The next morning we agreed to spend the day in Eden and then decide whether we would go further north (to places like Bega, Merimbula and Bermagui) or return back to Victoria and look for Victorian activities before returning home to Tasmania. The first thing to do was to have a closer look at Twofold Bay. The environment around the bay is generally quite rugged and regularly has cliffs that allows viewing seaward. There is a very pretty lookout adjacent to the town that is maintained by the service group Rotary. The area also has a memorial for those who are lost in the seas around Eden. A viewing platform allows visitors (and other users) excellent opportunities to see whales as they travel up and down the Australian coast. It seems somewhat strange that Eden now ... read more

We left our campsite near Golden Beach fairly early knowing that we wanted to cover a fair bit of territory that day. It would be a particularly difficult day of driving as the winds were particularly strong and gusty. Because the Gippsland Lakes is Australia's largest inland waterway (measuring approximately 600 square kilometres), it was important for Georgi to see the various parts of the Lakes and to gain a full understanding of the geography of the lakes and rivers, particularly as I had spent my earlier life here. The Gippsland Lakes (in order of size) are: * Lake Wellington * Lake Victoria * Lake King * Lake Reeve * Lake Tyers * Lake Coleman The rivers that flow in to the Gippsland Lakes are: * Latrobe * Thomson * Avon * Perry * Mitchell * ... read more

We awoke to bush birds and looked out the window to discover we were living in a rainforest! Not just any rainforest but Tarra Valley. Lenny came here as a child with his grandparents. It's a wonderful place to escape the heat of the summer and in winter time, you could build a roaring fire in the shelter and be warm while you drank hot tea and ate passionfruit cake. The fireplace has been bricked up now which is a bit sad, but the carpark has been sealed so I guess that's progress for you. We met Dusan and Lily in the carpark and chatted to them like old friends. They were from Slovakia (but working in Malaysia) and were enjoying their holiday in Australia. Lenny tried to influence them to go to Wilsons Promontory on ... read more

Despite the disappointing time at the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement, we had planned to spend an entire day at Sovereign Hill, the replica gold town in Ballarat. In fact, we had also booked to do the sound and light show (called Blood on the Southern Cross) at Sovereign Hill, which is almost entirely focussed on the Eureka Uprising of 1854. We were up bright and early this Friday (pre-Grand Final Day in Victoria) but the traffic was very light and there didn't seem to be anything happening. We stopped for some fuel and I asked the attendant was it particularly quiet for a Friday? She replied that the Victoria Government had declared that a Public Holiday should be celebrated on Grand Final Eve. Not hard to believe when Victoria is the only place in the world ... read more

After a pleasant camp at Mt Tarrengower, we were fresh and ready for more tours of the goldfields. First port of call though was the Castlemaine dentist (to assess a damaged tooth)! We celebrated surviving the dentist with morning tea (including something sweet of course) and then drove around Castlemaine checking out all of the lovely old buildings. We stopped at the Castlemaine Market building (which is now unfortunately a visitor information centre) and took some photos before driving up to the hill and inspecting the old jail site. Castlemaine was a central area from where smaller rushes (in what became outlying suburbs) occurred. We drove out to Chewton and then out in to the bush a short distance to inspect the remains of the Garfield Wheel. There are only the stone supports remaining now but ... read more