Narooma

Narooma township

Narooma is a pleasant coastal town in the Eurobodalla region of New South Wales. It has beautiful beaches and a salt water inlet. Population is about 8,500.

Get in

By plane

Nearest airport is at Moruya.

By bus

Premier Motor Service runs coaches from Sydney and Melbourne.

See

• Mount Dromedary

Do

• Day trip or overnight stay on Montague Island, 9km off-shore and famous for the largest penguin colony in NSW.
• Scuba diving on Montague Island with one of several Narooma operators:
  • Scuba Diving Narooma. 
  • Narooma Charters, No 2 Town Wharf, Bluewater Drive, ☏ +61 407 909 111, bookings@naroomacharters.com.au. $80 single dive, 100 double dive, hire extra. (updated Jan 2017)
  • Ocean Hut Narooma, ☏ +61 2 44762278. 
• Narooma Kinema (Cinemas), 94 Campbell St, ☏ +61 2 4476 2352. A good range of mainstream, opera and arthouse films. (updated Oct 2018)

Eat

• Anton's, 65 Dalmeny Dr, Kianga, ☏ +61 2 4476 1802. Good spot for breakfast and lunch. 
• Quarterdeck, Riverside Dr (At the marina), ☏ +61 2 4476 2723. Nice seafood place on the water. 
• Clubhouse, 1 Ballingalla St (at Narooma Golf Club). Inexpensive food. Kid friendly. 
• Lynch's, 135 Wagonga St. The dining room is nice for a special occasion. 

Sleep

• Narooma YHA, 243 Princes Highway, ☏ +61 2 4476 3287. Narooma YHA is a very clean and comfortable hostel/budget motel. All rooms have a bathroom. $29 per person dorm bed, $69 per room double or twin (more at Labour weekend). 

Stay safe

The bar crossing that boats must take exiting Narooma is the most dangerous in New South Wales. Take extreme care if skippering a boat across it, and you should have experience handling a boat in high swell. It should only be crossed during the incoming tide. You must contact the Coastal Patrol on channel 86 prior to beginning the crossing. When leaving, circle inside the channel a couple of times to familiarize yourself with conditions and then cross diagonally from the northern side of the bar. Once you begin crossing do not turn around and attempt to abort the crossing. All passengers in a boat crossing the bar must be wearing life jackets throughout the crossing, both by law and in the interests of safety.

Returning boats should also come in on the incoming tide and take the reverse of the path they took going out (that is, diagonally from south to north). Contact Coastal Patrol before the crossing and afterwards to confirm that you crossed safely. If conditions in the bar have deteriorated and you cannot re-enter, you will need to go south to Bermagui's harbor.

Go next

Head to places such as Moruya and Batemans Bay to the north or Bega and on to Eden to the south. Bodalla is about 15 minutes away and has some great cafes and restaurants. Tilba is 20 minutes south and has antique stores and a cheese factory.

Routes through Narooma

Batemans Bay ← Bodalla ←

N  S

→ Bega → Eden