A white jewel turned grey

SALLY Macmillan can only dream about Hyams Beach's famous white sands and enticing blue sea during a damp weekend stay in NSW's seaside village.

National parks ... Hyams Beach is also famous for its wildlife.

SOMEWHERE out there, the good folk here assure us, is the beach with the mostest. A beach lauded for its white-as-white sand.

Its texture is said to be so fine and squelchy that it sends tingles up the spine. Its waters are enticingly blue and its denizens thrive under marine-park protection.

Wow! We'd like to see all that. Love to feel that squelch. Plunge into that aquamarine. Unfortunately, we can't – and we don't.

Not on this weekend foray to Hyams Beach, the jewel in the crown of NSW's South Coast.

We'd been smug as smug as we tootled off from sunny Sydney for the two-and-a-half-hour drive south with friends' envious, "Oh, you lucky things – Hyams Beach!" ringing in our ears.

All is fine as we finally leave the traffic frenzy behind, stopping off at a couple of lookouts to gaze at the coastline to the south. The last look is ominous: big, bruised clouds side by side from ocean horizon to hinterland.

Sure enough, just as we enter the sprawling village that is Hyams, down she comes. Barely able to see through the downpour, we peer hopefully out of the car for our seaside cottage. Not there. Not by the seaside.

Readjusting our squint, we locate the cottages on the left, pull in, grab our bags and sprint to the pale blue cottage third in from the road.

It's definitely not what we envisioned ... that vision entailed a little cottage right on the beach (or with clear view of beach in front) facing the ocean, where we could barbecue on or near the veranda and gaze out at the moonlit expanse.

Don't get me wrong. Hyams Beach Seaside Cottages – exclusively for couples – are as cute as bugs. The seven, pastel-hued 1920s cabins have been beautifully and luxuriously decorated: stained-glass doors, heritage touches, queen-size brass bed, french doors closing off the little bedroom and modern bathroom with shower (three cottages have spas) from the living – fridge, basin, cupboards, microwave, electric frypan; overstuffed couch, electric log fireplace, table, TV and VCR and little veranda. They're more than comfy and quaint.

Host Glen couldn't be nicer or more accommodating. He can see we're a mite discombobulated, and commiserates about the weather, pointing out where everything is in the cottage.

All bar the barbecue. Communal one down the back, says Greg, rarely used by folk staying here. Most people, he says, drive to Huskisson or Vincentia for dinner. Or there's the general store across the road which now has a great cafe.

We look out at the thunderous weather, down at the provisions we'd lugged in the cooler, and decide it's on with the barbecue.

First up, though, are appetisers on the little veranda – a tad close to neighbouring cottages.

In one lull, a king parrot visits followed by a pack of crimson rosellas. There's a glimpse through the cottages of the beach and a white-capped bay and far headland.

In another lull, we head down the back to the barbie, do the chops and snags, then run back through a downpour heavier than the one before. The beach towels that never see the beach come in handy as we dry ourselves before trotting across the beautiful timber floor.

A few glasses of red later, we're philosophical about the whole darn thing. There's always tomorrow.

But we wake to a still thunderous sky and grey, grey drizzle.

So we head back to town early, still unable to see the fabled white beach.

There's some compensation to find Sydney adrizzle and the knowledge that come next spring and sunny skies, we'll revisit Hyams and walk on that spine-tingling sand.

The writer was a guest of NSW Tourism.

The Sunday Telegraph