Harvie Wall Bangers: Coastal Calling

Merimbula to Melbourne

NSW South Coast and Victorian East Coast

November 14 to November 26, 2016

Beginning of the descent down Browns Mountain to Merimbula

The coast was calling after our alpine adventures. We decided to regroup in Merimbula. Myrtle needed her nuts tightened, new nipples and plenty of lube so up she went and down Garry bent.
After all, Myrtle has been bouncing around for 65,000kms!

Eden, just to the south of Merimbula, is in the most beautiful location, bound north and south by Ben Boyd National Park and sitting astride Twofold Bay. Many photos of this stunning coast line follow.

North Ben Boyd National Park

Haycock Point

Taking in the view. We don't often see Garry in reverie.

Who goes there?

Oysters proliferate in these southern estuaries. We were interested to see that the farmers are running oyster tours from Pambula, something we thought to do in another life.

Pambula Lake .....

.... and the oyster tour.

We caught up with our lovely friends Glenn and Cindy while in Eden. Glenn once worked for Australian Fisheries Management Authority and was a regular visitor at our Greenwell Point motel, always joining us for dinner and drinks. It was impossible to go past without reliving those crazy days: bed at midnight after many beers, up at 2am to join the fishing boats.

Garry, Glenn, Cindy and Jen in party mode.

Beautiful bird life at Eden. Corn is on the menu.

The Killer Whale Museum at Eden is a testament to the region's whaling past, its tough men and women, and the fascinating story of Old Tom. Old Tom, along with his pod of fellow orcas (killer whales), would herd baleen whales into Twofold Bay then alert the whalers to their presence. In reward, the Orcas were allowed to eat the tongues and lips of the target whales. A true story.

The preserved skeleton of Old Tom hangs in the museum.
He was obviously quite a character. The stories of his antics and interactions with the whalers are amazing.

Benjamin Boyd was a Scottish-born entrepreneur who lived in the area in the 1840s and is immortalised in the naming of a national park. He was of dubious character with many of his business ventures involving blackbirding - the practice of kidnapping South Sea Islanders as slave labourers - and financial mismanagement. He finally fled Australia and met his end in the Solomon Islands. Why name a national park after him? We're not sure, except perhaps because he put the Eden-Monaro area on the map.

This is the tower Ben Boyd built on the southern side of Twofold Bay. The sandstone was imported at great expense from Sydney. He wanted it to be a lighthouse but authorities refused him so it was used as a whaling lookout.

Boyd was extremely good at self promoting.

How amazing is this rock formation? Uplifted, squeezed and folded.

Authorities decided to build the light house at Green Cape. This is a significant milestone in the Sydney to Hobart race as the yachts leave the Tasman Sea and head into Bass Strait.

And here is Twofold Bay itself. Just beautiful.

Big ship in the bay for the day. Tourism is a growing industry.

Time to move on to Victoria. We were at the headwaters of the Snowy River just three weeks ago at Thredbo so wanted to see where it met the sea 352km later at Marlo, near Orbost.

Snowy River meets Bass Strait

Garry fishing the Snowy. No luck :(

On to Lakes Entrance ... where there is a lot of lakes and a lot of water.

Lakes Entrance ....

... water, water everywhere.

Beautiful sunset at Lakes Entrance.

Loch Ness monster at Loch Sport.

A brief stop at Sale, where Garry scrutinised the oldest surviving swing bridge in Australia.

Agnes Falls

The highlight of our meander down Australia's South East Coast was Wilsons Promontory National Park and the climb up Mt Oberon. We didn't make it to mainland Australia's most southern point - South Point, a 21km trek further along the prom - but we could see it. That was good enough.

Going up ...

... wow what a view.

South Point in the distance.

Looking at Mt Oberon from the base.

As we were driving out of the park I espied the Prom Wildlife Walk. "One more walk please Gazza. Just 2kms." Reluctantly he pulled on the boots again. It was worth it.

Emus and roos in harmony

My right side ...

... or my left?

Head down. Yum yum.

We were running out of time before we had to catch the Spirit of Tasmania from Melbourne to Devonport so the Mornington Peninsula got short shrift. We had been there before so revisited a few favourite spots.

The opening to Port Phillip Bay.

Cape Schanck above and below

My beautiful niece Sally and her family live in Melbourne and we managed a quick catch up at Oskar's cricket game. The family is off to Gothenburg, Sweden on Christmas Eve where Sal has taken a position at the university. It will be some time before we see them again.

Bye bye Wumars: Arjun, Oskar and Sally. Partner John had retired unwell. It was Oskar's cricket game, Arjun filled in the time playing with his beloved basket ball.

And then it was time to load the family on the Spirit of Tasmania. Myrtle and Pedro were beside themselves with excitement :)