Day 309 - Friday 3 November - Whale Tales

Day 309 –

Friday

3 November – Wildcats 93 V Kings 69

Merimbula – Eden – Boydtown – Pambula

Well I thought it was 6.40am when I woke, but it turns out it was 8.40am. After our later than normal bedtime I was out for a while longer. Paul got out once I had stirred and I was up not long after making breakfast.

With all the usual bits sorted, we made our way south along the coastal route, passing through the small town of Pambula. It was here that we saw a few signs indicating cheap oysters and we made a note to return to them on our way back.

Our destination was the town of Eden 35min drive south. Once we reached the main street, we followed the signage to the lookout at the point and parked up. We made our way along the boardwalk to a viewing platform where we could take in the view of Twofold Bay. Eden is known for the migrating whales, infact they have a whale festival every year and it just happened to start today and will run over the weekend.

Back in the 1800’s, Eden was a whaling station, with humpbacks targeted for their blubber. While this is not unique, the partnership between whalers and killer whales that would herd a humpback into the bay for the whalers to harpoon certainly was.  More can be found here http://www.sapphirecoast.com.au/point-of-interest/boyds-tower/

Today it was very overcast and the sky and waters of the bay seemed to have no discernible boundary, rather melding into one. We looked out to the south point where Boyd’s tower could be seen, built as a viewing platform for whalers by Ben Boyd. We didn’t see much action in the way of whales today, a few sprays of water on the horizon was it.

Boyd's tower on the south head

From the lookout, we drove back up the hill to the Killer Whale museum. The museum was created after “Old Tom” a popular killer whale washed up on a beach and locals decided to preserve his skeleton and tell visitors the story of the “Killers”. 

We paid the $10 entry and then wandered through the two storey building reading about whaling, the killer whales, WW1 and 2 participants and logging. The skeleton of “Old Tom” takes centre stage along with his story. There were also a number of video presentations that we sat down to watch. The story was certainly fascinating.

One we were done, we made our way outside only to be confronted by rain. We drove the car a short distance down the main road and parked, deciding it was time for a pie at the bakery. 

 

The rain hadn’t subsided by the time we were finished, so we drove to the tourist bureau for some info and a wander around the boards coming across an interesting couch knitted out of hundreds of dolls. It was very cute and I couldn’t help but take a load off. 

This time the rain had eased and we were able to walk the main street checking out the old heritage buildings and then information boards on the perimeter of the Killer Whale museum. By the time we had finished, it began spitting again, so we had to make a dash back to the car.

We drove a little further south to a small settlement known as Boydtown, effectively it was the very large home created by Ben Boyd in the 1800’s that has since been restored and turned into a luxury hotel. 

We wandered through the gardens and down to the waters of Twofold Bay. From here you could appreciate the grandeur of the home. We wandered around the front, before entering the building to order a drink. I was particularly taken by the stained glass of the windows and the door, just beautiful. 

We sat outside enjoying our drink and the rare blue and sunshine, happy to take some time to take in the view before returning to the car just as the rain began to spit once again. 

The drive home was a wet one. We couldn’t believe how much water was coming down. We did a quick stop at a small roadside oyster shack, picking up 3 doz for $36 and once we were back in Merimbula we stopped at Woollies for dinner bits and then it was back to van.

We settled into our usual afternoon routine with me going through the photos while watching another episode of PLL and Paul reading. At 5pm, we took ourselves for a wander around the park and down to the park along the beach. We watched the many dogs playing on the lawn, chasing balls as well as keeping an eye out for whales. It was near on impossible to spot any, as the water was full of white caps.

Once back at the van, we started preparing our oyster dinner that was delish. I then worked on the blog, while Paul rang Jaden for an update, we finished the night checking NBL scores and reading our books before finally heading to bed.