Murramarang to Merimbula

Until recently, Tathra was familiar to mountain bikers, holidaymakers, and pretty much no one else. It hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons back in March, when the town came under threat from bushfire and subsequently affected tourism, with some business owners believing the town is doing about half the business it normally would. A total of 66 homes were lost to the bushfire, and more than 150 were damaged in the blaze, including an old motor park that was entirely destroyed.

One property damaged was Tathra Beachside Holiday Park, which belongs to renowned entertainer Frankie J. Holden. From its grounds, you can look up the hill to the ridge, where brown leaves and blackened trunks still stand testament to the conflagration. It reached the shoreline on fireballs that rocketed down on 100km/h winds. Although the park lost a couple of cabins, Frankie doesn’t dwell on it or add to the negative media reports, focusing instead on how Tathra is bouncing back and very much open for business. “This is a great time to come to the Sapphire Coast,” says Frankie. “A lot of people still have the misconception that, ‘Oh, the South Coast is cold!’ But we call a typical winter’s day ‘blue sky winters’. You need your jacket on when you first get up, but by ten o’clock or ten-thirty you take it off, then you put it back on at about four-thirty.”