Nestled inside a shimmering abalone shell, the white tree fungus begins to smoulder and as we breathe in the smoke, Nathan Lygon welcomes us to Country.
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Lygon → nestle → Country
We’re on the Sapphire Coast, on NSW’s south coast, the place in which I grew up and, perhaps arrogantly, thought I knew inside out.
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I → ’re → which
Every summer I return to visit family here, slipping in to familiar places like pulling on a well-worn oyster glove.
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I → return → glove
But, as I am realising, it’s important to see a place through different eyes.
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it → realise → eyes
The minute I meet Nathan from Yandama On Country, I discover things I wish I knew decades ago.
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I → meet → things
My 15-year-old daughter and I are captivated by this emerging leader of the Yuin people and his deep relationship with nature.
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daughter → captivate → nature
“The Yuin nation, we identify with and connect to the black ducks,” he explains.
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he → identify → ducks
“We abstain from hunting and eating that duck and we protect it.
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we → abstain → it
It’s a beautiful system that ensures different species have people to advocate for their protection.”
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species → ’ → protection
Meandering through bushland on the Pambula Beach Jiguma Track Experience, Nathan points out holes in the tea tree bark.
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Nathan → meander → bark
Black cockatoos hear grubs inside and chew their way in.
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cockatoos → hear → way
He pauses to pick a few apple berries for us to taste, and the tiny fruit are gummy and tart.
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fruit → pause → berries
He explains the Yuin’s food gathering practices.
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He → explain → practices
“When the cuttlefish wash up on the beach, we know that snapper are around,” he says.
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he → wash → beach
“Tea trees flowering mean I can go swimming in Merimbula Lake to catch crabs.”
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I → flower → crabs
Reaching the white beach of the Pambula River mouth, Nathan shares the whale dreaming story, sketching giant images in the sand.
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Nathan → reach → sand
It’s a moving finale to an eye-opening morning, leaving me keen to tap into more knowledge.
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It → ’ → knowledge
The whales, a recurring theme in this part of the world, frolic in their thousands every winter and spring.
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whales → recur → thousands
But previously, they had little to be happy about.
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they → have → little
Beginning in the town of Eden in the 1820s, whaling was the first real industry for the Europeans here.
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whaling → begin → Europeans
Whaling stories always include the Davidson family and its extraordinary partnership with a pod of wild killer whales.
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stories → include → whales
To sort out the facts from the folklore, I take my history-buff dad on a tour of Davidson Whaling Station in Beowa National Park, south of Eden.
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I → sort → Eden
Standing on the beach at pretty Kiah Inlet, we picture the scene where whale blubber was boiled for oil.
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blubber → stand → oil
“Whale oil was used for lighting, heating, perfume, paints, lubricants, even for margarine,” says guide Martin Parkinson of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
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Parkinson → use → Service
In those days, they would get up to 25 whales a day here.”
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they → get → whales
We tour the historic Davidson home where we meet volunteer Marty Davidson, the great-grandson of the final whaler.
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we → tour → whaler
Martin and Marty explain that as whale numbers declined, the Davidsons persisted with the assistance of killer whales, who acted like trained sheepdogs, rounding up the large baleen whales.
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who → explain → whales
So far, so good – this is well documented.
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this → document → ?
Martin says that long before Europeans arrived, killer whales were driving big whales to the shore where Thaua people could spear them.
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people → say → them
The killer whales were always given the tongue.
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whales → give → tongue
It seems the Davidsons continued this tradition, being tutored by their Thaua workforce.
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Davidsons → seem → workforce
For my final tour, I take my two teenagers and their cousins on a Sunset and Stars Kayak Tour with Navigate Expeditions on forest-rimmed Wallagoot Lake.
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I → take → Lake
We push off in single kayaks paddling past the currently closed mouth of the estuary.
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We → push → estuary
We startle a kangaroo and watch majestic swans take flight.
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swans → startle → flight
Bellbirds ring through the late afternoon’s golden hour before chirping cicadas take over.
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cicadas → ring → hour
As the sunset fades, we pull up for a picnic supper of Tilba cheeses, locally roasted coffee and hot chocolate.
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we → fade → cheeses
Donning head torches, the kids spot brushtail possums, a wallaby and black cockatoos feeding their babies.
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kids → don → babies
Prawns, stingrays and crabs I’ve seen before, but the jellyfish?
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I → see → Prawns
They’re a revelation, hundreds of bulbous bells, blobbing through the brine.
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They → ’re → brine
From these three tours the biggest discovery is this – that there’s still so much to learn.
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discovery → ’ → tours
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
