Elly May at Home and Abroad: New Bits of New South Wales

Scott's Heads NSW and Surrounds

Scott's Heads, and its gorgeous beach

We arrived at Scott's Heads along the lumpy, winding road inwards from the Pacific Highway with some mild warning bells ringing. Look at the river, right here alongside the only road in, with flood warnings posted, we said. A bushfire would be 'interesting' and currently, there is what passes for a drought in this part of coastal NSW. This joint, we said, has no petrol station, no pub, no supermarket. Yet it was clearly a little gem, a pocket where a few locals lived and some visitors regularly pottered around. Apparently there is a major Surfing Comp and whale-watching is also big, in season. We were clearly not in season (no snide comments, please). We booked in for a couple of days on the strength of the layout, the location so close to the beach yet completely protected from the prevailing weather, and the presence of two other familiar shapes. Yep, there we were picking out the site thirty metres from the eastern green, with an in-path direct from our site. And alongside are two other Grant Tourers. Quick hellos had all the girls in each others' vans comparing layouts, colours and so on. The blokes were more prosaic, looking for common faults. Problem: there weren't any. Our non-return valve was unique; both of their vans had problems with a plastic fitting on the HWS, but ours is fine. All the layouts were different within the same size vans. All the owners swore theirs was the best. All of us had successful ideas that the others noted, like trays on the A-frame or full length wayer-pipe for sullage hose storage, or LED lights in various uses. Time for drinks.

Bowls? We did it every day - but we heard they were full for the tournaments, so we didn't bother going over till later in the day for a roll-up and a look at the bistro.