Why Nelligen?" people ask me. "Why not?" is my short reply. Here's the full story: It all began sometime in 1991 when I helped an acquaintance at the HARMONIE German Club in Canberra with an income tax problem.
When I refused payment, not only because I was no longer a tax agent but also because we were both from the same (c)old country, he insisted I could stay in his holiday cottage at some little place called Nelligen. "It's on the Clyde River just before Batemans Bay", he said. "You'll love it!"
For several months, I didn't find the time to drive to the coast. When I eventually did I had almost forgotten the offer. Luckily, I didn't blink as I drove across the Nelligen bridge on the way to Batemans Bay and so spotted this tiny village nestled alongside the Clyde River.
At the General Store I asked for directions to the cottage "belonging to the German carpenter", and was shown to # 21 Sproxton Lane across the river. The cottage was locked but he had told me that the key was under the watertank and that I could make myself at home. Which I did and which set me on my own quest to find a little place in Nelligen.
At the time, Nelligen was a place forgotten even by real estate agents and nothing was for sale except a few empty building blocks. One such block overlooked the Clyde River from its location in Nelligen Place. I could imagine sitting there on the verandah and taking in the views. Which is exactly what a chap was doing just two blocks away. I walked up and asked if I could join him.
Soon we were not only sharing the same views but also memories of people and places we both had known as "Sandy" Sandilands and his wife Betty had also lived and worked in Rabaul in New Guinea and on Thursday Island - in fact, their daughter was born there! I felt at home at once! A few weeks later I was the proud owner of a block of land in Nelligen Place!
I wanted to build a beautiful little Classic Country Cottage. However, a retired public servant who occupied a small log cabin next to me did what public servants do: be a pain in the coccyx ! He objected to my building plans - TWICE! - on some obscure grounds. This delayed me long enough to find a much better place across the river. And that's how I came to buy "Riverbend"!
"Riverbend" had been auctioned in August 1992. I went to the auction as a spectator knowing that the reserve price was outside my range. It must have been outside everybody else's as well because it didn't sell. More than a year later, in November 1993, the owners, who had bought the property only four years earlier, accepted my much-reduced offer.
(Only after I had bought "Riverbend" did I find out that the previous owners had been forced out by some nasty neighbours. I swore to myself that if they ever tried the same with me, I wouldn't budge. They did, and I didn't! Oh, and I did go back to thank the public servant for objecting to my plans so that I could buy this much better and bigger and waterfront property. Last time I looked his mouth was still open!)
"Riverbend" has been my home now for over 30 years. As they say, there's no place like home and, as evidenced by the tee-shirt, Nelligen is right up there with every other great metropolis.
