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Stage 19 - Bateman's Bay to Lilli Pilli

Sunrise over Bateman's Bay (the early rise can be blamed on the end of daylight saving - but what a great time to be up)

At Bateman's Bay we passed the 300 km point of our journey. This stage commences with a quiz; place the footwear shown below in the order most used and guess the number of kilometres used per pair (hint: the total adds up to 300!). The answer is given at the bottom.

Gang-gang calls by to check out his website

Situated on a picturesque bay at the mouth of the Clyde River, Bateman's Bay and its satellite villages have long been a summer playground for the residents of Canberra in need of a dose of sun, sea and sand.

The lifting bridge over the Clyde River is a well known South Coast landmark	Clyde River waterscape
View from the Clyde River bridge toward Bateman's Bay

Today's stage was relatively short, as we were heading to the coast house of our good friends, Jenny and Peter, at Lilli Pilli, a peaceful and leafy village 8km south of “The Bay”. The route crossed many of the place names familiar to the fair Nello, from when she and her family took their summer holidays here over 40 years a long time ago – Batehaven, Casey's Beach, Denham's Beach, Surf Beach. As we strolled along Beach Road, she remembered when it was a quiet no-through road linking a number of isolated villages. Today it has become a noisy major thoroughfare along what is now a long unbroken stretch of suburbia. People's love for the coast has led to many moving here permanently, particularly as our baby-boomer generation has started reaching retirement age. Such is the price of progress!

Casey's Beach

A contrast in coast house styles

Cliffs betwen Surf Beach and Lilli Pilli

At Surf Beach, I remembered a coastal track that followed the headlands and coves around to Lilli Pilli, so we left the noise of cars and finished our walk to the noise of the bush and surf. You do not have to get far away from the main roads to see why people are still attracted to this beautiful area.

Looking north from the cliffs

Lilli Pilli Beach

Finally we crossed Lilli Pilli Beach, a little pearl of a beach tucked away between two rocky headlands, before climbing up the hill to Peter and Jenny's place. Sitting on the deck of their house, looking at the ocean horizon through the silhouette of tall eucalypts and sipping a gin and tonic as the fragrance of frangipanis wafted up from the garden below – you can see why the South Coast is such an attraction to people living in inland cities.

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Quiz Answers:

Sandshoes ...... 93 km
Sandals ........... 87 km
Boots .............- 74 km
Bare feet .....--. 46 km


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