Day 56: Eden, Australia

Friday, 3 March 2017 (Part I)
At Sea — Tasman Sea … En route to Sydney

Stats @ Ship’s Time 8:30p (AEDT) … UTC 9:30a (3 March)
Temp: 70F (21.1C)
Position: 36.20.79S / 150.21.54E

When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make
you comfortable.  It is designed to make its own people comfortable.
~ Clifton Fadiman ~

Eden — the gateway to Australia’s coastal wilderness — was where we put another notch in our travel milestones by stepping on our seventh and last continent.  This southernmost town in New South Wales was a whaling center during the 19th century.  Of course those days are gone now — since 1947, Australia is an anti-whaling nation.  Perched on hills that gave us a cardio workout during our walkabout, charming Eden is set on an isthmus that separates the two parts of Twofold Bay, and boasts the world’s third deepest natural harbor.

We were up early, hoping against hope that the forecasted rain had already come and gone.  The skies, as one friend put it, were angry-looking, with just one spot of brightness that looked like a window into the heavens.  As we sat at the Terrace Café, having breakfast, we watched the rain move in … light, but steady.  “We can deal with that,” we said to ourselves.  After all, our rain pants and ponchos would keep us dry.

We had no concrete plans for the day, so we took our time, having a leisurely breakfast before heading to the Insignia Lounge to pick up tender tickets.  Five minutes later, we were on our way.  It was raining lightly when we boarded the tender.  By the time the boat was pulling away from the platform, conditions had changed to a downpour — steady and strong.  Sitting near the opening in the middle of the boat we were glad we already had our ponchos on as the rain was streaming inside … a sign of what was to come.

We disembarked the tender at the Eden Pier.  Despite the rain that was falling, we promptly decided not to wait for the free shuttle bus to downtown to fill up.  The rain wasn’t going to melt us.  The Aussies probably thought we were nuts when Mui asked for walking directions.  As we followed the pedestrian way that switchbacked up the hill, the water from the torrential rain was running downhill.  We persisted, but figured we had to adjust our plans somewhat.  Hiking in such a heavy downpour wasn’t going to be the best way to spend the morning.

When we saw the “open” sign at the door to the Eden Killer Whale Museum, we knew what we would be doing for at least the next hour.  The two charming Aussie ladies at the register greeted us warmly.  One of them took our money — Mui asked if there was a discount, and was promptly given .50 cents off the AUD $10/person (~USD $7.50) admission … senior discount don’tcha know ;-)  The other woman relieved us of our wet ponchos, putting them on hangers to drip dry while we explored the exhibits.

The Eden Killer Whale Museum — I can imagine our friend Conrad, a marine biologist with whom we traveled to the North Pole, shuddering at the terminology.  But hey, that’s the name of the museum.  Anyway, the museum was founded in 1939 to honor Old Tom, Twofold Bay’s “unique, world famous killer whale pack leader.”  When he died in 1930, his body was buried to let the meat decompose, and then the skeleton was retrieved and preserved to be exhibited in the museum.

Why would the people of Eden go to such lengths to memorialize a killer whale orca?  Because during its whaling heydays, Eden had a special cooperative relationship with these hunters of the oceans.  Old Tom, and the pack of orcas he led, worked with the local whalers of Twofold Bay for decades during the late 1800s and early 1900s.  I’ll tell you the story as described in the pamphlet we picked up.

“This particular shore-based whaling operation was unique in the co-operation between the whalemen and a pack of killer whales.  These killer whales, which returned each year, were identified individually by special markings.  Tom, Hooky, Humpy, and Stranger would herd baleen whales into Twofold Bay.  They would alert the whalemen of their prey’s arrival by “flop-tailing,” (thrashing the water with their tails), and the chase would be on.

After the whale was harpooned, some of the killers would expedite its death by rolling over its blowhole to stop it breathing, and others would swim below to prevent it from sounding (diving deep).  When the whale was dead, the killers would take the tongue and lips as their reward and leave the carcass for the whalemen to bring ashore …

…  to be flensed so that the blubber could be rendered into oil.  For the whalers it was all about the oil after all, and this cooperative hunting effort was a win-win for both the orcas and the men.

