Ecotel

Today we moved about four hours drive south of Wollongong to a small coastal town called Narooma. The weather was really quite hot again today, bringing back memories of our outback driving, but we coped without the air-con, keeping our hopes of sticking to the budget alive.

We were both looking forward to seeing our accommodation for our three nights in Narooma. We had booked into a Motel with a difference. This motel was an environmentally friendly one- aptly named ‘Ecotel’. The Ecotel sits on the top of a hill overlooking the town and has some good views of the Bay beneath, and we immediately took a liking to the place.

The differences between the Ecotel and a standard Motel are subtle but obviously good for the environment. The showers are low flow and liquid dispensers of soap have been installed to reduce waste on soap and packaging. Some small wind turbines sit at the entrance to the Ecotel which provide low wattage security lighting and recycling is strongly encouraged at the premises. In addition to these, they are planning on installing solar panels and a water recycling system as soon as they can. Considering how large our carbon footprint will be by the time we finish our trip, it’s good to support a place like this even if it’s in a very small way.

Our first impressions of Narooma are positive. It seems a bit hilly so I’ll have to get my hill running muscles tuned up again, but there is a lovely quiet beach and three or four ‘board walks’ which we will have a look at over the next few days. There are also some national parks not too far away which might be worth visiting.


One of the Ecotels lodgers not paying any rent!