The Sapphire Coast

Driving south from Sydney, we went into Kiama, famous for its blowhole. The town was busy with tourists, so we parked and went in search of a nice lunch place. After walking from one end of the town to the other, we decided to buy a roasted chicken and some salad makings to take to our motel in Mollymook.

By the time we arrived at our motel, we were both so sleepy. We ate dinner and fell into bed and promptly went to sleep for the night. We’d been to Mollymook before and I’m pretty sure it had a nice beach, but we really never did visit it on this trip other than taking a short drive closer to the ocean.

We got back on the highway headed to Eden. Yes, there is such a place and it’s pretty heavenly. I thought it would be nice to detour through Lakes Entrance which is a seaside town with an inland group of lakes but a walking bridge over to the ocean front beach. We stopped for tea and a decadent almond and orange cake before walking around the marina and over to the sea view.

We continued on the highway to our destination for the night. Our motel room in Mollymook had been decorated in greens that made me want to get out surfing. The accommodation in Eden was a tiny house made of steel, sort of like a construction site office. It had all the comforts inside including a modest kitchen and a generous deck on the outside for us to sit and enjoy a meal.

That day, we walked all over town, including a visit to the amazing squeaky sand beach. I stopped to visit McKillop Hall, a former church and schoolhouse named for Australia’s saint, Blessed Mary McKillop. Her connection to this town is that her mother had died in a shipwreck and her body washed up unharmed on the shores of Eden. I read the life story of Flora McKillop and chatted with the docent before continuing our walk in search of a great seafood dinner.

We bought some prawns at the local grocery store and made ourselves a feast in the camp kitchen where we were staying. A large family of 15 were also using the kitchen and dining space to have a reunion dinner. During the short time I was preparing our dinner, I got to chat with all kinds of interesting people.

After a good sleep, we drove to our next stop, Bairnsdale. We didn’t have any plans for that town except to rest before driving to Healesville where we are staying for 3 nights. The pleasant surprise was the excellent rack of lamb dinner we had at the hotel restaurant! The au jus would have done a French chef proud!