Eden: a whale of a time

Green Cape Lighthouse

 If you had asked me what Eden was well known for, I'd have probably told you - the last pull out point on mainland Australia for Sydney Hobart yachts in trouble.  I have learned so much more!!

A chilly start to the day

I woke to a fairly chilly morning - there was frost on the grassy areas that I could see from my bedroom window and quite a coating of frost on the roof of my car.  

Eden Harbour

Having enjoyed the delights of a modicum of comfort with the facilities exceeding my limited expectations, and with a day easily filled in Eden, I decided a second night was a real possibility if the cabin was not otherwise booked and they would match the price I'd paid upon booking.  Luck was in on both counts, and I was offered the cabin for half the normal price.  

Pimella on the headland walk

The lovely lady on reception then told me about all the things to do in Eden that I knew nothing about - lots of possibilities for yet another day in Eden but I needed to double check my times/travel to ensure no hugely long days to get to the ferry on time.  All looked good so on my way out to the day's activities I called in to confirm a third night.  Her advice was to come back the next morning when she could again offer it at half price rather than pay the full price.  Sounded good to me.

Middle Head, Eden, from the other side

The Rescue Tower on Middle Head

Some semi-domestic stuff first:  fill the petrol tank, give the windscreens a good clean and top up the water in the windscreen washers.  In the time (months??) since I last looked under my bonnet, something seemed to have attempted to build a nest.  It did not look as if the materials were sourced from anything crucial in the engine structure, so I disposed of it and proceeded.

Asling's beach -
looking towards the location of the ocean pool

I headed to the Visitor Welcome Centre - and was provided with additional good ideas, and brochures.  I started with a walk around the harbour, the location to which a number of Sydney-Hobart yachts retire each year.  

The ocean pool - full of sand

From there, on to  the lookouts on the headland; lovely views and the beginning of my insight into what else Eden is well know for:  it's whaling history and in particular the association of the shore based whaling crews with the Orcas, or killer whales.

I found orchids
in the garden outside Eden's museum

The local indigenous people would come to the coast when the whales were migrating, in the hope of securing meals of whale meat.  They observed that the orcas would herd a migrating whale into the bay, forcing it to beach, thus providing a meat source for the indigenous people.  They would speed the demise of the whale by spearing it, and thankful for the help of the orcas, would provide the tongue and lips to the orcas before starting to feast themselves.  The indigenous locals saw a connection between themselves and the orcas: black with white markings, and believed that the orcas were their dead relatives returned to help them with the hunting.

The shore based European whalers recruited the local indigenous people who demonstrated excellent skills in all aspects required for successful whaling and the indigenous people believed that the orcas, their 'brothers' sensed their presence and would assist them.  

Old Tom's skeleton - the leader of the orcas pod

The orcas would split into 3 groups for the process of driving a whale into the bay - one group to drive it towards the bay, one group to prevent it escaping from the bay and another to prevent it from sounding.  When the whale was in the bay, a couple of the whales would go to the waters near the whaling station and splash, breach and be generally attention seeking until a boat was launched and a crew on their way to the whale.  

Once the whale was harpooned and dead (a quick sentence that might cover several hours of hard work), the whale would be moored and left for the orcas to have their share: the tongue and the lips, before the whale was towed to the whaling station for processing.  

This rather remarkable relationship between human and orca went on until the whaling industry ceased.

At the Seahorse Inn

From the lookouts, I headed round to look at the ocean pool, disappointingly it was filled with sand, but the surrounding rock  Next was the Eden Museum - I found it so much more interesting than many museums: partly because the subject matter was so fascinatingly unusual - the first few rooms were dedicated to the whaling operations and the orcas in particular.   And also because much of it had been written by someone who was a natural storyteller. 

The Seahorse Inn

The description 'for shipboard whaling crews, the worse part about living on the whaleship was not the filth, the labour or the stink, it was the food.  Rations ranged from unpleasant to revolting - salted meat, greasy pork, beans, rice potatoes, hard biscuits, and cockroach laden molasses.  They were served out of one large tub on on their sea chests to eat' paints an awful picture.

At the Seahorse Inn

I was also intrigued by 'Rheumatic patients sometimes used whales caught at Twofold Bay to relieve their suffering using the following un pleasant treatment.  A large hole, 4-5 foot long and 3 foot wide was cut in the side of the whale, with smaller separate holes for each patient to enter'

The museum also had a section on world war II, and I was reminded of my knowledge from a day or two previously: there had been enemy action off the coast of NSW.  At least 30 merchant ships were sunk, with more than 650 resulting deaths

Beermuna Beach

While in the museum, the rain started, and got heavier and windy squalls were driving it; I needed to go out to the car to get another jacket.  The museum closed at 3:45pm,  and my plan had been to then walk  the Bundian Way Story Trail - the Bundian Way is over 300km of traditional paths stretching from Kosciuszko to Eden.  That was not going to happen, given the filthy weather, so I returned to my accommodation

The weather immediately cleared, so rather than retrace my steps and not really having time to do the walk before dark, I went to visit the Seahorse Inn, and look at what had been a great dream of Benjamin Boyd, an entrepreneur of the 1800s.  It sits behind Beermuna Beach in Twofold Bay, where the local indigenous people first observed the orcas beaching the whales and the consequent site of the development of that amazing relationship between the two.

