It is still a bit cloudy when we awake this morning – and definitely chilly – but we want to brave the elements and take a walk through the Warden Head reserve, which is right behind our hotel. We smartly scoped out the area yesterday, so we know to drive down there and park in the car park. It looks like we could walk – and we could – but it is way farther in reality than on the map, so we chose the car.
The road is narrow and long – and deserted except for the occasional single male driver who speeds down the road and circles at the lighthouse (we cannot figure out what they are doing….4 or 5 cars did this…guess a morning check of the weather?).
We head off toward the beach and watch the surf pounding against the sand and the rocky outcrops off the little beach cove.
We start out on the trail and head through the scrub in the direction of the light house. It is warmer in the trees, because we are shielded from the wind, the path isn’t too terribly wet because of all the overgrowth, and there are some great little glimpses of the beach through the trees.
But as we push our way through the trail, it becomes wetter and wetter, and finally impassable, even if we would have had our hiking boots on. It’s just too muddy and deep in water.
We cut our losses and head back toward the car park, along the way finding a little tramped down area that will get us back to the road. We cut off the path through the scrub to emerge a few hundred meters from the lighthouse. So, we’ll do a road walk, not a bush walk today! We head off down the road, careful to hug the side of the pavement so we aren’t run over by the Mario Andretti’s coming down here to check out the surf!
The lighthouse is cool – old – not in service we don’t think – and poorly lit against the grey backdrop of the sky –so pictures are what they are….
At least there are pictures! On our way back to hotel, I notice a hitch-hiker! I’ve got a leech attached to my calf. Oh yuck! How do you get a leech off? Ick! I notice it in the car, and have to wait until we are in the parking lot to try to dislodge it’s little body from my leg. Ed manages to use some flyer we had in the car to scrape the thing off me. Oh gross – at least it wasn’t a tick though – much easier to get off – and hey, while I don’t need it, at least leeches have been used through history for medical practices like blood letting and such. Just another Aussie experience for youse!
Showered and leech bite thoroughly scrubbed and antibiotic’ed, we are off on our 2nd day driving adventure. Today – another 3 1/2 hours drive to Eden, which will be our stop for the night. After reading up on the area – we decided to take a detour to Pebbly Beach, where a large kangaroo community lives. We’ve only seen those 2 roos in the wild on the beach at Lucky Bay, and would love to see some more. The cut off to the beach, and the Murramarang National Park turns out to be a gravel road – bummer! And a narrow gravel road at that. We traverse down it fairly carefully, trying to minimize the pebble and rock damage to the car, and always watchful for oncoming traffic which is speeding up this road and, in one case, not even trying to give way. Yikes – great way to start the day!
On the way through the forest, we see those file box looking things we saw in New Zealand. They look like 4, 5 and 6 drawer vertical file cabinets perched out in the wilderness, like some bizarre art sculpture. Turns out these are bee hives! And they are abundant in these parts –we see a whole bunch in the forest here – and later on, lots of local honey products too!
We finally arrive at an actual paved road that winds us down to sea level (past holiday cottages and camps – wow – talk about isolated!) and a car park where we pay the Park fee. There are great birds down here – vibrant red parakeets of some type. A family is feeding them, so we get some great shots of these pretty little things pecking away at bread crumbs and almost posing for glamour shots!
After the bird watching, we walk down to the beach, which is lovely, but sadly windswept and completely devoid of any kangaroos. Darn!
The weather must be keeping them in the bush so they aren’t our frolicking on the beach. There are lots of pathways through the scrub though, so we take a few and wander a bit, searching for roos in the bush. No such luck, but, we did find a cool little pavilion with a community grill. Great place to have a barby for lunch!
Oh, well, nice little side trip (with the exception of the road!). In reviewing the map, we find that there is actually a paved road that will lead us back to Prince Highway in the direction we want to head – so we take that – and wow – what a difference! Way easier driving and half the time to get back to the main road. So, we are back on our way quickly and easily.
After that little adventure, we decide not to take any more side trips! Well, that is until we got to the Tourist Drive #7 that took us out of Bateman’s Bay and down along the coast. It was a nice little loop – and gave us a chance to stop at Surf Beach for our lunch picnic. We’re getting our money’s worth out of the Macca’s cooler and the cheese, meat and apples from the grocery store!
Back on the road, it doesn’t take us much time to get to Eden. We pull into the motel – and are confronted with two huge trucks towing two even bigger fishing boats. Yikes! As the night goes on, 4 more truck/boats pull in! Good thing we’re walking tonight because our car is all but hemmed in by the boats (big fishing tournament somewhere near – most of these guys are here for a week!)!
Our room is cute, clean and small – good for an overnight which is all we need. After getting organized, we go visit the TI for tons of maps and info (now we’re set all the way into Melbourne – yay!). Then off to explore the rest of the town. It’s a very small compact little place – a main street that leads to the harbor, with little neighborhoods perched on the rolling hills. Sadly though, this surely isn’t the “Garden of” Eden. Every other storefront on the main street is either closing or vacant and available to rent. there are only a few odds and ends of stores left – two grocery stores, including a Bi-Lo!!! Who knew?
Some souvenir stores, video rentals, a clothing store or two – and that’s about it. There are only maybe 6 restaurants in the place as well, including the restaurant in our hotel which gets incredible reviews but is incredibly – yes you guessed it – pricey! An odd juxtaposition for this little car park type motel.
We wander up to the Museum which is already closed and won’t open early for us in the morning. Oh well – still a cute building and good views to Twofold bay behind it.
On the way back to the room to freshen up, we check out the food options. There is a Fishermen’s Club here too. Hmmm…could be an option. A Pizza joint, a backpackers place that is closed for a special event, a Chinese restaurant that gets good reviews and two deli’s. We decide Chinese it is! After freshening up – and navigating the water vehicles in the parking lot – as well as the water-men enjoying their after fishing beverages!! – we stroll back up to the Golden Ocean restaurant with our Macca Cooler in hand. It’s a BYO restaurant – a first for us! They charge a $2 cover for “corkage” fee, and you just bring your own. Works for us! We were the only people in the place – well, the only people eating in the restaurant that is. They were crazy busy, but it was all take-away. Which makes sense if you want alcohol I suppose. It was just funny though – we had the restaurant to ourselves our entire meal! And what a meal it was! Incredibly tasty local king prawns and mixed seafood – and at a reasonable price. Yum!
Back at the hotel, we settle in. Fortunately the fishermen settle in as well – they turn out to be very quiet (phew!) and are long gone by the time we wake up in the morning.
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