Narooma
Narooma
A small fishing village surrounded by beautiful beaches, bays and coastal lakes, NAROOMA lies at the heart of an area famous for its succulent mud oysters. You can canoe and windsurf on the Wagonga Inlet or sail to Montague Island an offshore sanctuary for sea birds, seals and penguins. If you actually want to disembark at the island, youll have to join a tour organized by the NPWS in Narooma (tours daily winter 3.30pm, summer 6.30pm though morning tours are sometimes available; 3hr), since its a protected wildlife reserve.
Southern right and humpback whales have begun to reappear in the bay between September and November, and tour operators also organize whale-watching tours in the event of any sightings; you can book at the visitors centre on the highway (daily 9am5pm).
Diving can be found off Montague Island all year, organized by Ocean Hut, 123 Princes Highway costing $45 for one dive and $60 for two (JanApr grey nurse sharks and tropical fish; AugDec mainly seal-spotting).
Naroomas nightlife doesnt extend much beyond the vast Golf Club on Balinga Street (daily 10am10pm), with pool tables and poker machines, serving the latest drink in town. If youre in need of a film fix, there is a delightfully preserved Kinema picture theatre worth visiting an original cinema from 1926 screening modern movies on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees (daily showings, except Mondays, during school holidays and the Dec/Jan holiday season).
A thriving local Koorie community, run their own Umbarra Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Wallaga Lake, 25km south of Narooma. They operate tours to local sacred sites, including Gulaga (Mt Dromedary), with hands-on activities such as painting with ochres, building bark huts and sampling bush tucker and traditional medicine. (As some of their tours traverse aboriginal lands, special permits are required for external visitors planning on visiting these areas independently.) They also have a cruise with commentary on Wallaga Lake, one of the largest saltwater lakes on the Australian coast. The lakes black duck is the sacred totem for the local aboriginal community.
