A pretty good night’s sleep given it’s our first night on the road, often I find night one a bit of an adjustment. Hearing the ocean overnight was so pleasant.
Only about 150k’s today so we’re absolutely in no hurry. Justine and I take a short walk on the beach, and look as we might, we can’t see any whales.
Justine talks to the lady in the other van, they’ve been here for a few days at least and suggest the whales were pretty active a couple of days ago.
Breakfast, coffee and we’re just relaxing and enjoying the view when we spot a whale breach, they’re a fair way off the beach, but it’s pretty clear. Other campers see it too and soon we’re all lined up having a look. In the sunshine of this morning, it’s much clearer.
While probably not completely necessary as we’re on powered sites from here on in, I get Liam to clean the solar panels. At least it’s an activity he seems keen on doing.
Finally, just before 11 we pull out. We navigate the 4km dirt road, which seems somehow steeper and narrower than it did yesterday.
We follow the coastal road, through the very busy Tathra and Merimbula and hit the main highway again at Pambula.
We arrive at Eden in perfect time for lunch. We find a spot behind the main street to park the van and take a walk. We pick a café and as we’re not in any rush eat in. Pretty good meals all round.
A lap of town an we return to the van. I take a drive down to the harbour and around the headland. We think about going to the Killer Whale Museum, but quite frankly we’re just not that interested.
Eden is about as far south as I’ve been on the Princess highway. We last came down here when Justine was heavily pregnant with Liam. So from here on it’s new territory for me. Of course, as Justine is from Melbourne, she’s been out this way a few times before, but that was a long time ago now.
Another 40 odd K’s to the border and sooner than we know it we at the Mallacoota turn off. The road down is really narrow and windy. Easy to see how the township was cut off during the fire of 2019.
We arrive and while we’ve seen it on the map, as I mentioned, it never quite the same in real life. The three foreshore sections of the main town are all caravan and camping site, and while it’s not 100% packed as it might be at Christmas, it is certainly busy. We’re in the section at the northern end of town, at first this seemed like the arse end and I thought we could do better, but the view is nice so this will do fine.
None of the sites are very level and the van next to us are right over on our side due to a tree, but we find a way to park up that its level enough and suits everyone.
Setup we start to relax, due to it being AFL grand final tomorrow, today is a public holiday in Victoria.
I walk down to the local Jetty with Caitlin and spot some birds and fish, around to the boatramp and some guys are cleaning their catch and there must be a dozen Pelicans standing around hopeful for some off cuts.
Given it is the AFL grand final tomorrow afternoon, we elect to go to the pub tonight, as it may be a little messy there tomorrow evening.
The meals are OK, but very expensive for what they are. And while the pubs has a good vibe, I wouldn’t be rushing back.
After we get back to the van, the kids watch some TV. Justine and I take a walk down to the foreshore and end up walking about 1k up the water front and then back through the caravan park. Quite a nice night.
