Kangaroo Tours and Goanna Sightings at Eden Sports & Recreation Club

You’d be pretty hard-pressed to find someone who loves their job more than Eden Sports & Recreation Club’s Tourism Manager, Kristin Hawkins.

The best part of Kristin’s job, she says, is when she and her team of volunteers at the Club get to run kangaroo tours through the Club’s golf course – an offering which has been running for two seasons with the team conducting 22 tours per season.

“I absolutely love it,” Kristin told ClubLIFE.

“It's just lovely to be able to see their faces sort of light up because they know they're seeing this natural thing and I just have so much fun doing it.”

Between October and March, Port Eden is a buzz with cruise ships coming from all around the world to visit the Far South Coast town – with the Club taking the opportunity for the last two seasons to add a new aspect to the local tourism industry with their golf buggy kangaroo tours.

The tours are sold on board the cruises – with tea and cake included – with visitors from all around the world flocking for a day tour at the Club. However, Kristin says that the cruise guests always underestimate what they are going to witness and always leave blown away.

“They expect to see a handful of ‘roos and it to not be so wild – they expect them to be more sort of caged or penned, and they get out there and there's a mob of 100 kangaroos ranging from joeys up to the boss,” she said, adding that it is often the first time seeing a kangaroo for the tourists.

There is also sometimes an added bonus for some visitors with goannas and other wildlife roaming the course.

Kristin says that meeting so many people from different backgrounds and parts of the world is what makes it so special, with her biggest honour meeting a Vietnam veteran with a Purple Heart – a medal that is presented to service members who have been wounded or killed while serving in the United States military. 
“I actually met a Vietnam vet there with a Purple Heart, and as I'm an ex-soldier it was actually a bit of a high point for me – it's not something you get to do very often, and that was just one of those sort of feel good moments,” Kristin said.

The guests are out on the course for 45 minutes to an hour before returning to the clubhouse for half an hour to ask questions and enjoy tea, coffee and cake, and of course an Aussie beer! The Club also sells souvenir shirts and greeting cards decorated with paintings by one of the dedicated volunteers.

“I've got a couple of volunteers that I couldn't do it without, and they just love it like me. They love chatting to them and hearing about how they're enjoying their holiday and their experiences,” Kristin said.

“They're just giving them a lovely experience.”  

The tours will pick back up in November this year and can also be booked through the Eden Information Centre.