Thursday, 13 September 2012
Well,
here we go again on our next leg of the trip. It seems like ages ago when
we completed the last one. At this rate we should be in Melbourne when we’re in
our 90’s.....
As
we started from Sydney at 2pm and drove for about 7 hours, by the time we
arrived at our destination – Eden we were absolutely exhausted! It was really
lovely to get into our comfy
accommodation at Whale Apartments.
It was spacious and John & Di had made it nice and snug by warming
it up as they had arrived way before us at lunchtime.
Friday, 14 September 2012
We
woke up to spectacular views of the ocean from every window in the apartment
and the balcony is the best place to feast your eyes upon the gorgeous
vista. There is a small historic
cemetery further up the street and so we have really quiet neighbours....
After
a hearty breakfast we started on our walk, minus Geri who is injured, from
Merimbula Beach. We walked for about 8km till we came upon a large body of
water flowing from Merimbula Lake. There
were a couple of kayakers, but unfortunately we couldn’t hitch a ride with
them. So, Geri who has assumed the chauffeur position came to pick us up and
drive us to the other side. Such a shame we couldn’t just cross over, as this
leg of the walk is only another 2km or so.
Anyway, we finished up at Quondolo and then drove the short distance to
the Pinnacles, which were beautiful rock formations. 
After
a nice soak in the bath and some lovely pasta cooked by Geri (who has also
volunteered to cook for us tonight) we then drove to Merimbula’s Twyford Hall
to watch a Musical performance entitled “Daredevils” by the local amateur
group. Hugo, our friend from our last walk, is performing in it and we were
looking forward to seeing him again. The
hall was a typical country set-up – friendly and ‘no frills’. We took some cheese platters and some nice
bottles of wine and enjoyed the performance. But the highlight was the very
last scene when Hugo made his appearance in all his priestly regalia. It should have been a very solemn scene,
after all it was supposed to be during the funeral of a very young man, but
unfortunately we all turned into histerics and were barely able to contain our
giggling. Di even had to burrow beneath
the table trying desperately to suppress her laughter, which made matters
worse, of course. Our whole table was in
stiches, soon joined by the people seating behind us. Oh dear, we will never live this down....
poor Hugo. He took it all in his stride
and wasn’t even mad at us. I must say, we did have a hoot of a time!
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Today we were joined by Hugo, so
there were 5 of us walking, whilst Geri and Naomi left us to go kayaking as
both of them have injured knees.
.JPG) |
Our walk started from Boyd Tower,
which was supposed to be a lighthouse to start off but later it was changed for
whale spotting. The walk through the Ben Boyd National Park is spectacular.
There is some climbing through the forest and back down again but it is quite
enjoyable. The track winds and undulates for some time, leading away from the
coast. Then it continues back towards the coast to a view of the tower on your
left and a rock island below in the sea. Perfect for photograph enthusiasts,
like me! The walk then winds down into a
gully with access to the rocks, then it continues across the red flat rock
coming into Red Sands Bay where we stopped to morning tea. The contrast of the
red cliff face against the blue water and the deep green of the canopy on top
makes it look like a beautiful painting. We then resumed our walk passing
through Leather Jacket Bay, Mowarry Point and Red Cliffs. These fantastic red
coastal cliffs are made of a red siltstone. The red silt came from nearby
volcanic eruptions long, long ago. The cliff is unfenced and provides views out
to sea and into a few surrounding bays. We arrived at Saltwater Creek and Hugo
then took us for a drink at the Boyd Town Hotel, a very nice country hotel with
lovely gardens and waterviews. I guess we must have walked around 12km today.
Sunday, 16 September 2012
 |
| Boyd Tower |
From Saltwater Creek , where we left
off yesterday we continued on the final leg of “the Light to Light Track”,
approx. 13km. However, as we have a long drive back to Sydney tomorrow we voted
to walk to Bittangabee Bay and then Geri can drive us the short distance into
Green Cape, so we can look at the lighthouse.
John and I took a detour, just
before reaching Bittangabee Bay to have a look at the historical ruins of the Imlay
brothers house. The ruins reveal the outline of what would have been a great
house, in a quiet and scenic bay. The walk returns by the coast with views
through the trees of the turquoise waters. This is an interesting trip to help
understand the work of local whalers and business men who lived in the region
during the mid 1800's.
 |
| Green Cape Lighthouse |
Just around the Bay there are some more ruins of an old
jetty and storehouse where the boats used to anchor and load containers with supplies
for the lighthouse workers. They then loaded it onto train tracks which was
pulled by horses they kept on the grounds of the lighthouse. The lighthouse is
presently under maintenance, but you can book accommodation and sleep
there. The seas must be really
treacherous in these areas as everywhere there are monuments of ships lost at
sea with many souls perishing with them. As
we got home at around 2pm we had time to have a little tour of the town of Eden
and spotted a very cheeky seal lazily swimming around the jetty. John C as usual cast his magical fishing rod
and appeared at dinner-time with 2 magnificent Aussie Salmon. Too bad it’s the last night and we had
already ordered pizza. We shall cook it
later and enjoy it.
Monday, 16 September 2012
The weather was drizzly as we left
beautiful Eden for our long drive home. How lucky were we to have sunshine all
through the 3 days of trekking. I reckon
we will be walking on Victorian soil on our next stage, hooray!!!!!
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