Merimbula

Merimbula — The Town I Could Move to on the Sapphire Coast

Some places you visit.

Others have you inspecting all of the real estate options before you’ve even packed up the caravan.

Merimbula may have been the latter.

We arrived expecting another beautiful stop along the Sapphire Coast, but somewhere between the coastal walks, ridiculously good custard doughnuts, friendly locals and Josh eating his weight in oysters, we started asking a slightly more dangerous question:

Could we actually live here?

Merimbula exceeded my expectations tenfold.

I expected another small town on the NSW coast that would fall somewhere between two extremes — either so busy that its charm had been swallowed by tourism, or so quiet that there wasn’t quite enough there to imagine building a life around.

Merimbula somehow sits beautifully in the middle.

It has everything you need without feeling like it has everything crammed into it. There are beautiful cafés, niche little stores and eateries, plenty of places to explore and all the essentials you need for everyday life — without the massive shopping centres and city-like structures that can slowly steal the charm from a coastal town.

And then there are the people.

Ridiculously friendly.

The kind of friendly where you walk away from an interaction thinking, Well, that was bloody lovely.

Even a visit to the local jeweller turned into one of those interactions.

Perhaps that’s part of what made Merimbula stand out so much. It wasn’t one big attraction that won us over. It was a collection of ordinary little moments that made being there feel remarkably easy.

Easy days with kids, dogs and coffee

One of the things that surprised me most was just how easy Merimbula was to enjoy with a young family — and three dogs in tow.

There are parks everywhere for the kids, beautiful walks around town, plenty of dog-friendly spaces and cafés where you can grab a decent coffee while looking straight over the water.

One morning we found ourselves sitting outside Waterfront Café with coffees on the table, Max in my arms, Lainey pottering around beside us and the dogs nearby.

Nothing particularly extraordinary happened.

And perhaps that was exactly the point.

It was just easy.

And then there were the custard doughnuts…

Our home base was Black Dolphin Holiday Park, which turned out to be another winner.

The staff were wonderful, it was extremely dog friendly, the amenities were clean, and there was a splash park and jumping pillow for the kids. The location also made life ridiculously convenient — we could walk into town, wander over to the park or beach, and the boat ramp was only a stone’s throw away.

More importantly, Mitchies Café was a short walk away.

Which brings me to the custard doughnuts.

I don’t know what Mitchies puts in them, and frankly I don’t need to know.

All I can tell you is that they’re worth the walk from the caravan park and potentially worth choosing your accommodation around.

They are that good.

For another sugar hit, the local chocolate shop is absolutely worth a visit, and Oakland’s nearby is a great place to stop for a coffee while stocking up on enough chocolate to tell yourself you’ll “save some for later.”

Good luck with that.

Oysters, boats and ridiculously clear water

Of course, you can’t spend time around Merimbula and Pambula without noticing the oysters.

We headed to Broadwater Oysters in Pambula, where Josh gave the local oysters a very enthusiastic 10/10.

Lainey and I remained unconvinced that oysters needed to be part of our Merimbula experience at all.

But Dad was happy, they were incredibly fresh and the price made him even happier.

The waterways themselves were another highlight.

The water around Merimbula and Pambula is ridiculously clear, and if you’ve brought a tinny or boat, getting out on it is a must. Cruising past the oyster farms and seeing the coastline from the water gives you a completely different perspective of the area.

And if you haven’t dragged a boat halfway around Australia with you, you can hire one instead.

Beyond Merimbula

Part of Merimbula’s appeal is everything surrounding it.

Pambula, Eden and Tathra are all worth exploring, with beautiful walks, beaches and scenery, while a trip inland to the Bega Cheese Heritage Centre is also worth the drive.

Because if you’re driving through Bega, it would frankly seem irresponsible not to leave with cheese.

Winter turned out to be a beautiful time to explore the region too. It was peaceful without feeling deserted, the weather gave us some stunning days, and we could actually enjoy the beaches, walks and town without fighting peak-season crowds.

Then we made the mistake of looking at real estate

This is where things became dangerous.

Because once we’d established that Merimbula had the cafés, parks, walks, beaches, boating, dog friendliness, beautiful surrounding towns and genuinely lovely people…

Naturally, we started looking at houses.

And then land.

And then acreage.

Because apparently looking at one property listing is never enough.

What surprised us was that there are still lifestyle options around the broader region. You don’t necessarily have to choose between living somewhere beautiful and having enough space to create a quieter life.

And suddenly our harmless little:

Could we live here?

wasn’t quite so hypothetical.

Perhaps that’s how you know a place has gotten under your skin. You stop asking what there is to do there and start wondering what it would be like to simply live there.

Who knows where we’ll eventually end up. There are plenty more roads to travel and places we haven’t met yet.

But Merimbula has certainly earned itself a spot on the “Could We Actually Live Here?” list.

We may have arrived in Merimbula looking for somewhere to park the caravan.

We left wondering whether, one day, we might park something a little more permanent.