Bairnsdale, Paynesville & Raymond Island

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We were delighted to hear that, after a stint in Perth, our friend/Dean’s cousin Andrew was back in Bairnsdale around the time we were going to be there.Even better, it was going to be Andrew’s birthday!

After passing back through Sale to pick up some solar panels for our van, we made it to Bairnsdale, “the commercial capital of Gippsland”. We found a lovely holiday park with a swimming pool and resident emus, alpacas, sheep, chickens, ducks and all sorts of birds. We spent the afternoon in the lovely cool pool (a welcome relief in the 40 degree heat) and taking care of our mounds of washing and dishes! In the evening, Andrew showed us around the area and the lovely waterside village of Paynesville.

The next morning, after doing a much-needed oil change on our van, we headed back out to Paynesville, grabbed our bicycles and took the ferry over to Raymond Island to go koala spotting. This lovely residential island is home to gumtree forests which we cycled through. We hadn’t expected the koalas to take much notice of us, but the handful that we saw took quite an interest in us.

I finally decided that my bicycle just had to go (wrong size frame, non-existent brakes and dodgy gears) so we went to Kmart and got me a nice and cheap new one. I’m delighted with it and look forward to enjoying the cycling that’s yet to come.

In the evening, we partied it up at the local Mexican restaurant for Andrew’s birthday dinner, before making our way to Lakes Entrance for a couple of nights.

THE TRUTH (by Dean Glasgow)

The locals somehow incorrectly pronounce the name of their town all the time. One would have thought they had lived there long enough to know it’s Baarnsdale, and not Bairnsdale.

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