Tilba Waterfront Cottages Farm Stay

We managed to fit all our 'necessary' stuff into our vehicle to begin our road trip to Tasmania this week. It was a tight squeeze, especially as we are not taking our boat on this trip, which does provide a capacious opportunity to hoard all things necessary or not behind us! It seems at this early stage, that there is insufficient space left available to fit the 'the off spring' in. They are planned to arrive by aeroplane into Hobart, a little later on in the road trip. Mr G assures me he has a plan how that will be resolved, once they are with us, so we will cross that bridge when we come to it! More on that later!

We have not yet crossed Bass Strait and arrived in the Apple Isle, however we had such goodness on our first day of travel I wanted to share with you, a little hidden treasure we unearthed on the NSW South Coast. I know many of you may be thinking or even saying... 'when heading for Port Melbourne who drives down the coast road?' The answer would be, we do, we love the NSW South Coast and since we had ample time to travel to Melbourne we chose to take the scenic coastal route. 

After six and a half hours of driving we ended up on a little piece of paradise, a farm stay in Tilba Tilba. We were originally aiming for the coastal towns of Merimbula or Pambula for our first night, but our 'winging' it style of finding accommodation (at this peak time of year) was clearly working against us. Every camp ground, cabin and motel we rang, was screaming NO vacancy! Mr G was starting to think we should door knock for a camping spot in someone's backyard, meanwhile I was getting cranky and a bit over trying anymore. I suggested we just pull over and sleep in the car, his response was 'we won't be sleeping in the car....'

Then Mr G saw a sign on the side of the road 'Tilba Waterfront Cottages', we rang the number and spoke to the owner Pam. She was very helpful, they too were fully booked, however she offered us their spare room on the side of their farmhouse. Relief flooded over us with the realisation we would after all sleep horizontally that evening, in a bed. Situated on two hundred acres the property known as 'Killarney' is nestled between the majestic Mount Dromadary (Gulaga) and the shores of Wallaga Lake. There are four self contained cottages available to rent, the farm has an abundance of native birds and farm animals, with fishing and a boat ramp on the lake in front of the cottages, as well as bush walking in rainforest and surrounding farm trails.

Our little room off the main house, known as 'The Inn' opened out on to a little grassed area with sweeping views of the farm and the lake in the distance. Such a stunning spot and so refreshingly quiet. For dinner we warmed up a little sweet pumpkin and ginger soup (I had made at home the day before) on our camping stove. I sautéed some leeks (home grown from my veggie patch) to serve on top, along with some home baked spelt bread and olive oil, we had also packed in our food supplies that morning. We were greeted by an inquisitive flock of Dorpher sheep with accompanying new little lambs, poking their noses through the gate as we ate our soup together.

After dinner we had a twilight walk around the farm, discovering a Ballerina Apple tree, veggie patch, chooks, guinea fowl and geese. We strolled along the shoreline and out onto the jetty, where the farmland meets the waters edge. We were ever so thankful for Pam who had been kind enough to make room for us on her farm. We slept soundly that night and were very well rested for day two of driving south. It was a more than a favourable beginning to our road trip to Tasmania!

Tilba Waterfront Cottages
'Killarney'
8851 Princes Highway,
Tilba Tilba NSW 2546
t : (02) 4473 7322
www.tilbawaterfrontcottages.com
Ask for Pam or Kevin