Facts and figures

The area where we're staying, Bateman's Bay, is both a town and an area. The town (pop 17,500) sits at the mouth of the Clyde river, about 170 miles south of Sydney. Thought to be named for Nathaniel Bateman, captain of the HMS Nortumberland when Cook was serving as her master in the 1760s, the town has most things you need, supermarket, ATMS, petrol station, It's about 7km from Surf Beach where we're based.

The area is really a string of small towns, bays, coves, and beaches running miles to the south. There's not much in the way of industry here, being mainly a holiday and retirement area, but it seems reasonably prosperous without being flash. Most people are content with a Holden (as General Motors cars are marketed over here), but there are a few small Japanese cars, and SUVs where there is a boat in the drive. We've seen very few German cars. The whole area is heavily wooded which in nice but brings fire risk in the summer. We're at the start of autumn now so it’s pretty quiet and the roads are nearly empty.

Clubs, societies and voluntary organisations abound. My Probus chums will be interested to know there is a Probus Club in Bateman's Bay, but it's part of the Rotary. There's a picture in the local free paper showing a bunch of them, many in bush hats. You can't see their legs but I'd bet most are in shorts too. Gambling is endemic and seems to be the basis of much of the leisure industry.

They do like to trumpet the provenance of food and wine whenever it is either locally-produced, or just Australian, which much of it is. Most fruits can be grown here, and most meat is local.

Rainfall here is double that at home, but with fewer rainy days. In any given season, the temperature is probably 10 degrees higher than it would be at home. Autumn generally is the nicest season, though we seem to have hit a rainy patch this year.