Beautiful Jervis Bay was a great choice for our final destination on the South Coast of New South Wales. Staying at the Jervis Bay Holiday Park, located on the banks of the Currambene Creek, we were just a few minutes’ drive from small holiday township of Huskisson. From 1864 to 1977, at least 131 registered wooden-hulled vessels were built in Huskisson, in shipyards along Currambene Creek.

Jervis Bay is fifteen kilometres long and ten kilometres wide. It is noted for its remarkable white sands which turn the waters a glorious aquamarine which becomes a deeper and deeper blue further offshore. This huge natural sheltered harbour is up to twenty-seven metres deep.

As part of Mallie’s birthday celebration, and blessed with a magnificent sunny day, we embarked on a two-hour boat tour of Jervis Bay.

The bay has a rich geology and history, historic lighthouses, intimate coves and beaches, and cliffs up to one hundred and thirty-five metres high. 

On the southern shore of Jervis Bay (the actually bay) is the Jervis Bay Territory, a commonwealth jurisdiction. Inside the Territory, which has a border crossing and Commonwealth Police, is Jervis Bay Village the home to about 200 people comprising members of the Royal Australian Navy HMAS Creswell and an Aboriginal community. The Jervis Bay Territory, sometimes referred to as the Port of Canberra was annexed from New South Wales in 1915.

Of course, a birthday must include a celebratory lunch.

And what better way for birthday girl to finish the afternoon than to attend the community choir singing at the Tomerong School of Art Hall, a short drive out the road from Jervis Bay.

On the evening of 10 February 1964, while 20 nautical miles south-east of Jervis Bay, two Royal Australian Navy ships, the HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Voyager collided resulting in 82 deaths. The tragic event is commemorated by a memorial beside the bay in Huskisson.