The Sapphire Coast
/The introduction of a new public holiday in Victoria, the "Friday before the Australian Football League Grand Final" presented a great opportunity to put as much space between ourselves and the football as possible. I was buoyed on by our previous whale watching expeditions and having recently watched a documentary about the killer whales of Eden is southeastern New South Wales to the point of proposing a trip to the so-called Sapphire coast, the marketing name for the Bega Valley and surrounding coastline. The driving would be plentiful, but there would be whales!
Moonlight Sonata
As I have described multiple times in my writings, leaving Melbourne on the eve of a public holiday is akin to torture, especially when heading to the southeast given the endless suburban sprawl in this direction. We were making our way to Banksia Bluff Campground within the Cape Conran Coastal Park, meaning that we had to put down 400 kilometres to a few minutes in traffic was not going to be a big deal given that trip takes approximately five hours in good conditions. The drive was mostly unremarkable until the moonrise: it was a supermoon and I have distinct visions of an enormous moon illuminating the road and surrounding dense forest of Gippsland. The drive was long, but fortunately we were meeting our friends at the campground and they had arrived some hours beforehand, so when we arrived around midnight, there was a nice fire going and some cold beers to be had.
Byod on
Our plans for the weekend were both slim and straightforward: get to the NSW coast and then take a whale watching trip. We were settled on going to Eden for both the whales but also the geology, and for the former we had the excellent resource that is wild about whales, a website displaying all recent whale sightings. Perhaps foolishly, we though that we would do the tour on the weekend, but it was a lot of ground to cover and we wanted to explore the area on the way through: it had been years since I was last in far east Gippsland. Matters we also slightly complicated as we were a convoy. Our friends Emile and Anja were in their car, my mother had travelled overseas and left us in charge of her car - so what better than putting over a thousand kilometres on it in a weekend - and our friend Aleece was joyriding with us, and our other friends Rory and Sara were following in the rear. They had not made it all the way to Banksia Bluff on Thursday night, but rather stopped off in Sale, meaning we would need to coordinate a catch up. This would normally be trivial, but mobile phone reception is particularly fickle in the bush, so we very vaguely organised to drive in the direction of Eden, but stop in for lunch in the Croajingolong National Park and if we did a bit of exploration, that would give the others some time to catch up. Now given the park covers the bulk of the southeast of the state, we were slightly more specific about our lunch spot than just in the national park.
On the way through, we stopped in at the Hamlet of Cann River, a small community surrounded by bushland. The area is simply gorgeous, but unfortunately for us, it is home to a particularly sad supermarket, with a poor range of choice and level of stock, leaving us in dire straits for trying to stock up. Fortunately the Cann River Bakery offers treats, but this could not solve the entire shortfall in our supplies.
Besides clocking up kilometres, our mission for the morning was to climb Genoa Peak. A short track connects the car park to the rocky summit, which is capped off with ladders and a lookout platform. The views we were afforded were fantastic: straight through to the alps in the North and out over the Genoa river outlet/Cape Howe to the east; we could even see Gabo Island. The only downside of the summit was the swarm of unidentified fly-like insects which were as annoying as they were numerous. By the time we wandered back to the car and ate lunch Rory and Sara showed up; I felt bad as they had just driven down the dirt track only to turn around and head back to the Princes highway and keep on driving. At least now our convoy was established and ready to roll on.
Stop number one was just down the road: the town of Genoa, which straddles the Genoa River and is home to a gorgeous old bridge which was the crossing point of the river. Beyond this there is little to see in the town, and so we continued on. We had debated visiting Mallacoota but decided that it would be better to push on, get into camp and have a relaxing afternoon and evening. Our camp for the day was to be the Bittangabee Bay Camping Area inside the Ben Boyd National Park, roughly an hour into New South Wales. On our way into the park, we stopped at the Kiah general store to pick up some cold drinks before pulling into Disaster Bay lookout, which was a real treat. The roads which wind through the area are in dense forest and it is easy to forget that you are close to the coast, so having a point to look out over the water is a reminder to what a special place the park is.
Arriving at camp, the realisation that we were in a different state really struck home when we were charged reasonable fees for camping. The area was in fantastic condition, with lush paddocks on which to camp and numerous kangaroos grazing in-between tents. The afternoon was indeed as promised: a relaxing time spent with great company in a scenic location. I have particularly fond memories of sitting out on the outcrop above the water watching the sunset, it has been delightfully heated throughout the day and served well in staving off the evening chill. Over the fire there were plans discussed for an early awakening to watch the sunrise: my scepticism was high, but I was happy to be surprised.
