Stay fit at Riverbend Cottage

 

To keep yourself fit at Riverbend Cottage, you can go on long walk, swim or canoe in the river, or, to exercise your mind, we provide you with plenty of interesting books, DVDs, and games.

If this is not enough, we have added this small exercise gadget ☺

 

The river boat trip should be on everyone's list of things to do

You needn't do the whole return trip: you walk or we drive you the short distance to the Nelligen landing from where you take the boat downriver and we pick you up from the Bay and drive you back to Riverbend Cottage, or we drive you down to the Bay for the trip upriver and meet you at the Nelligen landing.

What a good idea!

 

We've walked past The Treehouse Cafe Ulladulla for months. Today we actually walked inside - and we are so pleased we did!

It was like something out of the Mad Hatter's Party with all the furnishings, decorations, even the crockery and cutlery, straight out of the nearest op-shop. The chairs were comfortable and deep, mainly because the springs were so worn out, the cutlery holder a left-over from last night's dinner, and the table number as vinyl as the table cloth.

While others may have spent half a million dollars for a Coffee Club franchise and another hundred thousand for an all-chrome-and-glass fit-out which takes them years to recover, the Treehouse Cafe has created a completely unique ambience which cost them little more than the first day's takings.

If you want to study a good business model, come to the Treehouse Cafe in Ulladulla!

Mea culpa?

 

Our Cottage guests Prue and David were supposed to have gone canoeing BEFORE BREAKFAST.

There was no sign of life until Padma served them with a stack of her rightly famous pancakes with jam and syrup.

Since then it's gone all quiet again. Is it an acute case of paddle- or pancake fatigue, or both?

 

Here's one that didn't get away!

 

The author of Emptying the Clyde emailed us from Canberra:

"Hi Peter and Padma, we had a wonderful time, thank you. Dad (Stefano) still hasn't stopped gloating about the two big flathead! I've attached a photo of the 3.8kg flathead he caught on Monday January 28 2014, near Sheep Station Creek, just downstream from Riverbend Cottage.
Ciao for now.
Joe"

Thanks, Joe! We've just seen this small advertisement in a Batemans Bay shop window, and immediately thought of you ☺ :

WANTED Woman to cook, clean fish, dig for worms and make love. Must own boat and outboard motor. Send photo of boat.

 

To the champion angler Joe:

 

We should have taken a photo of you when you came back with those two whopping-big flatheads. Having missed our chance, we use your LinkedIn photo until you come back to "Riverbend Cottage" for another record catch! ☺

And thank you for your kind testimonial:

I hadn't been on a fishing trip with my father for some thirty years. So when Dad consented to come fishing with me across the 2014 Australia Day weekend, I searched the web for a base from where we could fish the Clyde River for a few days. We were blessed to find 'Riverbend Cottage', just across the water from Nelligen on the banks of the Clyde! Offering Dad and I comfort, convenience and a peaceful ambience far above what I'd expected, 'Riverbend Cottage' was perfect for our fishing trip. Its position is smack in the middle of where I wanted to be, it has a jetty to tie my boat to and, when we weren't fishing, it offered us a peaceful space to recede from the surrounding world and simply enjoy being father and son again. Dad and I smiled all weekend and that had everything to do with our hosts, Padma and Peter, a charming, friendly, generous and hospitable couple who both appreciate personal space and know how not to intrude on yours. Always at our calling, Padma and Peter were never 'under our feet', so to speak. In fact, despite the cottage's location adjacent to their main homestead, you'd never know that Peter and Padma were there unless you needed them ... and that wasn't at all for Dad and I because they'd appointed the cottage perfectly and pre-catered to our needs meticulously. Clean, quiet, private and secure, in beautiful location fronted by the magnificent Clyde River and surrounded by seven acres of superbly manicured grounds, the cottage is a comfortable one-room open-plan affair. Dad and I slept beautifully on quality bedding, prepared extravagant meals in its reliable kitchen and enjoyed immensely the living space it offered us... all major facets of a truly wonderful experience. As stated, Dad and I employed the cottage as a fishing base. But 'Riverbend' comprehensively lends itself to far more applications than this, and especially to visitors' use as a true retreat. Many thanks for having us, Padma and Peter. Dad and I thoroughly and unreservedly recommend your wonderful 'Riverbend Cottage' to all aspiring visitors, planning to return there many times ourselves. We weren't disappointed by any aspect of our stay with you and can't possibly imagine how any other visitor would be. Joe Pelle, Canberra

In turn, here's a joke which you might enjoy:

Father and son are fishing in a boat under the Nelligen bridge. The son looks up and sees a funeral procession starting across the bridge. He stands up, takes off his cap, and bows his head. The procession crosses the bridge and the man puts on his cap, picks up his rod and reel, and continues fishing.

His father says, "That was touching. I didn't know you had it in you."

The son responds, "Well, I guess it was the thing to do - after all, I was married to her for 30 years." ☺

We hope you caught another big one at Bermagui!

 

P.S. We hear that you are writing a sequel to Lindsay Bond's Fishing the Clyde which you will call Emptying the Clyde ☺

Thank you for being our guests

At the Moruya Markets
left-to-right: Padma, Fran, Mike

 

We hope you enjoyed your short sojourn to our beautiful South Coast, Fran and Mike, and we look forward to seeing you again!