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Published: March 16th 2014
Lakes Entrance Avenue of Honour
Simpson helping an injured World War I soldier.I woke with a really bad headache so we had a quiet morning. Then, after making sandwiches, we drove to Lakes Entrance to have our lunch next to the beach, there. It was rather gusty and cool but the view was pleasant. Then we walked along the front to Griffiths Sea Shell Museum and Marine Display. I remembered it from 20 years ago as having some interesting things in it and was keen to see it again. Along the way I photographed the six clever wooden sculptures, made by John Brady using a chainsaw, which were spaced along the promenade. An Avenue of Honour of Monterey Cypress trees, for twenty six World War I soldiers, had became dangerous and they had to be cut down. The stumps were used to create the sculptures, each one commemorating an aspect of life during WWI, replacing the Avenue. There was a fisherman at the wheel; a mother and two children looking out to sea and waiting for their father; a digger in full kit; a group of wounded soldiers; Simpson and his donkey; and a nurse with a wheelchair. They were life sized and looked really good.
We arrived at the shell museum
Lakes Entrance Avenue of Honour
The World War I nurses are remembered, too. but Barry preferred to walk back the 1½ km to get the car rather than going in, which was great for me as I wouldn’t have to do the return walk! Anyway, I wandered around the showcases and was pleased to see there were still some amazingly colourful shells of all shapes and sizes, including a few large, delicate pristine white nautilus shells; some strange looking crabs and preserved deep sea fish; some fossils and wonderful semi-precious stones (my favourite being a vivid blue set of azurite crystals growing on a rock of green malachite – gorgeous!) and a couple of examples of pieces of the enormous white crystals that come from Naica in Mexico that were sitting next to some photos of a man in a cave of the crystals – each one being bigger than he is! There was also a large miniature railway set up in the back room – very detailed with lots of scaled buildings, people and landscapes.
Barry turned up, with excellent timing, at about the time I had finished looking and we drove to the bridge that takes people across the channel to 90 mile beach and the sea. As we walked
Griffiths Sea Shell Museum and Marine Display
Just a small selection of thousands of colourful and interesting shells. across, we saw more black swans feeding on the weeds in the fairly deep water. It was really funny watching them go “up tails all” just like ducks but paddling frantically to keep themselves head down as they were so buoyant. I’ve never seen swans do that before! We spotted a few more Pacific Gulls, too, with their huge black and white wings spread in flight.
We finished the day by driving to the lookouts that show the entrance from the sea into the Lakes system. It looked wonderful with the sun, low in the sky, gleaming off the water and the richly green grass. Then back to the van for dinner.
As I’m sitting here I can hear the waves crashing onto the beach and the seeds from the tree next to us dropping like pellets onto the roof of the van. We must have a massive collection of them on top by now as it has been happening since yesterday! Barry thinks he’ll have to go up and clear them before we move off on Tuesday as they may get jammed in the cowls over the air vents and stop them closing properly. Not sure how
Griffiths Sea Shell Museum and Marine Display
A vivid blue set of azurite crystals growing on a rock of green malachite – gorgeous! he plans on getting up there!
I’ve set the alarm for 8.30am so we can get up to Buchan Caves tomorrow in time to view both sets of caves.
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Snap Shot Stacey
Snap Shot Stacey
love it!
What a fabulous concept. They should do this more often with trees they've cut down.