New south whales
It was sunrise and I was alone on Green Cape. The drive out in the pre-dawn light was a little hairy due to the sheer number of kangaroos in the park, but it was absolutely worthwhile. I was by myself with near perfect conditions: barely a breath of wind on what is an extremely exposed cape. The lighting was magnificent and it was sheer joy watching the sun rise over the ocean, something I had not seen in a very long time. The lighthouse which adorns the cape is tall and slender with a lot of character, actually enhancing the scene rather than detracting from it. Needless to say, the sunrise at the cape would be one of the highlights of this trip.
Back at camp, people had started to wake up and I let everyone know that they missed out on a quite a show. There was a mix of reaction, ranging from genuine regret to complete ambivalence. But we would go out once again to the point once we were all packed up as others wanted to see the cape. We also went for a walk down to City Rock, an impressive shelf where hard units looking to catch fish can try their luck, but it was not exactly a spot for relaxing spot of fishing.
Back on the road, we were on a mission: to get on a whale watching tour. Given it was a long way from Melbourne we figured that it would not be too busy given the crowds would not venture so far. On the flip side, it is not all that far from Sydney, and given it was a weekend during the height of the whale watching season, everywhere we called trying to book was full up. This was disappointing, as we had billed the trip as going to Eden and seeing whales. With a few more phone calls, we were able to find a spot on a tour leaving from Merimbula, some 30 kilometres north of Eden. It was not what we had romanticised, but it was a whale watching tour, so we locked it in.
Arriving in Eden, stop number one was the lookout which is perched atop a conspicuous rocky head. Apparently, it was once the site of a towering volcano, but now serves as a lookout over Twofold Bay. So grand is the view that Marine Rescue Eden is located on the prime position. It would be in the cove between the lookout and the Marine rescue centre that we would do our exploring: with a steep descent we were treated to an isolated beach teeming with sea life and geological delights. Perhaps the biggest mistake we made was not bringing any swim gear: it was truly an idyllic spot for a swim, despite the water being very fresh.
Our tour was in the late afternoon, which gave us some time to further survey the area. I was pretty keen to see the colourful Quoraburagun Pinnacles, located in the northern reaches of the Ben Boyd National Park, about half way between Eden and Merimbula. Best seen from the Pinnacles Lookout, the two-tone cliffs are impressive, but as it the surrounding Pinnacles beach. We went down got amongst the impressive sandstone outcrops, finding some pretty impressive rock formations, and once again, we had the pristine area to ourselves, something that I will never take for granted.
We then continued up the road to Merimbula and our whale watching trip. Despite having a lot of trouble finding a tour, we were essentially the only ones aboard the vessel, save for two others. The trip let from the town jetty and slowly made its way out of Boggy creek, very slowly traversing the sand bar before hammering it out on the glassy ocean. The conditions could not have been better, and on the morning trip they had seen whales and knew exactly where to find them, so it was not long before we were just drifting in the current, with mother and calf humpbacks genuinely investigating the boat. They were super active, and whilst they did not breach they did everything but. Perhaps the best aspect was simply the time they spent under and around the boat, with the only sounds being the gentle lapping of waves lapping the sides of the boat, occasionally drowned out by the whales coming up to breath. It is a trope, but magical would be a pretty accurate description. That is, it was magical for all except for Aleece and Sara, both of whom were literally green and hating life due to sea sickness. It was especially sad that they were sick given that this was the entire point of the trip; I felt bad that I was enjoying myself whilst they were suffering, but there was nothing I could do to help. Alas, I just took more photos.
Back on land, we made yet another supply run in Merimbula before trekking the 50 kilometres north to Mimosa Rocks National Park. By this time, the sun was setting and given we would have to return to Melbourne the following day, every minute forward was going to be another minute back, which not everyone was happy about, but it was deemed a good idea to make it to the Aragunnu Camping Area. We arrived in the dark so it was a tad difficult to asses the quality of the area, but there were many possums, one of which had a baby and was just too cute. Unfortunately, they were all too used to humans and were very brazen in their attempts to secure food. But they were also really cute...
Retracting our steps
The predawn light would show the beauty of the spot we had camped, nestled just next to a private beach where we could take a morning swim and watch the sunrise. Emile was out with his metal detector and we were out at the lookout spotting more whales, which we slapping the water and just generally having a whale of a time
Given the long trek home, Rory and Sara to off early in a bid to get back to Melbourne before the post-long-weekend rush of people entering the city happened, whereas we stayed and went for a swim in some of the best body-surfing conditions I have ever experienced. But the reality of the long drive started to set in and we started out in the vague direction of Melbourne. In the planning stages of the trip, I had wanted to return via an inland route to visit the Coopracambra National Park, but this was simply not feasible, so we would just retrace our exact route. One of the few things that was a real motivator to keep on driving was the promise of afternoon treats, ideally from a bakery, but timing would be against us, and we would end up at a supermarket in Sale getting the reduced to clear specials. A bit of a sad end to a grand adventure, but I have many warm memories from the trip, they are nothing a stale processed bakery good can ruin.