Exploring Eden: Paradise on the Sapphire Coast
In April of this year I was invited as an international media participant from India to attend the Australia Tourism Exchange in Brisbane. Preceding the ATE I was part of a media team that visited the beautiful South coast of New South Wales. We flew down from Sydney in a Saab 340B turboprop operated by Australia’s regional airline REX. The journey took only an hour and the small plane banked over miles of deserted beaches, the sparkling blue ocean and the lush green hinterland to land at the small town of Moruya. Alighting into bright sunshine and hopping into our Mercedes Sprinter van, we were soon on our way down the Sapphire Coast. Two hours and 170 Kms later we reached journey’s end at a slice of paradise appropriately enough called Eden. This beautiful little town on the cusp of Twofold Bay used to be a whaling port and is now a prime location for whale watching.
A walk in Eden Forest
We started our exploration of Eden at the Rotary Park where we walked along the elevated boardwalk to a lookout point where one could admire the stunning seascapes. During the Australian spring from September to November , humpback whales often come right into the bay to rest, nurse and feed on their long journey to Antarctica but it was too early in the season for us to see any. Back on land at the dock in Quarantine Bay, a squadron of pelicans waddled fearlessly among us like grumpy old men looking for a card game. If you have time it is also worth visiting the Eden Killer Whale Museum which has a vast number of artefacts focusing on Eden’s maritime and whaling past, as well as broader social and timber industry history. The star attraction is the skeleton of Old Tom a highly intelligent orca that helped local whalers with locating and hunting down the migrating baleen whales.
Next our sprightly guide Kerrie Scott led us off on a voyage of discovery through the enchanting Eden Forest. We had the place to ourselves and walked through the coastal beard heath, looking up at the towering bloodwood trees which almost eclipsed the sky. Interestingly about three-quarters of Australia’s native forests are dominated by eucalypt species, to which the bloodwood with its characteristic deep red sap, belongs. Kerrie pointed out a few anthills tall as a man along our path and then we came to a clearing and suddenly in front of us across a small gorge was the fascinating Pinnacles formation. This spectacularly eroded hillside revealed cliffs of soft white sands capped with a layer of red gravel clay. Kerrie exclaims ‘’Just imagine this layer was deposited during the Tertiary geological period – up to 65 million years ago !’’ and we are left speechless. The broken hill ran all the way down to a wide flat beach and the sparkling ocean, quite a sight to behold.
Kayaking on Pambula Lake
Early the next day and just a few miles north of Eden we pushed off in kayaks onto the calm waters of Pambula Lake. My slim olive green craft glided easily along on the mirror like surface of the lake. I felt my motor skills coming right back as I dipped the double paddle first left then right to keep Sea Eagle pointed in the right direction. In a clearing a mob of grey kangaroos watched us curiously, their heads turning with the kayaks until we ventured too close and they bounded away with great loping strides into the forest while the rainbow lorikeets screeched overhead, flashes of iridescent colour against the green of the eucalypts.
We executed a big wide turn to avoid the lines of oyster traps bobbing close to the shore and entered the mouth of the Pambula River. The river was wide, flat and shallow with nary a ripple and the gentlest of currents moved us forwards. Excitedly Kerrie pointed to the nest of a white-bellied sea eagle high up on an overhanging gum tree – and soon after the mother bird perched still as a sentinel on another branch. ‘’This is the apex predator of the Australian coastline and it can reach a diving speed of 100 mph when it spots its prey’’ whispered Kerrie as we gazed up in awe. As we paddled onwards, I observed a widening of the visible horizon and a distant line of white breakers indicating the sea and we were at journey’s end.
