under the warmth of the sun while knowing you have nowhere to be!
Once we warmed up and dried off we took the dogs in to town to get some food for lunch and dinner. Some sandwiches and coffee set us up nicely for an afternoon of knitting and bird watching.
I was still going with my jumper's collar!
As the sun started to set, we went off for a photo walk around the campground, getting some really beautiful light through the trees.
And a stunning view over the cliffs just north of where we had setup our tent.
Clare brought along her Pentax full-frame camera, too! So we got to shoot some shots on a few rolls of Portra 400! The sound of the camera alone was super satisfying, but getting to frame a shot, check some settings and then hope that your in-head translation of said settings converts to the image you were thinking of — in a few weeks when the film comes back — is a really fun experience! Talk about in it for the journey! The destination could be an overexposed mess, but, getting to that point is 95% of the fun!
Back at camp now, having done a lap of the grounds and snapped some photos in analogue and digital.
I went off to clean up our frying pan to make some burgers, and Clare started our little campfire. And thankfully, too! Because we had run out of gas halfway through cooking the burgers, but were able to finish things off by resting the pan in the fire 😆.
But also, because we got to make one of the best treat foods known to humans — which does also thankfully require a campfire, so can't be an always treat — s'mores!
That evening we were also visited by a large handful of Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos wrecking havoc on some of the gum trees < 100m away!
We ended the day chatting by the campfire before taking the dogs for a walk, and then falling asleep to the sound of the ocean.
In the day, we also saw a few whales breaching just off the coast — no binoculars needed — which was so beautiful and awesome to see! Little did we know (until after we had booked and planned the trip!) that we would be coming during whale season — and these were just the first of many sightings!
Day 3 — Wednesday 21 October
On account of having no gas to cook, we loaded the dogs and our empty gas canister into the car and went out to Tilba (Central Tilba) for breakfast. We got there just as the shops were opening (at around 8am) and wandered up and down the main street to to check out the shops before stopping at the Tilba Teapot Cafe. The place was super cute! We found a nice spot outside and sat with the dogs while we decided what to order. Clare was keen on a croissant, and I was looking to get a cardamom bun — but, was dutifully informed that Wednesday was their Monday, and so the supplies hadn't come in yet. The next best thing was fresh scones with local cream and jam. Which were absolutely delicious! Barkly and Crumpet were super well behaved, sitting on our laps while we got breakfast, and then joining us on a walk back through town, looking for birds on the way!
Next stop, getting gas for our stove! We picked up a new bottle from the local Mitre 10, and then took a detour through Kianga and on a whim went to check out the boardwalk. But, in our search, we ended up finding a really amazing vantage point to see some whales breaching once again off the coast!
Onwards to the IGA in Dalmeny to get our gas bottles filled, but first via a quick pit stop to watch more whales, this time from a lookout platform! I didn't manage to capture any photos of said whales, but imagine big splashes in the middle distance!
With our gas bottles now filled, it was time to head back to camp and do some knitting! And knit we did! I finally made it through the collar and started on the German short rows to make the front of the neck shorter than the back, so it sits a bit lower at the front! The whole process was really interesting and way more fun than trying to join a collar together 😆. In order to make the row short, you have to turn around halfway through a round. So you have to work backwards on the way back in order to make sure the stitches are symetrical on each half. Which wouldn't be tricky enough on its own, but this pattern also has some increases that need to be worked backwards, too. Thankfully I had Clare with me to once again help guide my newbie self! She also managed to finish the body of Sebby's jumper and start on the bright pink hem! Who knew the slow art of knitting could be so exciting!
(📸 by Clare)
Later that afternoon, we moseyed on down to the beach for a swim and a lie on the sand. We took the dogs down with us to see if they wanted a swim, but they got their feet a bit wet and were pretty adamant they were done with the water! So Clare and I took turns having a swim and then had a quick dry in the sun before heading back on account of the dogs getting a bit antsy with all the other dogs and people around us.
It was really nice and convenient to have the shops so close by! It made organising meals so much easier than having to pack a week's worth of food! We went and picked up some supplies for souvlakis for dinner and got back into knitting while the sun started to set. Then popped some more marshmallows in to the fire and sat around chatting until it was time for bed.
Day 4 — Thursday 22 October
Our last full day in our little piece of paradise! We made the last of the bacon and eggs for breakfast and got stuck into some more knitting / reading! At around 11am or so we loaded the dogs in to the car and took off to find a nice place to paddle with Clare's kayak.
The first place we found (after briefly detouring into private property — whoops!) was a little too choppy on account of the wind, as was the 2nd place. But, we did manage to find a lovely spot down by the Narooma bridge! The water was crystal clear, and really still. Which was a bonus because we only realised when we were out on the water that the kayak was missing its rudder, which made steering impossible. You'd kinda start going straight, then as you would paddle on the other side, the boat would just spin in place 😆. But it was really nice to just float out in the water, and read while the other person was off paddling about!
Crumpet wanted to get into the kayak, so we carried her in, and the moment it started moving, she changed her mind and jumped ship in to the water and back to shore! After managing to pack the kayak back in to the car, we had a quick swim and picked up some fish and chips for lunch back at camp.
We did some more knitting / reading / water colours drawing in to the evening.
The fish and chips were pretty filling, so we had a light dinner and read some poems while the sun started to go down. We started reading through a couple of poems by Pablo Neruda, and then moved on to the great Mary Oliver. Who, just has the most excellent way with words. A single line from "At the River Clarion" completely sent us both sobbing uncontrollably. So a brief sad moment, we decided that was enough poetry for the evening and roasted some more marshmallows before talking about life while the moon and stars came out. We had a giant pile of firewood to get through, so we loaded up the fire to see what we could burn in the evening. As the fire was dying out, we were visited by a possum and her joey! We finally made contact with the critters that were getting into our things 🥰. They were incredibly brave, coming to within a few meter of us and the dogs (albeit still up in the tree). After a while they gave up and they took off, and so did we.
Day 5 — Friday 23 October
Breakfast in Bermagui for the final day! We took the dogs to a cafe called Boneless and sat in the arcade outside the cafe in a little 2-seater table. Things started off pretty chill, but another dog came around and caused Barkly to jump in Clare's lap, unfortunately spilling her coffee, and turning Barkly into a pupachino! The folks at the cafe were super kind in offering a fresh coffee, though! We popped the dogs in the car and finished our breakfast before heading back to camp to do a quick cleanup and some more knitting and reading!
At around 1pm we packed the car up (managing to fit everything back in quite easily!) and said goodbye to our incredible home of the last 5 days.
Wrapping up
Being out in nature and by the sea continues to be the best way to be!
Especially when accompanied by the people and animals you love!
Campfires are so awesome to build and watch, and the residual smoke smell is pretty good too.
Listening to and trying to identify birds as they fly through the trees is a really relaxing way to spend an afternoon.
By the end of the trip, everything was covered in a thin layer of silty dust. So getting into a warm shower and clean sheets was so hugely appreciated!
Camping and hobbies are an iconic duo — we got so much knitting, reading, drawing and photographing done!
Following the cycle of the day (up when its light, sleep when it's dark) because of limited light at night and waking up when the tent is light is a really relaxing cycle to follow.
Even when things didn't quite go our way, we were pretty quick to adapt to our new circumstances and find a way to continue to enjoy ourselves!
Listening to the sound of the ocean at night is such a great sleep aid! Though it often gets more splashy at night.
Wildlife sighted
Spotted Pardalote
Eastern Yellow Robin
Thornbill
Little Honey Eater
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Lewin's Honey Eater
Galah
Kookaburra
Whale
Possum
Wallaby