28 October 2012 - Eden Gateway Tourist Park, Sapphire Coast, NSW

What a difference a day makes, or rather what a difference the wind makes. By the time we rose this morning, the sun had long been up and the wind was barely evident at all. By the time we had finished our breakfast, the caravans flanking our site had departed and so the day looked altogether very promising. We decided that we would extend our stay here after all, so went over to the office and spent some time chatting with the proprietoress, learning all about their park owning history and how this park has only recently undergone rebranding. She is just lovely and we could have chatted all day, however we had other plans.

With lunch packed yet again in the eski, we set off north along the Princes Highway, firstly turning into the residential area on the northern shore of Twofold Bay. This is a relatively new subdivision, already quite populated with lovely modern homes but with many more bare sections and spec homes for sale. The views toward Eden are through sparse gums and across the glistening blue waters of Lake Curalo and Calle Calle Bay. On the higher slopes, a small mob of roos lay about contemplating the scene, which today was particularly lovely. In time this will all be built up, and even though the houses are south facing, will no doubt always be a rather sought after area.

Colours of The Pinnacles

We returned to the Princes Highway and continued north, turning off just eight kilometres from Eden into the northern section of the Ben Boyd National Park. All the roads into this section are gravel, even the central route that takes one out to Haycock Point. We turned again eastwards following the sign to The Pinnacles, parked and walked the easy one kilometre track out along the coastal cliffs to view those in the gully; fluted pinnacles of red contrasting with the white sandstone. Beyond lay the long expanse of white sandy beach and the sea as blue as sapphires, surely validating the name of this coast, the Sapphire Coast. 

From up above the beach we looked out across the Pacific Ocean, and saw both fishing boats and whale watching boats, and away from all of these, the triumphant tails of the great whales as they cavorted and dived, or whatever they do when they are showing off their magnificence. Two days in a row seeing this had to be pretty special. And today the sea was so much calmer, even here in the open ocean. It is quite wonderful that we have been able to watch the whales migrating north along the northern NSW coast in July this year and now see them heading south again with their progeny.

We drove on out to Haycock Point, the south head of Merrimbula Bay, and sat on the cliff edge watching the waves crash onto the rocky outcrops. Finally we stirred ourselves and returned to the picnic area where we dined in the company of dragon flies, a rather rag eared black wallaby and honeyeaters, noisy in the banksias. We sat in the open drinking in the warm sunlight, while being very sensible, well slathered with sunscreen.

Back on the road, we drove on to Pambula, passed through a couple of days ago. Today, Sunday, it was very quiet but for the highway traffic passing through and the few cafes open to cater for them. We wandered about this clean and tidy little town however did not find it quite as attractive as we remembered. Obviously it needs the buzz of the weekday commerce to activate its charm.

From Pambula, we headed inland a little way on the road to Bombala, but turned off a couple of kilometres up the Pambula River and headed into the hills on a back road, finally finding a sign directing us to the Nethercote Falls in the Broadwater State Forest. The route is very much a forest track which does not deter those looking out for the falls. We arrived at a picnic spot and noted a sign pointing to the Nethercote Flora Reserve down a dirt track, so parked and set off on foot. The road descended at about 45 degrees for about a kilometre, or maybe it was only 40 degrees for 800 metres, however it felt like the former. At the bottom we found yet another parking spot and two vehicles, the drivers of which had been savvy enough to bring on down. A rough path of a similar distance crossed the creek, passed through the forest and brought us out into a rocky basin beneath the falls, the water clear as crystal over a base of golden pebbles. Two couples had preceded us, as we expected, one a hugely pregnant woman in inappropriate footwear accompanied by her rather handsome Arabic man and the other two, middle aged lesbians.

One of the lesbians set off up the cliff face to see more of the falls which turn mid-fall, pausing in a cave like basin before cascading down the last easily visible section. As she scrambled up higher and higher, I became quite anxious for her safety and was relieved when her partner confided, amongst many matters, that she was well versed in rock climbing and abseiling. The woman remaining below, overweight and not at all surefooted, was more concerned about the fact that her partner had gone up wearing the wrong shoes and was carrying their very expensive camera. I watched as the photographer seemed to hang out over the high precipice to capture the very best shots and just hoped like hell that we would not be there to see her fall, despite her apparent agility.

The falls were lovely, but I was more impressed with the pools below and would have stripped down to my underwear and eased myself gently in had that dark foreign looking gentlemen not been there, just as I had north of Townsville over a year ago. It was all so very inviting.

We left the two couples dabbling their extremities in the pools and set off back up the hill, no easy matter I can assure you. As we retraced our steps, we were met by half a dozen young people all armed with their togs and towels and agreed we had left the peace of the pool at just the right time. And before we arrived back at the vehicle, two more cars arrived with more young people. Yes, definitely pumpkin hour for us.

And so we carried on down the back road, through a place called Nethercote, which apparently hosts an excellent weekly produce market, but seems to have little else than a fire station. Then ten kilometres on further south east, we were back in Eden and home again after an excellent day. As we unpacked the cruiser, we noted the wind had come up a little. Again our timing was perfect.