The homestead at the Davidson Whaling Station

The following morning, after booking my unit for another night at the amazing price of $64.50 I headed for the Ben Boyd National Park starting with the Davidson whaling station. At the car park I was greeted by the sound of Bell birds again and then inspected the homestead which one was requested not to enter into the grounds as there is a caretaker in residence. I then proceeded down to the try works area and while not much remained there were interpretive signs giving further information about the wailing operation including the relationship between the Aboriginals and the orcas and the whalers and the orcas.

The Tryworks at the Davidson Whaling Station

While the sun was shining and the temperature had reached double digits the wind was absolutely freezing and I started  to regret my decision to change out of my winter bushwalking trousers but they were at least in the car as an option.

Kiah Inlet 
the site of the Davidson Whaling Station

On my way to Boyd's Tower I diverted to the shared use Navy Wharf which is recently constructed and extends a kilometre out into the bay enabling larger ships to dock.

The shared use navy wharf

At Boyd's Tower carpark, I toyed with the idea of adding clothing, which seemed highly desirable given the wind chill factor, but the direction of the wind suggested that the track I was going to walk would be sheltered and I was right. I not only needed to divest myself of my lightweight rain jackets but also my fleece jacket. I was glad I had not added changed into my winter walking trousers.

Boyd's Tower

Boyd's tower was was conceived by Ben Boyd as a lookout during the day and a lighthouse at night however the government of the time did not give permission for him to use it as a lighthouse so it remains just as a lookout for whales. 

Looking out from Boyd's Tower

An interesting little snippet of history: during the whaling operations, with the relationship between the whalers and the orcas, only one person was drowned at sea - considerably less than average for the time. One window sill on the ground floor of the tower is a memorial inscription for that man.

On the light to light walk

I had planned to walk a section of the light to light track, a coastal track that runs from Boyd's tower to the lighthouse at Green Cape. The total track length is 31 kilometers but I was just going to do a short section at the northern end.

Boyd;s Tower from the Light to Light walk

An intense bushfire had been through the region and in places the area was thick with burned trees reaching their branches upwards and with the branches rubbing together in the wind making quite an eerie noise.

Nice fungi on the Light to Light track

The walk provided some fungi and occasional views of stunning rocks and bays of crystal clear water short of my intended destinatin, I came upon a drop dead gorgeous bay with lovely rockpools. It was far too inviting to walk past, so I loitered.

From the Light to Light track

After returning to my car I headed towards Green Cape lighthouse planning to go via Disaster Bay lookout and Bitangabee Bay. I had not realised that Pulpit Rock had road access so I diverted to there also. 

The gorgeous bay the stopped me walking further

The wind at Disaster Bay lookout was freezing so I quickly admired the view and read the interpretation sign before continuing my journey. 

Distracting rockpools

Disaster Bay is named because of the number of ships that were wrecked in the area, thus the necessity for the Green Cape lighthouse. 

Fungi on the Light to Light walk

The difference in weather on the other side of the headland when I arrived at Bittangabee Bay was amazing. It's a beautiful little sheltered bay, again with crystal clear water, scarcely any movement of the waves and very pretty. I could see from how fabulously sheltered it was how important it would have been to the original lighthouse keepers at Green Cape back when the lighthouse was constructed. Their only way of getting goods to and from was via ship into Bittangabee Bay. It was after 3 when I was there and already getting shady. I could have been tempted for a swim had I've been there an hour or more earlier. 

Disaster Bay

I proceeded from there on to Pulpit Rock and looked at what I've been told is the deepest land based fishing spot in Australia. Certainly, there were lots of signs to warn against risk of being washed off and it seemed to be a very high point from which to be fishing. 

Bittangabee Bay

I proceeded on to Green Cape lighthouse, the terrain getting even more windswept and desolate, I guess many lighthouses are in such remote and God-foresaken places for extremely good reasons. 

From Green Cape

It would have been interesting to do a tour of the lighthouse but I suspected, at 4pm, it was a little late to phone the number provided on the gate and ask about tour. I settled for looking at the interpretation signs: details of the shipwrecks that had happened of the cape and the general social structure involving the senior lighthouse keeper and the junior lighthouse keepers.

The tip of Green Cape

Green Cape Lighthouse -
the old and behind it the new

The original lighthouse, over a century-old, is now decommissioned and has been replaced by an automatic light which is much less scenic than the original but involves much less work and is more reliable. 

Green Cape Lighthouse
and lighthouse keepers' quarters

From the tip of Green Cape the wind and waves provided a hint of how a storm and a ship on the rocks could well be a 'take no prisoners ' situation. I looked for whales and may have seen a hint of a blow, but with a lot of whitecaps it was hard to tell. I did not loiter long, my nose and ears were staring to feel extremely cold. 

Pulpit Rock