Sydney to Eden with Tanner in December 2024
Tanner’s visit in December 2024 was timely therapy :: he gets the boost of new and we get the comfort of familiar! It was also close to Christmas and holiday cheer was on display in a country that embraces us with familiar language and urban culture.
Being anchored in Rose Bay in Sydney Harbor made hopping ashore easy. We took the train out to meet Tanner at the airport. It’s super spiffy because the ferry ride delivers us to the city center in 12 minutes. When Tanner was rested after the long flight we all shifted into explorer gear. From the ferry dock at Rose Bay nearby bus lines can carry us to iconic Bondi Beach, artistic enclaves or city landmarks then just hop on trams or trains for further reach. We were out and about with the joy of unwrapping a very big package full of lots of little treasures.
With Tanner, we shared the evening view of Sydney Opera House from the water for the first time. We found and enjoyed Wendy’s Secret Garden near the Harbour Bridge. Had front row seats to dinghy races (which are the ONLY thing that will slow down the Rose Bay ferries). Also had front row seats to the sea planes arriving and departing Rose Bay :: got more impressive as the Bay filled with holiday cruisers anchoring to party. An impressive SQUID GAME promotion caught us by surprise and further surprise by joy met us at the Museum of Modern Art exhibits. And this was just our city time!
Tanner crewed with us from Rose Bay in Sydney Harbour south to Eden, our jumping point to cross the Bass Strait to Tasmania. It was a quick two-nighter and we wanted a day or two in Eden to rest and play.
What a terrific place! Eden has a truly unique maritime museum dedicated to Tom the killer whale. Aborigines and local killer whales worked together to hunt whales. Both types of hunters benefited from working together. The killer whales harassed the whales into shallows of the bay and the men killed the whales then left them floating but anchored so the killer whales could feast on the whale lips and tongue. The rest of the whale was used by the aborigines and later by friendly settlers who learned the wisdom of traditional ways. Men came to know individual killer whales and named them and apparently killer whales would divide to protect any whalers who went overboard by staying near with eyes on until the men were picked up. When whaling ended the killer whales dispersed to other regions. The story here was beyond imagination and we marveled at how it was preserved and now celebrated as a result of civic pride and perseverance.
We found another local point of pride – a ripper way to enjoy additional land-time together – we rented mountain bikes and headed to the Gravity Eden Mountain Bike Park. “Ride wild over 58 km of gravity-fed trails within the forested coastal peaks of Eden on the Sapphire Coast.” The local bike shop Adrenaline has a stable of bikes which they regularly rent to the high school, so pickings were slim. I’m thankful Tanner was happy to go non-electric hardtail and Mike and I used this opportunity to rent E-mtn bikes. That was an eye opener! It had been years since I’d mountain biked and the electric assist was new to me so we took a few short turns to get a feel for it. Big differences for me were the 29” tires (hugely tall) and the heaviness of the frame with a battery. No more assessing :: we dropped on to a one-way trail and started our dipsy, curvy ascent. The trails are a terrific blend of whoopdee doo fun and technical pick your line or die. Mike and Tanner took to it all like a seagull to flight and my experience reflected more of a black swan taking to flight (not so quick and graceful by any measure). Great fun all around!
Beach time and cliff hikes rounded out our holiday merry making. Very grateful that Tanner brought Christmas cheer to us down under.
