Magic Mountain & the hospital

We'd been using it as bribery the whole time we'd been in Merimbula... misbehave and you won't go to Magic Mountain! Well, with just a couple of days left of this holiday we thought we'd better honour the promise and head off to Magic Mountain.

Magic Mountain is an amusement park in the bush on a 'mountain' overlooking Merimbula and the waterfront. It cost us a whopping $127 for unlimited ride passes! We got there right on opening time and there were few people around. We went first to the Toboggan ride - a 600 metre toboggan ride down the mountain side in a little toboggan along a stainless steel track. Zac was allowed to go by himself, the others had to ride with us. This turned out to be everyone's favourite ride and we lost count of the number of times we went on it!

Zac apprehensively said he'd go on the Mad Mouse type roller coaster, Ethan was excited about going on it but was a matter of centimetres below the minimum height and they wouldn't let him. Zac was brave, he said he did enjoy the ride but once was enough!

The Grand Prix race track was fun too, the kids taking it in turns to ride along with us.
When going to get golf putters and balls for a round of mini-golf, Gemma was mucking around and somehow fell. She screamed heaps and it appeared she'd hurt her thumb and / or hand. The boys went off and began mini golf while she had some mummy cuddles. After awhile a large lump also appeared on her forehead, so it was decided a visit to a doctor would be a good idea as she was still hysterical... that means that all three trips to Merimbula have resulted in a visit to the doctors! To cut a long story short, the doctor wanted Gemma at Pambula Hospital for observation for a couple of hours... this turned into an afternoon there, with observation of her head injury and xray of her thumb. She was sent home before dinner, with concussion and a badly bruised thumb.

The manager of Magic Mountain was very good about this - not that it was in anyway there fault, but she gave us a family free pass to return again this week!

While the girls were at the hospital, the boys spent some time at the beach.


The following morning, (this morning) all was well and Gemma's head lump had gone down a lot. Her thumb is still sore but she seemed happy so we returned to Magic Mountain with our free pass. We spent a number of hours there, again losing count of the number of times we went on the Toboggan run. Although Ethan had to go on with one of us, he controlled the 'brake lever' and loved to go very fast, giggling and whooping as we went! We also went on the Grand Prix cars again and the Magic Carpet Slide. The dinosaurs in Triassic Park were kind of large, but did not excite the kids too much - they wanted to return to the carpet slide or toboggan!







We spent the afternoon at the apartment relaxing, beginning the back up for tomorrows trip back home. Another holiday draws to an end.

See you next time!

Green Cape Lighthouse to Boyds Tower

It was 43 km’s from Merimbula, back through Eden and to the turnoff at Edrom Road to reach the southern section of Ben Boyd National Park. From the turnoff it was another 6 km’s of sealed road to the Green Cape Turnoff.

The road to Green Cape was a single lane dirt road that seemingly has not been graded for a very long time. It was full of potholes – some which were big enough to swallow a small car, ruts and washouts. We could coast along at around 40 km/h with frequent swerves or quick use of the breaks to avoid the next obstacle. It was quite an adventure! And it was worth it!

Matthew Flinders first named the cape ‘Green Point’ in 1798. In 1802, eight of Flinders’ crew disappeared in what he then named Disaster Bay. Since that time a number of shipwrecks, including the SS New Guinea in 1911 have added appropriateness to the bays name.

Our first stop, around 15 km’s in was the Disaster Bay lookout – a beautiful lookout down along a sweeping beach surrounding Disaster Bay. Mountains covered in eucalyptus in the background.

A few km’s further we came to Green Cape Lighthouse. It seemed somewhat ironic that after around 20 km’s of potholed dirt road access we were confronted by a ‘speed hump’ sign as we neared the lighthouse car park! We slowed down even more, but there was no speed hump to be found! The lighthouse stands at 29 metres and was first lit up in 1883. It was decommissioned in 1992, with a solar powered light operating since then. Lighthouses generally look very grand and imposing – this one certainly did, its position on the tip of the cape was an impressive sight.





We enjoyed the views from the very tip of the cape that had some information boards on the shipwreck of the ‘Ly-ee-moon’ which had only 14 survivors out of 86 on board when it ran aground on the rocks below where we stood.

Although a relatively calm day, the waves crashed impressively over the rocks! We then had a wander around the grounds and admired the lighthouse keeper’s residence, telegraph station and stables.

