January 3, 2026 Eden, Australia

We arrived in Eden, New South Wales, our final stop on our 14 day south east Australia and Tasmania Cruise before returning to Sydney tomorrow.

Eden is just an hour north of state border between Victoria and New South Wales located in Twofold Bay on the Sapphire Coast. Twofold Bay is the third-deepest natural harbour in the Southern Hemisphere and has a whaling history. Twofold Bay was named in 1798 by explorers Flinders and Bass. It is made up of two distinctive bights - Calle Calle Bay and Nullica Bay. The Eden Wharf is located in the protection of Snug Cove. Snug Cove was named by explorer surgeon George Bass in 1798 due to the shelter it offered within Twofold Bay. During spring (September to November) humpback whales enter the bay to feed and nurse their young on their way to Antarctica.

Eden was named after George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, the British Secretary of the Colonies, Baron Auckland.

News today: On January 1, 2026, fire destroyed Vondelkerk, or Vondel Church, a historic Dutch former Catholic church building in Amsterdam built in 1880 and used as an event centre. At the same time, Dutch authorities responded to widespread unrest and attacks on emergency workers throughout the Netherlands even with all riot police units working.

After breakfast in the Lido Market on Deck 9, we were off the ship by 8 a.m. The sun was shining, the wind was 15 kph from the north, humidity 80%. Later the wind got stronger up to 66 kph by noon.

There is a shuttle bus that takes people to and from the central Eden drop-off point every 20 or so minutes. The distance is only a mile up a steep hill. The cost was $15 US return or $8 one way. The bus stop was right outside the cruise terminal.

There were two ways to walk into Eden. Following the street up the hill or taking the scenic route. We took the scenic route venturing onto the Bundian Way Whale Dreaming Trail. It had a great view of the ship in Snug Cove and the Eden Wharf. The walk was an ancient pathway linking the high country with Calle Calle Bay. We found a turn to a path into the town and found our way to Imlay Street, Eden’s Man Street.

Our first historic building was the 1903 Bank of New South Wales. A Government Savings Bank had been available at the Half House, several blocks away, since 1874. Next was the 97 foot long mural of a Blue Whale and Orcas painted on the side of building. On the sidewalk several orca drawings were embedded in the pavement. On the next block across the street was the Australasia Hotel opened in 1906.

We crossed the street where a large Morton Bay Fig tree stood beside the Fig Café where we stopped to order flat white coffee to go. At close to 9 a.m. the café was very busy. We wandered toward the water to Eden Memorial Park where a song bird was singing from a tree. The names of war dead were engraved on memorials for the two world wars.

Nearby was the Old Lady Star of the Sea old Catholic Church, built in 1863. Pilgrims can walk in the very footsteps of Australia’s first Catholic saint – St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Eden was dear to the saint, Mary Mackillop, whose mother, Flora, drowned in the region In 1886 and whose body was treated well by the community and buried.

There was a bell on the property of the new and old churches. From the lookout there you could see Calle Calle Bay beach part of Twofold Bay. We walked a few more streets and up to the Eden Killer Whale Museum. We had already walked 7,297 in 90 minutes.

We spent two hours learning about the orcas of Twofold Bay and Eden’s history. The admission was AU$15 then your hand was stamped. There was one of the ship’s tours getting an orientation to the museum we entered.

Orcas also known as killer whales are one of 35 oceanic dolphin species. The Thaua Indigenous people played a major part in the whaling business of the area. They considered the orca Beowas or brothers as their deceased kin were reborn into the sea. There is a skeleton of “Old Tom” a local orca who returned many years, but, in September 1930 his dead body was washed ashore. A local business man, John R. Logan, had the orca body preserved and eventually a museum was completed in 1938. Old Tom’s skelton was installed in 1939 and hangs in the main gallery. There are artifacts and explanation of the whaling industry in Eden. There are actual whaleboats used by the whalers. There was a huge whaling trypot on display which would be set into a large brick fireplace to render the blubber into whale oil.

