Eden, NSW
Eden is a coastal town in New South Wales similar to many of the others we passed through on the Great Ocean Highway in Victoria. We stayed here for a couple of nights and enjoyed what it had to offer: the Killer Whale Museum was filled with great fish stories, first hand accounts of life on the ocean catching tuna and other things. It’s hard to imagine how enormous the blue whale is – there is a set of jaw bones which are well over 7 meters long!
We had our first pies for lunch at a little spot on the main strip and rather enjoyed them. Also stopped at the grocery store and butchery to pick up food to barbecue at the motel that night. Finding that the restaurants are pretty expensive so we’re having more picnic lunches and making use of the many barbecues at the motels, parks, and rest stops.
The drive to Canberra from Eden took us a kilometer up in elevation to a spectacular place called Pipers Lookout. We drove through clouds on the way to the top and were in awe of the amazingly huge trees and lush foliage. Sun shining through the mist made it feel otherworldly and we spent a fair bit of time just poking around, exploring, and breathing in the rich, humid, rain-forest air.
Australia’s national capital, Canberra, was a neat experience too. We visited the parliament (briefly) and saw the stage setup for Australia Day celebrations. The National Museum of Australia was a great spot filled with amazing stories and artifacts. The building and grounds are as amazing as the contents. Remarkably, entrance to the museum was free making a bold statement about public access to national treasures, history, and culture. Was easy to spend the whole day there and we did, stopping for a nice meal at the cafe overlooking Lake Burley Griffin, the Commonwealth Bridge, and the powerful Captain James Cook Memorial fountain shooting a jet of water up to 140m in the air. Definitely another one of those times when we marveled at where we were, what we were doing, and counting our blessings.
The following day we visited Questacon, Canberra’s science centre. I love how the centre is divided into themed galleries: one on measurement, another on the Earth, another on movement, etc. Carlen and I got brave and tried the 6m Free Fall onto a gently sloping slide. Another excellent space with lots to see and do. Easy to spend the day here too.
Eventually we packed up and headed home stopping in Orange for some Indian food and groceries arriving back home in Coonabarabran shortly before midnight. Reflecting back over the last month we’ve been to Vancouver, Beijing, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and lots of little spots along the way. Hardly seems real, and we’re grateful for the experiences, our health, and the wherewithal to make it happen.
It sure does sound surreal ! U have seen so much, in so little time !
Great memories made and certainly an adventure to continue .
We miss you guys here, but keep blogging so we can live the adventures thru your eyes.
Thanks Terry – it has been a busy month, for sure! While we’re enjoying things here, we sure do miss our peeps back home too. Enjoying the updates on Facebook from the Leila crew… keep them coming 🙂