300 Metres inland we found a graveyard of those who did not survive the ‘Ly-ee-moon’ disaster.

Back in the car, and we backtracked a few km’s and took a right turn, down another pot-holed dirt track about another 3 km’s to Bittangabee Bay. Originally, supplies for the lighthouse were offloaded in this serene and calm bay, stored in a storeroom and then moved across to the lighthouse on a horse drawn tramway. After a picnic lunch, closely watched by some vocal currawongs, we went down on to the beach and took the short walk around to the ruins of the storeroom. This short walk was part of the much longer, 30 km ‘Light to Light’ walk that stretches from the lighthouse up to Boyd’s Tower.




Near the car again, we saw a kangaroo which was as curious about us as the kids were curious about it.

It was now time to back track back to the sealed Edrom Road and turn right, heading up to Boyd’s Tower. This was at the end of another pot holded track, just 1 km this time though.
Boyd’s Tower has a fascinating history – originally built by Benjamin Boyd as a ‘private’ lighthouse – it was not granted permission to operate as one, so it became a watch tower for the very competitive whaling trade. Mr Boyd was quite the entrapaneur and even constructed his own private town, named, of course Boydtown. The stone work for his lighthouse was shipped in from Sydney and his name was engraved in large letters across the top of his tower. It’s quite a monument. Apparently things turned sour for Mr Boyd and when finances got tight he went off to the Californian gold fields. He eventually died in the Solomon Islands. The Davidson’s took over use of the tower and became a key whaling family in the area… more about that soon!

We wandered around the base of the tower, into the ground floor where you can peer right up to the roof. We also went on two short walks for great coastal views. One was across Twofold Bay, which dazzled with the sun shimmering across the waters. The other was on the eastern side of Red Point – the red rocks of the cliffs were vibrant. The red colour comes from iron oxide. There was an unusual cliff, which apparently was an ‘anticlinal’ formation which is ‘A fold of rock layers that slope downward on both sides of a common crest. Anticlines form when rocks are compressed by plate-tectonic forces’.




The next stop was involved an 8km return drive down yet another pot-holed track. This time a stick got jammed in one of the back wheels and made a terrible ‘whirring’ sound – we thought we’d done some serious damage to the car, but on locating and removing the stick, the noise stopped, which was a relief. A short walk found us at the Davidson Whaling Station – and the original 1840’s cottage ‘Loch Garra’. At its peak, there were 27 rival whaling boats in Eden and this was the home to three generations of the Davidson family who were successful whalers. The cottage was quaint, with nice gardens, including flowering bulbs that were in bloom.



Down on the banks of Kiah Inlet were the remains of rusting whaling pots and information boards of the process of dragging the whale ashore and the stinky, disgusting task of extracting the whale oil. It was easy to imagine the sights and sounds of this now abhorred practice… fortunately the smell was also left to the imagination.

On the drive out, with the sun now getting low, a male lyrebird ran across the road a few metres in front of us – an animal not often seen in the wild.

Nearing Eden again, we paused at Quarantine Bay and photographed the setting sun and a few pelicans who hung around the boat ramp hoping for fish scraps from the boaties.

It was a full on day, but an awesome one, with beautiful scenery and fascinating history. And we pretty much had it all to ourselves. The only people we saw were some fishermen and one other family at the lighthouse.

We hit 21st century civilisation again… and a reality check as we had dinner at McDonalds after our after dark arrival back in Merimbula.

Easy Day

We enjoyed a bit of a lazy day today - it was quite blustery outside, there had been a little overnight rain, but it was sunny again. After a leisurely start to the day we ventured over to the beach for a bit of a play. The kids had a ball making sand castles, sand angels, sand cookies and generally running wild! Even though it was windy and cold, the scenery and fun made up for it. We were all pretty rugged up too.

We all put our handprints in the sand for this photo:

Ethan's sand angel:

After Gemma had a nap we went over to the park across the road and the kids had a play there. We tossed the frisbee too. After that we went on our regular walk around the Fishpen Peninsula. The tide was in and was quite high - a couple of the jetties were underwater, including parts of Mitchies Jetty.

Lake Merimbula

We set out on a bit of an adventure today - to attempt two things we would rate as being 'pre novice' on a scale of experience! The first was driving a boat, the second was fishing.

