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Now you must know that a Town Mouse once upon a time went on a visit to his cousin in the country. He was rough and ready, this cousin, but he loved his town friend and made him heartily welcome. Beans and bacon, cheese and bread, were all he had to offer, but he offered them freely. The Town Mouse rather turned up his long nose at this country fare, and said: "I cannot understand, Cousin, how you can put up with such poor food as this, but of course you cannot expect anything better in the country; come you with me and I will show you how to live. When you have been in town a week you will wonder how you could ever have stood a country life." No sooner said than done: the two mice set off for the town and arrived at the Town Mouse's residence late at night. "You will want some refreshment after our long journey," said the polite Town Mouse, and took his friend into the grand dining-room. There they found the remains of a fine feast, and soon the two mice were eating up jellies and cakes and all that was nice. Suddenly they heard growling and barking. "What is that?" said the Country Mouse. "It is only the dogs of the house," answered the other. "Only!" said the Country Mouse. "I do not like that music at my dinner." Just at that moment the door flew open, in came two huge mastiffs, and the two mice had to scamper down and run off. "Good-bye, Cousin," said the Country Mouse. "What! going so soon?" said the other. "Yes," he replied; "Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear." (Aesop's Fables)
... that dog has a problem.
I'm booking my two best friends into the Batemans Bay Pet Lodge for two nights - with all the optional extras, of course, like bathrobes and slippers and colour television - while I go up to Canberra to let a surgeon cut off part of my ear and do something equally nasty on my leg.
A new boat is permanently moored at the Nelligen bridge: the 32-footer "Amber Lady", owned by a Nick Ligakis in far-away Wagga Wagga. I invited him to join the Nelligen Yacht Club but so far no response.
I haven't seen any man eating crocodiles - or man-eating crocodiles - but just to be on the safe side, I've put up a sign.
We've just come back from a walk across the bridge and into the village which has quite a few interesting sights. This hall was built in 1903, judging by the position of the apostrophe, for just ONE mechanic!
... and I'm engrossed in reading Graham Greene's Short Stories.
Good reading but they don't come near Somerset W. Maugham's short stories (maybe Anton Chekhov's do).
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Most travellers speed across the modern bridge that spans the Clyde River and fifteen minutes later reach Batemans Bay. Before 1964 they would have joined the long queue of vehicles waiting to be ferried across on the punt. 30,000 vehicles used the punts at Nelligen in 1963, the year before the bridge opened.
But a lot has changed at Nelligen. In its heydays Nelligen was a busy seaport and coastal town. The village was laid out in 1854 when the Illawarra Steam Navigation Co (ISN) began operating here.
Nelligen became a depot for supplies brought down the coast from Sydney and up the Clyde River by the ISN. From here they were transported mostly to Braidwood and the neighbouring goldfields.
By 1860 fine hundred horses and nearly as many bullocks were carrying the trade between Nelligen and Braidwood. By that time the village boasted four public houses, two stores, two blacksmiths, a baker and a watchhouse manned by two policemen.
Today Nelligen is a quiet little backwater, but still fulfilling the role of a rest stop for the traveller as it has done since the "road" via the Clyde Mountain was opened in 1856.
It is a picturesque little town, nestled as it is on the banks of the slow-flowing Clyde River. Nelligen has an air of history and old-time charm about it, remaining untainted by the progressive developments down the road at Batemans Bay.
Click here for an early-morning view of Nelligen and the Clyde
Nelligen Community Notice Board
Bygone Days of Nelligen & Batemans Bay