EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

EDEN , on Twofold Bay, is pretty much the last seaside stop before the Princes Highway heads inland towards Victoria. Eden can be reached from Bega and Merimbula daily on Edwards Bus Services (tel 02/5496 1422), from Bermagui daily on Bega Valley Coaches (tel 02/6492 2418), and from Tathra on weekdays with the Bega Tathra Service (tel 02/6492 1991). In 1818 the first whaling station on the Australian mainland was established at Eden, and whaling remained a major industry until the 1920s. For information on the local area, call in at the Eden Visitor Information Centre on the highway (daily: summer 9am-5pm; winter 9am-4pm; tel & fax 02/6496 1953 or free call tel 1800 633 012, info@sapphirecoast.com.au ).

Today Eden is touristy in a quiet sort of way, with good fishing, and there are plenty of reminders of the old days, the best of which is the Killer Whale Museum on Imlay Street (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, until 4pm in winter, Sun 10am-4pm; $5; www.acr.net.au/kwmuseum ); as well as whaling, it looks at the fishing and timber industries which still contribute to Eden's livelihood. At the information centre you can also book cruises on Twofold Bay and further out to sea - with luck, penguins, dolphins and, in winter, even whales might be sighted. Cat Balou (tel 02/6490 2027, www.acr.net.au/~catbalou ) offer excellent year-round dolphin-spotting cruises ($25 for 2hr 30min, or $17 for 1hr 30min), and seasonal whale-watching trips ($50 for 4hr); student discounts are available. There's more on the important and controversial timber industry at the Harris Daishowa Chipmill , which gobbles up thousands of eucalypts from the surrounding forests and transforms them into woodchips for export to Japan. The visitors centre at Edrom Road (daily 8am-5pm; free guided mill tour Thurs 10.30am, book in advance on 02/6496 0222) presents an exhibition and slide show about the local timber industry, past and present - no prizes for guessing whose side they're on in the forestry debate.

The forests themselves may seem a more attractive option, and as you head south you become increasingly surrounded by the vast temperate rainforests that characterize southeastern Australia. Roads lead off the highway in both directions into the magnificent Ben Boyd National Park (NPWS Eden office tel 02/6495 5000), which hugs the coast to the north and south of Eden, offering good camping, walking and beaches. Inland, the summit of Mount Imlay can be reached by a three-kilometre walking track which starts at the picnic grounds at Burrawang Forest Road, 14km south of Eden. The steep, strenuous ascent is rewarded by a panoramic view over the coast and across the dense forests of the hinterland onto the Monaro plain. Camping and park passes can be obtained from the visitors centre in Eden. At BOYDTOWN , 9km south of Eden, take a look at the mock-Tudor Seahorse Inn , which nowadays houses a small museum of local history as well as tearooms, a restaurant and a hotel.