Drive time: 4 hours 35 mins

Distance: 385km from Newy

Sightings: Australian pelican, black swan, chestnut teal, great egret, Pacific reef-heron (?), plover

A 2-hour paddle around the Sussex inlet inlets revealed lots of fancy and basic waterfront houses. Not quite the small town that it appears from the main drag.

Before Swordfish brewery opened, the dinner options in SI were the RSL bistro, the Bowlo and the Chinese.

The first European settler in the area was Jacob Ellmoos, a migrant from Denmark who arrived in Sydney in 1878, and sailed and fished his way down the coast. He loved the fishinng and beauty of Sussex Inlet and decided to stay.
 
Jacob was granted 1200 acres of land on the eastern side of the Inlet. In 1886, he brought out his family from Denmark and they built the guesthouse, ‘Christian’s Minde’ (left) in 1890. It was the only one of its kind between Sydney and the Victorian border and still stands today on the shore of Jervis Bay, just across from Sussex Inlet. The name means “Christian’s Rest” or “To the Memory of Christian” and was named after Christian Ellmoos, Jacob’s father.

Today, the main guesthouse is in need of TLC, but you can stay in the smaller cottage to the right.