Blogs from Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

Today it was Christmas Take 2 with us heading off for Boxing Day lunch at the Club Hotel in Warragul with Bernie’s parents, Helen and Ian, Bernie’s brother, Michael and my sister, Kerry. Ate too much AGAIN! I ordered the pulled pork burger that had coleslaw on the inside and coleslaw and chips on the side. So much coleslaw! I don’t really understand serving it as a side when it is already in the ‘burger’?? I should have ordered from the Senior’s menu to try to ensure a smaller meal because I have so much guilt about not finishing what’s on my plate BUT … I know it’s not good for me to overeat either. After lunch we commenced our road trip in earnest. Despite very threatening black clouds we only experienced a brief shower between ... read more

On Monday 30 January the caravan repairer said the replacement annexe for the caravan would be here, at Sale, by Wednesday, however the annexe didn't arrive and we also had to wait until the insurer approved the work to go ahead, so we decided to leave Sale on Thursday to see and stay at a few coastal towns along 90 Mile Beach. Our first stop was at Loch Sport. The caravan park is situated on the lake side of the Gippsland area and not near the beach which is where we would prefer to be. The van sites were quite uneven and sloping and there was a $30 fine if you didn't have your dog on a lead at all times (the park wasn't busy). So we did a sight seeing drive of Loch Sport before ... read more

Peels are the people synonymous with cruising from Lakes Entrance. The family have been around for almost 100 years operating a large number of vessels. My grandmother used to take my sister and I for a cruise on the famous Lennabird when we visited her in Lakes Entrance. Again, such a long time ago. Peels currently have three vessels (of varying sizes) that run on cruises around the lakes. Our trip was to be on the Seabird from Lakes Entrance to Metung where we would stop for lunch at the Metung Hotel. After lunch we would return to Lakes Entrance on a slightly different route. We drove down the hill into Lakes Entrance from our Burnt Bridge Road campsite nice and early to ensure that we could get parking for the bus. We were so early ... read more

The way forward from Ballarat and the goldfields was rather complex. The easy part was drive to Melbourne but where to from there? There are so many options it can be really confusing. I left the brain to do the thinking and decided not to focus on where. And so it was that we got to Melbourne and then went in to auto-pilot and the next thing we were down in Gippsland! My grandparents had often made the Bunyip roadhouse a stopping point for a trip to Melbourne and it seemed logical to do the same going the other way. However, when we got there, the roadhouse had been pulled down - we chose to drive back to the fruit orchard which now sported a newish cafe (now there was less local competition) and had lunch ... read more

We are now experts at setting up our little mobile home whenever we move to a new spot. On arriving at Paradise Beach, a lovely little free-camping area near Seaspray, we were all set up with our new tent poles and guy-ropes within 10 minutes. We can now walk underneath the sunshade without having to duck. Genius!We do, however, need to pay more attention to the direction in which we set up (ie van opens to the non-sunny side) and we need to reduce our personal space (ie it’s okay to be close to other campers to secure a great spot). We spent the evening going for a walk on beautiful Paradise Beach (its name is well justified), enjoying our $4 wine (surprisingly very yum!) and watching our latest installment of Alcatraz (we’re both hooked ... read more