The orcas of Twofold Bay helped herd the humpback whales into the bay much like sheepdogs direct sheep. Working as a group the orcas steered the whales into the shallows, then signalled a whaling crew, by floptailing and splashing that whales were in the bay. After a whale was caught its carcass was anchored overnight and the orcas were allowed to have their share, usually the tongue and lips. It was known as The Law of the Tongue.

In the early 20th century logging was a major industry, producing sleepers (railroad ties) until 1961. In 1969 a wood chip mill was introduced.

In 1770 James Cook’s Endeavour Voyage was equipped with the latest navigation instruments to enable him to accurately chart Australia’s coast. This paved the way for Britain’s first penal colony at Botany Bay.

Navigation of steam ships began the signals of a red light to the port (left) side and green light to the starboard (right) side with a white at the top of the steamer’s foremast.

Advances in navigation resulted in the creation in 1978 of the Global Positioning System (GPS) from gradual improvement of earlier technology from the 1960s launch of the satellite, Sputnik and American Navy satellite Transit which helped submarine navigation.

We ventured outside to see the replica of a wharf and then climbed two floors to the top of the museum’s tower. We spent over two hours in the museum which was quite busy on a Saturday morning.

It was time to return to the ship. Across the street from the museum was the Half House.

The first lots auctioned after the town plan was finalized was in March 1843. A two storey stone house in Georgian Style was built on the site in 1850. It became known as as Half House because the planned gabled roof extension was never completed. The Telegraph Station Master & line repairer resided with his family there from 1868. Half House was also the Post Office until 1885. It was later used as an office of the Government Savings Bank. It fell into disrepair, but was restored between 1978 and 1992.

Rather than taking Albert Terrace sidewalk down, we elected to take the paved switchback trail which was lined with trees - it added steps to our count. We could see the next hill top that was our final stop, the Rotary Park. There we visited the Shiralee Memorial Wall. It was a tribute to the crew of the trawler Shiralee, all lives lost at sea on August 10, 1978. There are small plagues on its wall and long the path to the wall. Next we visited Lookout Point for a look at Twofold Bay.

We walked downhill to Eden Wharf where there were sculptures in metal by Jesse Graham. Returning along the promenade to the ship we noticed plagues in the sidewalk noting important events in Eden’s history starting with “Norfolk” 1798 acknowledging the arrival of George Bass and Matthew Flinders as they circumnavigated Australia. The accuracy of Flinders charts was such that some are still in use today. He had previously sailed with Captain Bligh on the Providence. He is credited with using the name Australia for the new continent, rather than its former name New Holland or Terra Australis. The sunshine had disappeared and the clouds looked like possible rain later on. The temperature was 21°C.

We returned to the ship by 1 p.m. having logged 10,523 steps for 6.73 km.

We ate lunch up on Deck 9 in the Lido Market and discovered that there is a cappuccino kiosk on the port side near the morning omelette station.

At 2:30 p.m. the captain’s announcement stated all were aboard and we would be leaving shortly to travel 225 nautical miles to Sydney to arrive by 7 a.m. tomorrow morning moving at 16 knots. He mentioned that the wind had strengthened during the day and were gusting up to 35 knots or about 66 kilometres per hour. We can expect up to two meter waves overnight and winds at 30 knots (about 56 km) or Force 5 on the Beaufort Wind scale.

We start the voyage in the Tasman Sea, following the Sapphire Coast until after midnight when we pass Bermagui.

The Vivace Duo (violinist and pianist) were playing in the Explorers Lounge at 4 p.m. Following the concert we had a Happy Hour drink in the Billboard Onboard bar, before joining Elizabeth and Colin for our final dinner together. They are going home tomorrow. We hope that we will have such enjoyable company at dinner for the next 28 days.

Tonight’s production show was Celtic Spirit, an Irish themed show containing the high energy performances that we have come to expect.

When we returned to our stateroom the hallway was beginning to fill with luggage of the people leaving the ship tomorrow that will be taken and stored until morning when it will be transferred to the terminal for people to collect before going through Australian Customs and Immigration.

Total Steps 15,088