Day 23 / 2016 - Lakes Entrance to Eden

Packing up at Lakes Entrance was slow. We had gotten out of bed late and didn't see the need to rush taking our time eventually leaving at 11am.

Our next destination is Eden on the NSW coast but decided on a stop over at Genoa which from the comments on Wiki Camps a great place to free camp for a gold coin donation. Genoa is located along the Prince's Hwy about 12 Km before the border of NSW. The Prince's Hwy from Lakes Entrance twist and turns a lot more as we headed towards the border the road is of good width but is in a sad state of repair in a number of places. You can see they are upgrading sections but still have a long way to go. 

Arrving in Genoa we found the camp area which is a large flat grass area next to the town tenis courts. There is plenty of space to park but it does get quite full in the evenings and is popular stop over for all types of self sufficient tourists. The town which consists of a pub and post office is accessable from the campsite via the old Genoa River bridge which has been restored and certified as a foot bridge. 

From Genoa you drive towards the coast to the town of Mallacoota. The road winds its way for about 23km. Mallacoota is very much a tourist seaside town with the largest caravan park I have ever seen. There are about 650 sites of various shape, size and angles strung out around the foreshore for about 1.5 Km. The town has basic services such as a supermarket, post offce and service station with a few specialty shops and cafe's but not much else. Along the foreshore in front of the park there are numerious pens for boats. The idea being holiday makers would come down to stay for weeks at a time and if they bought a boat they could leave it in the water tied up in a pen saving the daily launching at the boat ramp.

While at Mallacoota we spied a seal in the water which at first looked to us injured with its tail caught up under its flipper just going around in circles grunting. We tried to lookup who we could call struggling to find a number. At that time 2 people walked past and we asked them if they thought the animal looked sick which they replied "na he's just trying to warm himself up and having a relax after a big feed."

Returning to Genoa and reconnecting the van to the car we head north towards the NSW - Vic border then onto Eden another 50 KM further on. The hills weren't to bad untill close to Eden where they got steeper especially the road in. Its seems like the town is built on the side of a hill. We checked into Garden of Eden Tourist Park and being off peak season we secured a good deal of pay for 3 nights stay for 4 which works out approx $27.00 per night. The park is quite nice and tidy and has a swimming pool, tennis court and putt putt range. The sites are of adaquate size but would be difficuilt to back onto if the park was busy.  

Eden is a small town with a population of just over 3000 people. The main industry here is fishing, farming and tourism. Whale hunting was conducted here up to the early 1920's where it died out due to dwindling numbers of whales and competition from other more whale friendly sources of oil such as vegatable and Mineral. Whale watching has replaced whale hunting with the season occuring between the months of August to November there are regularly scheduled daily boat tours from the Wharf. They still hold a big festival in August to commemorate the start of the whale season which includes a float parade, music and fireworks just nobody goes out to hunt anymore.  

There are a number of Heritage sites you can visit such as Boyds Tower in East Boyd National Park. Boyds tower was originally constructed to be a privately owned lighthouse and was built without prior approval. When approval was sought it was denied by the government. Not to be detered Boyd then used the tower to spot whales as they passed by Twofolds Bay. Having the tower gave Boyds crew a distinct advantage over the other whalers when looking out for whales. Near Boyds tower is also an unusual rock formation by the sea cliffs where the rock seems to have been folded over itself.

From Boyds tower you can drive around the corner and visit the last reminants of Davidsons whaling station. It was here the whale carcasses where dragged up onto the beach using a manually turned capstan. The blubber was then cut off and boiled to make oil in try pots. The oil would then be cooled and shipped of by boat to other parts of Australia and the world. There is not much equipment left but there are interpretive signs located around the processing area to describe what activity happened in that spot. Up from the Bay is the homestead where Davidson and his family lived. It has a lush lawned are surrounded by a thick forest. I would hate to think of the smell that would waft through during whaling season when the wind was blowing inthe wrong direction.

Heading back towards Eden you pass by the township of Boydtown. This town was setup by Boyd and was to be the centre of his empire with hotels homesteads and business's. Only the hotel was built as Boyd fell on bad financial times and ended up fleeing the area. The hotel has been fully restored and has a resturaunt, accomodation and function rooms for hire. The hotel is located right on the banks of the Kiah inlet providing a senic backdrop for any occasion. 

Back in Eden we called into the Timber Workers Memorial. This is dedicated to all the Timber workers who had lost there lives while working in the Timber industry. Its centre piece is a sculpture depicting a fellow worker assisting his injured companion.

As said before Eden is built on the side of a mountain and driving through the centre of town past the wharf you head up a hill to the top of a rocky out crop of land developed by the local rotary club. There is a lookout which looks over Twofolds Bay where you can quite clearly see Boyds tower as well as the Navy Wharf and Wood Chip mill on the other side of the bay. Back from the lookout is a nice pinic area and another Memorial this time to Mariners who had lost their lives at sea. It was errected after the the tragic loss of the Shiralee and its crew off the coast of Eden in 1978.

Walking down around the beach you come across the Mary MacKillop Hall. The Church originally constructed in the 1800's was used as a school for underprivlige children setup by Sister Mary MacKillop in the early 1900's. She did this as a way to say thanks to the people of Eden for the way they respectfully took care of her Mother Flora's body who drowned after the Ly-ee-moon went down with 71 passengers and crew on board. The church has a number of stories about Sister Mary her life from birth to Death and the tragic loss of her mother in the the Ly-ee-moon disaster.