Don & Kully's World Cruise on Viking Neptune

2/16/2024

Eden, Australia — Day 55 of 138

Today we made a stop in Eden, a small town on Australia’s sapphire coast. Eden was an important port for the country’s whaling industry for well over 100 years. The Eden whalers had an advantage over their competitors through a unique example of mutualism, a local pod of orcas, led by a whale named Old Tom, would assist in the hunting by herding other whale species into the nearby bays for easy dispatching, in exchange for an easy meal. Today, the town focus is on whale conservation, fishing and tourism.

Today we took the Viking included tour, “Scenery of the Sapphire Coast”. The tour began with a drive through the Sapphire Coastal district where we saw the sheltered waters that are home to the award-winning oysters raised in this area. Three different oyster varieties are found in the area – First and most common is the Sydney Rock Oysters, they are small in size compared to other oysters, but are renowned for their delicate, creamy and slightly sweet flavor; second is the Pacific Oysters originally native to Japan and now farmed in Australian waters, larger and creamier than the Sydney Rock Oyster; and third the Angasi Oyster also native to the district, but quite rare. Our first stop was in the small fishing village of Merimbula. We took a short walk on the board walk that runs along the fishing boat harbor and local oyster beds.

From there we went on to Pambula famed for the colonial era buildings that line its main street and for its wetlands wildlife preserve home to a colony of Fruit Bats.

Our final stop was in Eden that included a visit to the Eden Killer Whale Museum. The museum depicts the town’s whaling history and tells the story of the Orca Whale named Old Tom and how he helped the local whalers. Old Tom’s skeleton is on display at the museum. We had time to explore Eden’s local shop and to have lunch at a local pub where we were able to sample some of the delicious Sydney Rock Oysters.