Eden. Paradise. Heaven. Well, not really. Eden is just over 300 miles south of Sydney, and it is a small sleepy town of about 3,000 people. We are guessing that Eden gives cruise ships incentives to visit. There is no dock…we had to tender in with the ship’s lifeboats. Once on land, we were an uphill 15-minute walk away from downtown, so the city (not the ship!) provided free shuttle buses to several locations. The guide onboard mentioned several times that Eden is famous for its mussels, oysters, and fresh fish, and to please patronize the local businesses. The city has a Killer Whale Museum, as Eden was formerly famous for whaling, but now depends mostly on tourism and fishing. It is located on what is called the Sapphire Coast due to its blue water and unspoiled beaches and cliffs.
As we drove to the beach stop on the shuttle bus, one of the streets we traveled on was Calle Calle Street…..in Spanish, Street Street Street!! We asked a local about the name, and when we used the Spanish pronunciation, KAI-AYE, he had no idea what we were talking about until we spelled it. Oh, he said, Callie Callie Street! We told him what it meant in Spanish, and he was shocked, and said he had never heard that in all of his 70 years! However, in looking up the name origin, an indigenous word for a lagoon is culla-culla. In Chile, there are both a river and a flower called Calle Calle. So it could be named after any of these; it is all speculation, as nobody knows for sure.
The first two photos were taken from the ship, showing the distant city in the first and its mountains in the second. The third photo is Eden Wharf, and the fourth is a peek at the downtown. In these photos, take note of the many beautiful Norfolk Pines. We had one in our front yard for many years, but the branches are very heavy, and ours always sagged and looked quite sad and droopy. These are how they should look!
