A wander around Shellcove Marina

[noelm]

For the first time ever, I did the “tourist” thing and walked about at the Marina at Shellcove, now let’s be clear, I live minutes away, but have never just “wandered”. We started at the Tavern and the surrounding general tourist shops and swimming area, walked along the boardwalk to the south, stopped and chatted to a couple of charter guys we knew, then continued on to the boat ramp, spoke to a guy with the same boat as I used to own (20’ Rebel Cat) he told us his wife was asleep in the car after getting so seasick he had to bring her in….then all the way to the end of the breakwater, all the while passing mum and dad tourists fishing right beside the “no fishing” signs. What did I take from all this? First up, the general area is OK, the Marina is great, the housing development is a shambles of mistakes and repetitive same look houses and units on micro skinny streets, nowhere near enough parking was allowed for, lots of good fish visible around the structure. I did notice some broken glass in the trailer parking area, never heard of any issues, but there is evidence, there is limited signs to direct you to places, even knowing where I was going, it’s badly sign posted. All in all, it would be a nice day out for a family to eat and fish in comfort and have a great day out, there is a Woolworths right near the water, so reasonably priced odds and ends could be purchased, like (say) drinks, bread rolls and a BBQ Chicken and cold meat. Locals in the know are catching good fish in there (in places that is legal to fish) including some decent Jewfish.

[james Cutler]

Top story.

[zmk1962]

Nice review Noel. Maria and I have been there on similar excursions twice so far… we drop the boat off for a service at the marine retailer and then spend a few hours walking Shellcove Marina finishing up with a waterview lunch somewhere. 
It looks like a good ramp - we’ve been tempted to plan a trip out from there - but I’m a bit hesitant now that you mentioned the broken glass in the car park. 

Couldn’t agree more with you on the surrounding developments - I find the scale of the apartments in particular very daunting 😬

cheers Zoran 

Edited June 30 by zmk1962

[noelm]

I haven’t heard of any cars being broken into, but, to me, glass in the parking area is a sign of possible vandals. It is a great area, unless you want to duck into Woolworths and you can’t find a parking spot! Best guess is they will move, prime waterfront land used by Woolies kind of doesn’t make sense. The housing is a mess, there was nothing there, they could have done it so good, starting with bare land. Rows and rows of units all exactly the same, hundreds of houses on skinny streets where passing another car is a feat. Lots of vacant berths in the Marina, not too sure how it’s going financially. One thing I did take note of, there is nowhere to buy even basic bait or tackle, unless Woolies is open, no ice either, no boat shop, nothing. I reckon a mobile van selling stuff at the ramp on weekends would be a good money maker, no idea on the legalities though.

Edited June 29 by noelm

[BaitDropper]

I agree with your assessment Noel, I've had a few wanders around after working on some of the units/town houses in the area,  " not my tribe " as the saying goes..

They really could have done something special to that area, in my opinion, with regard to the housing that is built, it was less than impressive... It definitely wasn't a cheap option to buy and build there, but it feels as though they haven't planned it very well..

[noelm]

Yep, before it was built I enquired about land on a canal, was told they are not building canals, then I asked about waterfront land, no building blocks planned, only commercial property on the water, so I scrapped the whole idea. Lots of the houses are built so close together, on minimum size blocks. The council reduced minimum size just for Shellcove/Marina area. I did get to go for a walk in the harbour before it was filled with water, they had all the jetty pylons in place, the boat ramp and most of the structures all built while it was dry. They had the hole dug and blocked off from the ocean by the beach and big steel flat sections driven into the sand.