Since my last blog we have actually had a couple of fine days. I know, it may be a shock but it finally happened. Before those fine days we still had a day of rain on Friday, our 4th day in a row. Not to be put off our travels, we spent Friday on a bit of a tourist drive.
First thing we checked out the Mary McKillop Hall and Museum. This was a historic building that Mary McKillop actually visited on a couple of occasions in 1899 and 1901, where she taught and inspected the students from St. Josephs. She already had a tragic connection with Eden, as her mother Flora was killed in 1886 when the steam ship Le-ee-Moon was shipwrecked just south of Eden with the loss of all 72 lives.
From there we went to check out Quarantine Bay, which was just a small inlet with a number of boats permanently moored there. We then moved off to Boydtown, a local historical area and had the intention of checking out the ruins of an old church. It looked pretty good on the tourist pamphlets, but of course, the only thing missing was how to find it. We joined a procession of other cars searching for it, but alas, it had obviously been a total ruin.
Not to be put off, we headed into Boyd National Park and went to check out the relics of an old shore based whaling operation. The original homestead was still in place, but in reality, it was just an old shack. It was only about 100 metres from the shoreline, so you can just imagine the smell that would have been constantly going through the house.
On the shoreline you can see the original steel vats that were used to boil the blubber, after the whales were totally skinned on the shore. As I said, you can just imagine the perfumed odour that would have permeated that house on a permanent basis.
Next stop on our historical tour was to check out Boyds tower. You may have noticed a bit of a regular theme here with the name Boyd. Obviously a very cashed up family that were the driving force in whaling and every other money making venture way back when. The tower was built with the intention of it being a lighthouse for the treacherous coastline, but, in a decision only governments can make, they refused him permission to light it up. Good to see that the Governments way back then were just as useless as the ones of today. He then used it as a whale spotting tower. Of course, whilst trying to get those perfect photos for your viewing pleasure, it started raining again.
After getting wet again, it was back to the safety of our caravan park. As waterlogged as it was.
Got up bright and early Saturday morning and rang the whale operators and were advised our 0800 tour was on. It was with a bit of trepidation we headed down to the wharf and found ourselves amongst another 50 likeminded travellers, hoping to see those elusive whales. One group consisted of a large family party of grandmother (60's playing 40y.o), daughters, sons and grandchildren. As we were heading away from the wharf, moronic grandmother said in a very loud voice, ' if we get killed it will almost wipe out our entire family. ' Of course there is one in every crowd but it did nothing for the confidence of other children, not attached to those morons that were on the boat.
When we left the shore the bay was fairly still but the further out we got the bigger the swell became. We searched for about 2 hours, finding only the odd seal and dolphins, before we came across a small pod of a couple of whales. Over the next hour we probably saw the fins and the odd blow of the whales but they refused to play games. They were just on a mission to get to where they were going. There was no breaching out of the water, as all of the adverts show, or sunning themselves for tourists. This was just the odd quick photo of a tail fin or half of a shot of a whale. The boat was really getting thrown around in the swell as the driver tried to get close to the whales, but this just threw you around, as you were dropping a few metres straight down and getting tossed from side to side. Not the best day for whale watching, but the dolphins were cute.
Sunday was actually the best day so far, with a bit of sunshine and NO RAIN. We just bummed around the park and did a bit of housework and caught up on some laundry.
Monday was another day with plenty of sunshine so we went for a walk along the boardwalk in the town. This took us down to the beach. Yes, I know it is hard to believe, but there is a beach in Eden. The walk from the top of the hill and along the beach is a couple of k's, with a killer hill, but of course we are just fitness machines. The beach looked quite nice, but there are lots of warning signs of dangerous currents. Maybe that was why the people on the shore were just building sandcastles with their kids.
After a life giving coffee at our favourite café it was back to the safety of the park. The group of kangaroos that obviously live at the park, are always hopping through the various sites and at one stage they were about 20 metres from our van. They were very used to people getting photos of them and even the little joeys now put their heads out to get in on the shot.
Caught up with Keith and Trish again today in Merimbula for a final coffee. They have got the keys to their new house now and in only a couple of weeks they will be out of the motel. Was great to catch up with them and as I said, great to see Keith looking so well after lots of treatment.
Well, we will be off tomorrow morning and heading to a small town called Moruya, just north of here where we will be staying for a few days. WAIT, what was that, YES, It is bloody raining again. Just awesome.
Keep safe and well
Barry and Deb.
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