Nerriga Nosh Up

23 November 2023 / Story: Val Reed; Photos Bob and Linda Downing

A great day out to HMAS Albatross and Nerriga Hotel

18 November 2023

On Saturday, November 18, eight South Coast chapter members – leaders Bob and Linda,with Kim and Fred, Paul, Brian, Ian and Valerie, met at the United Petroleum station at Tomerong. Two more members from the Illawarra Chapter, Gai and Tony, met up with us near our first stop, which was the Fleet Air Arm’s Museum at HMAS Albatross, near Nowra. Our convoy then consisted of seven cars - one model NA, two NCs and four NDs. We had a lovely day for it – blue skies and sunshine, with the tops down.

We spent an interesting hour at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, viewing exhibits from the earliest planes to the more modern models and helicopters.  A video also highlighted the difficulty of landing on to a moving ship, with an average of one incident a week occuring. An art gallery and archival footage were also well worth attention.

We then headed westwards, taking the road towards Braidwood and Goulburn and more importantly, to our destination and lunch at Nerriga. It was a lovely trip, through the Jerrawangala and Morton National Parks, up to the mountains, and along the ridges. The scenery, although beautiful, provided a stark reminder of our bushfires from 2019/20. The trees were smaller at that altitude and so didn’t have the big gums’ fire protection of thicker trunks and branches. Many of the trees were still blackened and seemingly dead, but others were starting to recover. There was still life around, however. A handsome black rooster came to look at us when we stopped for a group photo!

We reached Nerriga in good time for lunch. Despite its small population now (less than 50), it was once much bigger.  The first hotel, known as the Cricketers Arms, was built around 1864. It later became the Commercial Hotel and is now the Nerriga Hotel.

Despite its quiet location being on the main route between Jervis Bay and Canberra the hotel is obviously very popular and busy. They must have a terrific cook as the meals were really excellent. There were many objects of interest in the pub and one in particular was a full wall-sized wooden cut-outpainted mural, with a big banner over it inscribed “WYBMABIITY”. Eventually curiosity got the better of us and we asked the friendly publican what it meant. He laughed and said “Will you buy me a beer if I tell you….?” So ended another happy day.