The road to (and around) Eden

Eden is the closest medium sized town to Mallacoota and one of the few places not to feature in the Hope and Crosby "Road" series.  I had to go there to get some work done on Frances' car and allowed 75 minutes for the voyage (it usually takes about 50 minutes).

Setting off along Genoa Rd it seemed that I might have underestimated as I had to follow someone with a caravam.  Judging by the way they were taking more than their share of the road, and still going very slowly, I assumed they were doing their first trip with a van.  I got past them at Gypsy Point Cemetery, but met two more vans before getting to Genoa.

They both turned North, but a climbing lane soon disposed of them.  Then a 3km road works limit - for 50m of work!  Grrr.  This only delayed me by a bit until I caught up with two more caravans (there were lots coming towards me also).  I took several kms to get past them but I did.

Then I saw the worst hoarding in Australia - and I place some emphasis on the hoar:

I saw this image of the Australian equivalent of Agent Orange just before hearing that the US Attorney-General, if not the Special Counsel, had cleared the US version.  Somehow, I didn't chunder (on either occasion).

I got to Kings just on time.  After some puzzling about how to fix the problem - the basic idea seemed to involve keeping the car overnight, which wasn't going to happen  - I left the car there and headed off for a walk round parts of Eden.

My first call was to Lake Curalo.  This is a well set area with designs in the pavement of a vaguely indigenous nature.

A community group, with support from the Shire. has built a very good boardwalk arounf the South-East half of the Lake.

Some of the water birds on the far side of the Lake.

A White-faced Heron on this side of the Lake had its beak open, allowing a look at what I presume is its tongue.  A weird looking organ!

A birder has commented by email:

"I’m not sure about herons in particular, but that’s a common shape for the tongues of other birds as banders will attest (the raised bit at the back can get snagged in the mist net)"

.In case you wonder where your forest went, here is a load of wood chips heading towards Japan (where forests are sacred and can't be felled).

There were a lot of Shearwaters offshore but I couldn't identify them beyond Shearwater sp.  A Crested Tern was a bit easier!

Nice rocks at the town end of Aslings Beach.

This very strange cloud formation was offshore.

Walking up the road looking for lunch I heard a strange "kisseck, kisseck" bird call.  At first glance I thought it was a Little Wattlebird but looking more closely realised it was an immature dark-phase White-bellied Cuckooshrike.  The first I have seen for years,  Obvious Bird of the Day!!

I got to the main street and stopped in the Bakery for a pie.  I went for a pepper pie.  Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.  A woeful effort rating 2 on the official scale: the second lowest I have recorded.  Little taste and thick dried out crust.  Heavy on the mince!  I should have gone for fish and chips at the wharf!

Getting to the wharf took me down through this pleasant park.  Its pretty steep and the path twists and turns (presumably to make folk from San Francisco feel at home).  There was a Yank Tank parked above the park, but Steve McQueen didn't appear - probably just as well, as he wouldn't be a nice sight these days!

After looking out over Snug Cove I climbed back up the hill reading a few of the notices about historic sites.  Few of them seem to be in historic condition, but the tales are interesting.  The courthouse didn't get a sign but is does seem to be history.  Metal has lifted on the roof (red arrows) and the window frame is rotting (green arrow),  But the brass plates have been polished (orange arrow).  Almost a metaphor forthe NSW Public Service!

Driving back I found that the "Drive nice.." sign has been replaced by this, which is also amusing.

Just on the NSW side of the border is this sign by the Shire.

A very clever sign - and shows how the area is promoting the natural side of tourism.   Hopefully they'll think of that when assessing the wood chip stuff!  I suspect they had to  position it off the road for safety reasons but this does meant the whale shape doesn't stand out as well as it might when viewed from the highway.