We listened to this story in fascination and then wandered over to check out Old Tom’s skeleton, and the various exhibits ranging from whaling history, to the part Australia played in WWI and WWII, to the wrecks dotting the coast.  We wrapped up our visit with the video running on a loop in the small theater … about Eden and the Sapphire Coast — a popular whale watching region … just not this time of the year.  Later, we were told September-October is the best time to see whales migrating through the waters around here … makes sense as they would be heading down to Antarctica for the summer feeding season about then.

Leader of the Pack … Old Tom

By the time we left the museum, the sun was actually out.  It didn’t last long, but despite the ominous looking clouds in almost every direction, we did not get anymore rain for the rest of the day.

Our next stop was not far.  The perimeter wall of the museum held a series of ceramic murals entitled “Cavalcade of Twofold Bay History” … which I had to see, of course.  Created specifically for the museum between 1994 and 1997, the panels tell the story of Twofold Bay “from the time of the dreaming of its original inhabitants, through the various stages of development by later arriving peoples.”  Each panel was lovely in its own way, but the two depicting the original inhabitants were my favorites.  If I can upload the photos, I will do a separate post on this.

Once we arrived in the heart of downtown, we took care of a few housekeeping matters — picked up AUD from the Westpac ATM … described by the locals as the “hole in the wall;” got some apples from the supermarket; and ordered beverages-to-go from a café … iced coffee (Australian style … with ice cream) for Mui and a delicious strawberry/mango smoothie for me … also made with ice cream.  We sipped our beverages as we slowly meandered towards Aslings Beach.  En route, we joined forces with Sonia and Boris, who were also out for a walk.  Enjoying the spectacular scenery of the cliffs in one direction and the beach in the other, we wandered around for a while.  It was very windy … but it was dry … and we were happy.

Eventually, we hiked back up to town, where we left our friends at the shuttle bus stop and headed downhill through the town to another trail near the Eden Wharf.  Facing the steep climb, we decided to switch plans since we didn’t have time to do the trail at leisure.  Instead, we detoured over to the Marine Center (AUD $5/person [~ USD $3.80]), which invited us inside with the tantalizing words … “baby octopus waiting to give you a hug.”

The small museum/education center was fun.  We did indeed see the baby octopus — endemic to the waters between Eden and Sydney.  It was in a tank in the lab.  So cute … and it put on a performance for us … although one of the caretakers said it was upset with him because he had put the toy ship in the tank upright again.  I took a video, but uploading it will have to wait until we get home.  Once we pulled ourselves away from the baby octopus, we wandered around the exhibits — to which we were led by a long black line marked in intervals with labels indicating the size of various marine mammals — from dolphins, to orcas, to the biggest of them all … the majestic blue whale.

Baby Octopus gives us a hug through the glass of the tank.

The center was a “feel free to touch anything” type of interactive place that was fun to explore.  Microscopes gave us a closer look at everything from sand particles to tiny seashells and mollusks; a beach-finds table was filled with artifacts of critters one might find washed ashore; in a couple of tanks swam some beautiful fish; on the walls were murals of whales with informative signs providing facts about the species.  There was also a video running on a loop that discussed the whales that come through the area on their yearly migration.  The funny thing — in one scene, we saw a zodiac full of yellow parkas that could only be from a Quark Antarctic expedition.

Initially, we were going to have lunch in town, but since halibut was on the dining room menu, we decided to save our money today.  We planned to sit at one of the wharf-side restaurants and have adult beverages before returning to Insignia, but the one we had our eye on was already closed when we arrived at 2:30p.  So, we wandered over to the tender pier to take the next boat back to Insignia.

Eden was a delight … even if we did get a soggy start.  The images we saw of the Sapphire Coast whetted our appetite to see more of it … and to make sure we time a return visit during the whale migration season.

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