Narooma 2024

Friday 15 March

This article covers the trip that Mark, myself, my sister Colleen and her husband David took to Narooma for a few days in mid March of 2024. We travelled down on a Friday and had three nights staying at Champagne Views, a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in a duplex (one up and one down) building at Narooma. Our apartment was on the lower level with the duplex owners residing in the one on the upper level. It was a lovely apartment with plenty of space and a large deck that offered spectacular views over Narooma Harbour and is lodging that I would highly recommend if you are ever wanting accommodation in the area. I booked directly through Whale Coast Realty but you can find the booking on Stayz and Booking.com as well.

We arrived at Narooma around 3 pm on the Friday and checked in an at our accommodation. It was a lovely evening and we had some time to spare so we then took a short walk out around the harbour before heading to dinner at the Quarterdeck Cafe. This venue had been taken over by Justin Hemmes since we were last in Narooma and the food was amazing. Hemmes hadn’t changed the cafe interiors too much and it remained in keeping with the quirky theme that had been of the character of this establishment which we found very comforting. Our family have fond memories of visiting this unique little place over many decades and so it was reassuring to see the character so well preserved. The food was very good, in true Merivale style, and I suggest you try the corn entree, the fries and the sweet potato side as they were all absolutely standout delicious. I would highly recommend booking a table here if you ever visit Narooma.

Saturday 16 March

It was a beautiful morning so Colleen and and I set out for a walk whilst the boys went for a bike ride. We caught up for a coffee at Casey’s Cafe, just up from our apartment, and then had breakfast back at the apartment before heading into Moruya for the Saturday markets. We were lucky to have a bit of cloud cover whilst we explored the markets as it is usually very hot when we have ever visited in the past.

One main feature of note for this visit to the south coast is that there have been a number of craft breweries open up across the Eurobodalla shire and one of these was located in the old Cheese Factory in Moruya so, of course, this was our next destination. Quantum Brewery was doing quite brisk trade and it was lovely to see a range of people enjoying the local brew; there were young families with kids, older couples and some larger family groups all made possible due to the good mix of ample indoor and outdoor seating. This brewery has been running since June 2023 and is interesting for being female owned and run, not all that common an occurrence that we’ve ever found in all the breweries we’ve visited and that is an awful lot!

Our second stop was along the way back towards Narooma and this was at Malt Man Brewing in Bodalla. Some may remember a pie shop located in a chalet style building along the highway here and this is where you can now find a brewery. There wasn’t a whole lot of indoor / under cover seating but there is plenty out in the garden which is where we sat whilst Mark sampled a paddle. We also stopped off for a quick bite to eat at the Bodalla hotel. Our final stop on the way home was at Big Nile’s brewery in Dalmeny which was quite quirky and seemed to be housed in a few old renovated containers. The Eurobodalla has certainly come a long way in the last few years with all these extra activities and aparently the opening up of an designated mountain biking track has been a huge help in drawing visitors to the region. Just out of interest, Marks favorite brewery was Big Niles.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing back at the apartment before heading out for a pre-dinner drink at another Justin Hemmes venue, Lynch’s Hotel. It was lovely to see Lynch’s Hotel bubbling along with activity and so well patronised. This is another example where Justin Hamms has brought a wonderful life back to an establishment that had been struggling. There were loads of young people and families and children out on the grass area, listening to music plenty of people in the main bars and the restaurant was fairly heavily booked for the evening. The interior of the building is a little changed, but the life and soul of the place has been restored. We were chatting to of the staff there who mentioned that the Restaurant gets very busy and is a place we should try but we would need to book. He also mentioned that their signature dish of the fish pie was worth trying so we Made a booking for Sunday night, even though we had intended to dine at home at least once. That plan has gone by the wayside. We noted that they have live musicians performing on Fridays and Saturdays, so that’s another nice way to support the local community. The other thing we also noticed was that the Maryvale group offer a courtesy bus to people travelling to all of the different venues around the rumour. Something we wished we’d known about last night as we would’ve taken them up on the offer instead of driving down to the quarterdeck.

We were sorry to pull ourselves away from enjoying the lovely setting and atmosphere at the hotel but we had a booking down at a restaurant just a couple of hundred meters down the road, Food Mantra by Wildfire. We had been to this restaurant venue last time we were in Narooma but, back in 2020, it was an Italian restaurant however now, in 2024, it is an Australian Nepalese restaurant. The food and ambience were both very good and this is another place I would suggest you try if you are ever in Narooma. You are going to have to stay for more than just a few days though to sample all the lovely food offerings on offer in the area. We didn’t even get to the other merivale restaurant, Queen Chow, so we look like we will have to return soon again as well!

Mark snapping the hops at Malt Man Brewering.

Menu at Lynch’s Hotel. The Fish Pie is their signature dish

Food Mantra at Narooma: Australian / Nepalese

Sunday 17 March

It was overcast but clear for our second morning in Narooma and we were lulled into a false sense of security that it would be safe to get out and about. Colleen and I made it to the halfway point of our walk before the rain started and we were well and truly drenched some 30 minutes later. The boys also got quite wet on their ride.

We ventured back up to Casey’s Cafe for another visit after breakfast and before heading out to Tilba to have a look around the village and then to Tilba Winery for lunch. It was a very different atmosphere here there this time around given the wet weather and the musician, who was meant to be performing for the afternoon, had failed to turn up. It was still a nice lunch though and made nicer by having some of the vineyards lovely wine so it was still well worth the short trip out there.

We stopped off at the relatively new Breakwall Brewery in Narooma on the way home for Mark and David to sample some of the beers but then it was back home to have a bit of a rest before heading back out to Lynches Hotel for dinner.