We drove to the Top Lake Boat Hire, around the shores of Lake Merimbula. It was a lovely, sunny, calm day. The kids were sized up and fitted with life jackets - a fishing rod was hired and a worm was purchased. Jet got a quick run down on how to work the fishing rod, Daz had a quick run down on how to start, run and stop an outboard motor, plus directions on where we could and could not go. Then with a familiar tune in mind, we boarded our little boat 'Tiger'...

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this lakeside port aboard this tiny ship.
The mate wasn't a mighty sailing man,
The skipper nervous and unsure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough,

The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The 'Tiger' would be lost, the 'Tiger' would be lost!

Well, it didn't quite end up as tragic as Gilligan's Island... but it was equally as comical! We skirted around the edge of the lake, admiring the views. The wind was very still, the water was like a mirror. We cut the engine and baited up the hook - each of the kids had a go at fishing, but severely lacked the patience... hey, they don't have the patience to stand and wait in the fish and chip shop, much less wait for who knows how long until a fish bites your hook!

All three kids got to drive the boat - Ethan was in fits of laughter as he drove around in circles!

We tried fishing again in a different spot, as the wind got up... it began to get quite choppy. We moved on again, into the chop was the best way to go, but we all got pretty wet with the spray and splash. The water was very cold and the kids were thinking this wasn't such a good idea after all! After just over an hour we decided to head back in (we only intended to be out for an hour or two anyway).

(before it got choppy & we put the camera away)

The choppy waves now had white caps and the wind was blowing behind us, meaning we basically surfed towards the jetty - which made it interesting when we got close as we could not slow down too well. Now, I'm sure an experienced sea dog... (maybe any old dog) could have pulled off a better docking... but we slid in sideways into another boat and then had to try and reverse in the ever increasing chop as the boat guy tried to grab our rope and tie us up!

This part was actually a little scary, and Gemma, in particular got a little upset. Although not very gracefully, we managed to get tied up and get out... a little cold and wet though!

It was quite an adventure - one that the kids enjoyed until the wind suddenly picked up!!

It was rather pleasant heading back to the warm apartment for hot soup after that, knowing that we'd not ruined any poor fish's day!

Aquarium & Oaklands

Ethan had one too many tantrums this morning so he missed out on the trip to the Merimbula Aquarium. So Jet, Zac and Gemma set off to find some fish! We'd been there two years ago and a fish called 'Homer' had taken a liking to Zac, so he was keen to renew his acquaintance - assuming Homer was still there.

A lovely time was had at the aquarium. Gemma was fascinated by the jelly fish and the sea horses... Zac found Homer, but was a little disappointed that Homer did not recognise him and follow him like he did two years ago!!

One of the marine biologists was explaining his experiments with sharks - testing their learning behaviours, memory and learning patterns. Perhaps he could work on Ethan? Or perhaps we could perform our own shark experiments... its reaction to being either fried or grilled flake with my chips at the restaurant above the aquarium?

After the aquarium we all had a bite to eat back at the apartment before going into Pambula to visit Oaklands - a garden nursery, cafe, gallery, antique & junk store, wooden toy shop and children's animal nursery. The kids were excited to see rabbits, chickens, puppies, ponies, goats, camels, horses, cattle, donkeys and guinea pigs.

Later in the afternoon we again enjoyed our regular ritual of a stroll around Fishpen Peninsula, with a visit to Mitchies Jetty and along the lake front. Why was this little isthmus of land called 'Fishpen' Peninsula? Well, during the 1930's local fishermen used to net salmon off Merimbula Beach and then pen them inside the lake while they awaited transportation to Sydney. The fishermen would let peole fish inside the 'fishpen' and collected a shilling for every fish that was caught.

The children were keen to try and locate 'our' octopus that we'd seen yesterday afternoon. But he was nowhere to be seen. We needed that marine biologist again, to ask whether octopus return to the same home each evening or they just wander around and cling to any old rock in the evening.

After dinner, Jet's teaching friends staying downstairs (Peter & Sharyn) offered to watch the kids after they'd gone to bed, so that we could go out for awhile. We took up the generous offer and went over the road to the new 'Cranky Cafe' - which, despite its name was quite friendly and amiable. We both enjoyed delicious home made cakes and a hot chocolate before going on a short walk to the viewing platform overlooking Merimbula Beach. A short, but enjoyable reprieve. The evening was cool, but there was very little breeze, so it was comfortable - without a cloud in the sky as well.