We’d been driving through Nelligen for years — just passing through on the way to somewhere else. Then one afternoon we stopped. The river was doing that thing it does in the late light, where everything goes gold and still, and we sat there long enough to think: what if this was the destination? That’s how Sunlit on the Clyde began. Not as a business plan, but as a feeling."
Which is how the new owners of Nelligen's Sunlit Waters Motel describe "The story behind Sunlit on the Clyde", although it began more like this:
Long before the new owners allowed the place to fall into disrepute thanks to some of its 'shadier' social clientele, its previous owner, Mavis Dunbar, had already allowed it to fall into disrepair. She simply had grown old and run out of energy and patience with the never-ending demands of holiday-makers dropping in at all hours. You remember McDonald's catchcry, "You want fries with that?" Well, it is rumoured that Mavis used to ask her guests on arrival, "You also want toilet paper?" In short, Sunlit Waters Leisure Retreat, as it was known, had seen better days long before Mavis Dunbar passed away in August 2020 - click here.
Some of the old photos can be seen here
With just a bit of a clean-up and a fresh coat of paint on the outside and a very substantial refurbishment of the cabins, the old place, much to the relief of all in the neighbourhood, has slowly arisen from the ashes.
By just driving an extra hundred metres past that "Holiday Here" bubble, you really could have struck it lucky and find "Riverbend Cottage", but, like good ol' Mavis, we, too, have grown old and run out of energy and patience to cater to the demands of holiday-makers, and "Riverbend Cottage" is no more, but we've kept the old website for old times' sake.
For the past thirty-three years, "Riverbend" has been our "feeling that the South Coast doesn’t have to mean crowds, car parks, or a motel room that could be anywhere. It can mean the sound of the Clyde in the morning, a proper breakfast on your own deck, and the satisfaction of having found somewhere that most people drive straight past."
