I had been wanting to start each post by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands that we visit – unfortunately, in the excitement of getting going, I completely forgot to do that in Jindabyne! I’ve gone back and edited those posts to include that now.
Tonight we’ve arrived in Eden, and we’d like to acknowledge the Thaua people of the Yuin nation, who are the traditional owners of the land here in Eden. We acknowledge their elders past, present and emerging.
Today was primarily a travelling day – leaving Jindabyne and heading east to Eden.
We started the day in town at Jindabyne, visiting the Snowy Region Visitors Centre to have a look around. In the foyer was an amazing model of Jindabyne, showing the old town (now at the bottom of Lake Jindabyne) and the proximity to the new town up on the hill. Daniel had been really interested in why they did that, and I’d looked up a bit of info yesterday to talk to him about it – but it was cool to be able to see it in a model and understand where the old town physically was.
After picking up some morning tea and really nice looking pre-made rolls from Sundance Bakehouse (on recommendation from a friend), we got on the road and headed back up towards Cooma, and then on down the Monaro Hwy. We stopped in at a beautiful little town called Candelo, about 40 mins NW of Eden. A friend had suggested it, and it was a perfect spot to stop for lunch! A quiet little playground, with a really nice general store across the road. The kids burnt off so much energy in the playground – mostly on the flying fox. And turns out those pre-made rolls were just as delish as they looked.
We arrived in Eden by about 2:30, which gave us time to unpack a bit before taking a short walk to the end of the street to look out over Twofold Bay – a stunning view. And it also looks out across to Ben Boyd tower, where we’re heading for a visit tomorrow. We wandered down to the Eden Visitors Centre – also just a short walk from our accomodation – where we found our first spoon! We decided we wanted to try and collect something as we travelled around Australia. We had settled on spoons because the kids love them, plus we also have Debbie’s grandma’s old spoon rack which we could put to use. Unfortunately, Jindabyne did not come through with the goods anywhere… so the collection will have to commence from Eden. (But we’re also coming to terms with the fact that spoons may not be as common as we’d like everywhere we visit along the way. So let’s see how we go.)
Tonight has been a relaxed and fun family evening – we got some very tasty fish & chips for dinner, and we’re now getting stuck into Lego Masters together. Nights like tonight are going to be important to keep doing as we travel – there’ll be plenty of busy days and early nights needed (either because of tiredness, or because of huge days following). But these relaxed nights where we’re all just crashed on the couch after fish & chips are also a huge part of the memories this holiday will create over the next 3 months – because this is fun for a different reason.
So cool! Im catching up while in transit waiting for our 3rd flight. Have your kids ever been out to the Warragamba dam lookout? The catchment area for Sydney’s water supply was once a village too. At the lookout there is an info board with the history and photos etc. Our family’s should go out there one day together for a picnic.