Sara’s sojourn to the Sapphire Coast

Day 1: Settling in at Eden

Well the Seahorse Inn at Boydtown just outside of Eden was quite a (lovely) surprise. This is the view from my room.

And the place has a lot of interesting history. Initially built by Benjamin Boyd in 1843, who hoped that Boydtown would become the capital of Australia.

Boyd was born in England but saw potential of trading in Australia. To finance his venture he floated the “Royal bank of Australia” with nominal capital of £100 m and raised venture capital of £200 k. He set up a paddle steamer called “Seahorse” to serve the needs of the South coast and the paddle steamer began service between Sydney, Melbourne and Launceston. During one of these voyages he discovered Twofold Bay which he wanted to turn into a coastal base for his enterprises, and he built a Tudor style hotel (now beautifully renovated as the Seahorse inn).

Unfortunately the paddle steamer was irreparably damaged and Boyd’s other business ventures were adversely affected by drought and the 1840s depression. His business was put into liquidation – his whole colonial endeavour had been a spectacular failure.

The property was purchased by Bruce Lyon who completely refurbished the hotel in 2002.

Before reaching the Seahorse Inn, I spent some time at the Eden Killer Whale museum. The intelligence of whales never ceases to amaze me.

There was a big whaling industry in Eden during the 1800s. Packs of orca whales (killer whales) would herd Baleen whales into Twofold Bay for the whalemen to harpoon and kill.

Yes, you read it right. Killer whales worked in cooperation with humans. Once the whalemen had finished killing the Baleen whales, the carcass would be temporarily left to the killer whales who ate the huge tongue and lips. This suited the whalemen who only wanted the Baleen blubber and oil.

All the killer whales had names. This is old Tom whose body floated into the bay in September 1930. He was 22 feet long.

In wandering around Eden, I found these two signs and they are so representative of my brother and sister……!!!

I’m still looking for something with my name on it!

Met my walking group at dinner tonight. They seem like a really nice group.