Nestled on NSW’s Sapphire Coast, Eden has long been a destination for those looking to trade the big smoke for a bit of surf and sand during the warmer months. This should not come as a revelation to anyone because…well…just look at the place.
While comparisons to the seemingly apparent biblical reference of the town’s name are inevitable, the source of the epithet actually originates from George Eden, the first Earl of Auckland.
But this is far from the only surprise on the shores of Twofold Bay, and Contour Works has been cooking up something brain-busting in Nullica State Forest.
Come along as we explore the brand-new trails at Gravity Eden
Building on a mini-network constructed by the local community, Gravity Eden is one of three fresh destinations on the cards for this area of NSW — in addition to the old guard like the trails around Tathra. It’s been hard yakka to get to this point, Gravity Eden has been in the works for five years, and is a project spearheaded by the local mountain bike club. They have found the funding, the land and the right people to manage the project.
We have been quietly watching this network develop from afar, and now that those crazy cats from Cairns have finished their work, we decided it was time to get some dust on our tyres and see what this place is all about.
So we packed up the Flowmobile and picked up Erika, Murray, Nick, Anna and Will to see what Eden is all about.
Enter the Garden of Eden
With the trailhead situated behind the Eden Golf Course, it’s only about a ~4km pedal from the centre of of town
With 300m+ of elevation to play with, it’s no wonder that the 58km network is gravity-focused.
While “gravity” is usually synonymous with gnarly trails, rocks, roots, and travel-chomping features, Contour Works has created a progression-friendly park that helps riders build their confidence and skill set throughout the trail network.
This has been achieved by dividing the network into three distinct zones: Gravity Flow and Adventure, which are defined not only by the style of the trail but also the landscape they traverse.
“When you start at the top in the Gravity Zone, it’s classic Aussie bush. It’s pretty dry, and because it’s coastal, it’s a bit sandy — it’s really fun but can get a little bit spicy. Once you start getting into the flow section, it starts to develop into a little bit more loamy terrain, and by the time you’re at the bottom in the Adventure Zone — where all the green trails are — it’s rainforest,” Erika says.
“It’s dry and quite warm at the top, and then you ride all the way down into the rainforest — it’s quite refreshing,” she says.
Gravity is also usually associated with shuttles and Stan Soroka from the Eden MTB Club tells us there are two outfits signed up to get folks to the top — they are just waiting for a bit of paperwork to clear. However, Contour Works has also built a couple of climbing trails for those who prefer to earn their turns — or have brought an e-MTB.
Bring on the Gravity
Old Tom is a legend around Eden. As the story goes, this Orca and his pod — affectionately known as the Killers of Eden — would assist the local whalers in the harvest of baleen whales by herding them into Twofold Bay. Old Tom would then breach and thrash his tail outside the whaling station until he’d attracted their attention.
To repay the orcas for their effort, the whalers would anchor the carcass in the water so the Killers of Eden could take their share of the bounty before it was brought in. This unique arrangement became known as The Law of the Tongue.
Old Tom washed up on shore in 1930, and his bones are preserved in the Eden Killer Whale Museum. He’s also commemorated with a rip-roaring 3km black descent from the top of the trail network.
Built as a flowy black, Contour Works has left some of the natural features and rock-armoured craggy bits of geology to create some steep and spicy chutes. Plus, the altitude makes for some fantastic views of the ocean — which was looking very appealing after a day of riding.
“It’s quite rocky, dry, and dusty. The top section is quite man-made, but some of it has been left rocky and raw — it kind of reminded me of Ourimbah, which I love,” Erika said.
“We designed it to be a bit of a jumpy trail with some bigger features,” Ryan De La Rue from Contour Works continues. “ But it also has some techy stuff in there and rock shelves and stuff like that because that’s what the landscape provided.”
Prana follows the same ridge line back down to the trailhead and forms the yin to Old Toms yang, as the techy gravity trail. Although, there are a few jumps and big man-made features on this one too, as De La Rue tells us he found some pay dirt during the build and could not resist.
Enter the Flow Zone
Jumping off at the Freshwater Creek shuttle stop the trails here are deemed the Flow Zone, home to Straight Six, which is the trail Erika hasn’t stopped raving about since she got back to Canberra.
“The flow tracks, actually flowed,” she laughed. “You know how some flow tracks you get to the bottom, and you’re exhausted because you’re picking up on corners that jar you a little bit. This trail just flowed, and when you got to the bottom, you still felt refreshed.”
De La Rue tells us this trail gets its name because, during the build, they dug up an old straight-six engine on the alignment.
Packed full of surfy berms that will give you the exit speed to break the sound barrier, there is plenty of opportunity to put some air under your tyres and no shortage of sneaky creative lines to keep an eye out for. These trails throw up a roost in the face of the conservation of energy as you rip yet another berm. There is no need to be on the pedals here, this is the type of descending we all dream of.
The Adventure Zone is out there
Down at the bottom of the network, you’ll find the adventure zone. Covered by dense tree canopy, this section of the trail network provides a welcome reprieve from the heat. It almost feels to have natural air conn and a practically zen-like atmosphere.
These were the original trails that the locals constructed, that Contour Works gave a nip and tuck.
Stemming out from the trailhead, the Adventure Zone provides an introductory experience to the trail network and is a great option to bring little ones or family members who may be less confident on the bike.
