Port of Eden, NSW

Yes, we made it, the passage from Lakes Entrance to Eden, more than 120 nautical miles, took us 25 hours and we tied up at Eden Jetty at 8.20 am on 13th February with a sense of satisfaction and a sigh of relief. One of the potentially more challenging parts of the trip was behind us. From now on we should be able to day hop up most of the East Coast.

We had fairly light winds and a pretty calm sea state throughout the journey, and sailed whenever possible, although turned on the motor when needed to keep us moving at a decent pace. I took my trusty seasickness pills Stugeron (big thanks to my drug dealer Di, for keeping me well supplied). Our individual overnight shifts went well. I had the genius idea to call my overseas friends; Tania in Spain and Aine in Ireland – and as it turns out the middle of the night here is the perfect time for a call, they were both free and so we had some lovely, long overdue chats and my night shift flew by. Thanks ladies!

Some light but persistent rain moved in overnight and we entered Twofold Bay in Eden with a thick and heavy fog surrounding us. A large pod of dolphins came out to say Hi and swam with us for a while. It was a lovely welcome into the bay.

We tied up to the famous Eden Jetty in Snug Cove and Matt went off to chat to the Harbour Master. He warned us about some heavy weather that was predicted for the weekend, particularly concerning was the forecast for a three metre swell, and suggested that we move onto a mooring buoy further out in the bay, as the boat would likely get battered around and knocked against the jetty if we elected to stay there. An added bonus was that the mooring was free!

It was back into our trusty tender to take us into shore. Here’s Matt driving the tender.

After a nap, hot showers and fish and chips were the order of the day. Delicious! The following day we walked into town and explored Eden. Following the Maritime Heritage Trail alongside Aslings Beach, we came upon a lovely little rock pool at the end of the beach. Unfortunately the water was very murky, with still a lot of ash and debris in the water from the recent bushfires. We also walked around Lake Curalo at the suggestion of the lady in the Information Centre. Definitely not the highlight of Eden, the lake is in a terrible state; stagnant, stinky and black.

It was pretty quiet in the town of Eden and chatting to locals in the shops, we discovered that the town is hurting pretty badly. Grim and dire were words used regularly. That night, being Valentine’s Day, we went out for dinner to the local Chinese restaurant. The food was delicious but the restaurant was practically empty. We also kept hearing about the supposed bad weather that was to come over the weekend. The locals had organised a big fishing competition to bring some much needed business and tourism back into the town, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to the weather. Another blow for the town.

Needless to say, we were becoming a bit concerned about the weather that was being predicted. Cool Change, by her very design, rolls with even the slightest swell, and while some gentle swaying is tolerable, the thought of trying to eat, sleep, cook and go to the toilet in a rocking and rolling boat was not too appealing. The three metre swell that the professionals were warning us about had us spooked! And so we made the decision to abandon ship to a motel for the following night.

After depositing a small bag at the motel in the morning, we caught a taxi out to a northern section of Ben Boyd National Park, about halfway to Pambula, where we planned to do some hiking. Unfortunately, a large part of the Ben Boyd National Park had been affected by the bushfires and were closed, including the overnight hike to Green Cape Lighthouse that we had hoped to do. Nevertheless, we had a lovely day walking the trails in this section, and particularly enjoyed some spectacular rock formations along the coast. After walking approximately 18 kilometres, we were both pretty tired, and a hot shower and pizza for dinner that night went down very well.

Looking out at the bay that evening, we couldn’t see the monster swell that had been forecast. Oh well, maybe it will develop overnight, we thought. However, on arriving back at the boat in the morning, although we found the water to be quite choppy, the swell was still not too bad. Nothing much had moved around inside Cool Change, so we’re pretty sure that the three metre swell never eventuated. Oh well! At least we contributed to a local business with our motel stay!

That afternoon my friend Ange’s Mum, Helen, came to visit. Helen lives just a short drive away near Pambula so came out to say Hi and for a tour of our boat. To save Helen from a longish and potentially wet trip in the tender, as the choppy water meant a fair bit of spray for passengers, I organised to pick her up from the shore of Cocora Beach which was directly opposite where Cool Change was moored. ‘But is it safe?’ Helen asked me over the phone. ‘No probs,’ I told her, not being able to properly see the waves that were breaking on the shore from our boat.

So into the tender I hopped, motoring over to where Helen stood, waving at me from the shore. As I approached the beach I now understood Helen’s concerned question of earlier; there were some pretty sizeable waves breaking onto the shore. And as I coasted in, turned off the engine and attempted to lift the motor out of the water, the little boat turned sideways just as a wave broke right over us. Whoosh, the boat half filled with water and I was saturated. Somehow, not sure exactly how, I managed to prevent a full capsize and drag the boat safely onto shore. Hi Helen!!

All credit to Helen, she is a very lovely, very trusting and very brave lady. I’m sure she was thinking, ‘Who is this crazy woman?’ but she just rolled up her pants, put on a PFD and gamely hopped into the tender while I swam it out past the breaking waves, inelegantly clambered in and rowed us back to the yacht, the two of us laughing all the way.

We had a lovely visit with Helen, showing her around the boat, and discovering lots of local knowledge and tips about Eden and surrounding towns. She also brought us some delicious homemade fruit cake. The return trip to shore was incident free, but I did feel relieved when Helen was safely back on dry land. She had to go home to monitor an alpaca about to give birth – how cool is that! Thanks for visiting, Helen!

On Monday we spent a quiet afternoon at Aslings Beach; Matt tried his hand at surf fishing while I practised yoga further down the beach near the lovely Ocean Pool (personal space is important, peeps). Although it was quite overcast and cloudy, and not really warm enough to warrant a swim, it was definitely a lovely place to hang out for the afternoon.

Our final day in Eden gave us the best weather we’d had for ages, sunny and warm all day, and we walked the Bundian Way Story Trail from Cocora Beach to Quarantine Bay. It is a lovely walk, with lots of picturesque viewpoints looking out over the bays. We had our bathers and towels packed, with the plan for a swim in Quarantine Bay. However, we didn’t last long in the water, as it was unfortunately very dirty, filled with debris from the bushfires.

Around 7 pm that night a large storm rolled through, with a huge number of brilliant lightning strikes. It was a truly spectacular sight from the boat. Fortunately the lightning seemed to remain about 10 kms away, and although the rain that followed was very heavy it didn’t last for very long. It was a dramatic farewell to Eden, for in the morning we were off to Bermagui.

Matt’s Song of the Week: Let the good times roll – JD McPherson

Lisa’s Book of the Week: Extreme Fishing – Robson Green