“One of the first trails we built, Garden of Eden, is so easy to access from the trailhead. Within a few hundred metres you dip down onto this bridge and cross this beautiful little stream — there’s cascading waterfalls right beside you. Then you ride up to another bridge that crosses over a portion of the creek where it’s just a rock slab, and the water is cascading past — it’s such a beautiful little pocket of trail.”
The boundaries of these zones aren’t rigid, however, and he notes that the 8km long Round the Outside, while it comes off the top of the network, is definitely an adventure trail and is a bit of an extension of this zone.
“You feel like you’re way out there. You get some really fun descending, and you feel like this is going to go on forever. Then you get to a creek crossing meandering out for a while and start to pick up a bit of speed again. As soon as you start to get used to one type of terrain, it would change into something else — whether it’s a big rock shelf we just managed to sneak the trail right below, or you pop into a ferny glade.”
The Trailhead
Before Eden was open to the public and some finishing touches were still being put on the trails and the ancillary infrastructure, the Quad Crown MTB Stage Race rolled through town, offering an exclusive preview of the network. Using the trails here for the prologue and stage two of the event, Race Director Jason Dover told Flow at the time he thought the Eden trailhead would become iconic in Australian mountain biking. Trailheads take all forms, and in Eden it will have toilets and a picnic area in addition to a spectacular jump line.
“You don’t get a lot of places around Australia with jumps like this — wide tabletop jumps you can learn on. You can let go a little bit and test yourself, they are so much more comfortable to ride — Australia needs this,” Erika says.
“We were able to put in the timber ramps, so people know the lips are always consistent,” says De La Rue. “With this facility at the bottom, you don’t even have to go out on the trails to ride. You can just hang out at the trailhead and have heaps of fun on your bike.”
But that’s not all, there’s also a pump track with multiple line options and some cheeky gaps. Better still, it’s illuminated and open at night.
“They don’t just lock the park up (at night) and say ‘too bad, so sad, go find something else to do.’ They want to encourage as many people as they can to go in,” Erika says.
And the locals are already enjoying what has been built. Soroka tells us that he saw a little two-year-old with her mum out on a balance bike the last time he was at the trailhead.
“I was talking to the mum, and she said to her daughter, tell the man what you said when you woke up this morning. She looked up at me with this cute little face, and she said, “Pumptrack, pumptrack.” My eyes just welled up because — that feeling of all this hard work. Yes, we’ve done it,” he says.
What about town?
Eden is only home to about 3,000 permanent residents. However, the town’s population can balloon to nearly 20,000 during the holidays. With that, this sleepy little beach settlement is well set up to handle the influx of visitors, whether that be beds, restaurants and things to see and do off the bike.
“It doesn’t feel like you’re out in the middle of nowhere, and it has a bit of a buzz while still maintaining that cosy small-town vibe so many seek out,” Erika says.
“People smile at you and say hello. As we were walking around, we saw people picking up trash — we actually saw this family who were walking past some traffic cones that had fallen over and were picking them up as they walked by. It was so sweet, and that sense of country loyalty is really strong,” she says.
The announcement of the trail network, attracted lots of investment into Eden to make sure they’re ready for the influx of riders. Significant upgrades are happening around town, including the renovation and reopening of the Hotel Australasia, which had been closed since 2010. Now, the 117-year-old hotel has been restored to its former glory.
“It felt so grandiose as we were walking through. Some of the furniture they had in there was really impressive,” Erika said. “It has all different rooms, so you can find the spot that suits your crew. The architecture is really impressive, and the fit-out is beautiful.”
As you explore the town, Eden has so much history for a seemingly unassuming place. With whaling, fishing and timber all holding up the local economy in times gone by, exploring the streets, you’ll come across a signpost that says, ‘this site used to be the second bank of Australia,’ or ‘this is where the markets were held a hundred years ago.’
Of course, there is also the killer whale museum where you can learn about what was happening in Twofold Bay at the turn of the century, but there is also so much natural beauty around this place, like The Pinnacles.
“They are these beautiful rock formations. The bottom section is bright white — it almost looks like chalk — and then it develops into this really NT-type red rock towards the top,” Erika says.
But the town isn’t resting on its laurels and is ready for the influx of riders. Beyond the trails, the eateries, and places to see, the town is ready for riders. As we mentioned at the jump, there are two shuttle outfits already set up and waiting for the trails to open, and businesses around town are ready to accommodate bikes and riders.
“We went around town and talked to all the businesses and said, ‘This is what you need. ‘ Now you go and sit on the balcony at the Hotel Australasia and look out, and there’s bike racks everywhere,” laughs Soroka.
Accommodation like the Heritage House where we shacked up for our Eden weekender, has added lock-up bike storage and bike wash facilities.
After a weekend in Eden, we realised that two days of riding wasn’t enough and that’s not only just to ride the trails in Nullica state forest. Between Mogo, Narooma and Tathra, and further afield, there is a lot to like in the area that, for a significant population, doesn’t require an airport — though there is one in Merimbula for those coming in from further afield.
Gravity Eden is one of the most hotly anticipated destinations in the country, and if it’s not already on your radar, it bloody should be. The network is now open, however the Club tells us there are four trails in the network that still need a bit more rain to bed in, and the jumps need a little bit more time before they are ready for the public.
Head over to the Gravity Eden website for more.
Chief vibe officer and host — Erika Hughes
Whip and wheelie enthusiast — Will Arnott
Rock rider and zen coordinator — Annie Schubert
Happiest snapper this side of Canberra — Nick Waygood
Moving pictures guy — Murray Farrell