To the Port Phillip colony

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Eden - Orbost - Nowa Nowa - Lakes Entrance

Day 291
Monday, 10 December 2007

Leaving NSW - seemingly ever so quickly compared to our stays in the other states, we head dutifully along the Princes Highway until we arrive with minimal fanfare at the Victorian border. No photo this time though as the border crossing is not in an area to be able to safely park to the side without being cleaned up by one of the many trucks travelling this route.

The drive is quite scenic and not dissimilar to the area of the SW of WA it seems. We pass, unfortunately, many small tracks / roads leading off to areas with many options for exploration! With time no longer on our side these are options that must remain for another time.

We stop at the small and quaint town of Orbost for lunch before continuing on to the famous coastal resort town of Lakes Entrance. This was so much reminiscent of Mandurah to be a bit spooky really - very similar….although perhaps on a slightly bigger scale. We stayed at a council area out of town at Nungurner that the lady at the visitor centre informed us about - not strictly legal but a reasonable grassed area and toilets and we were right on the waters edge - all for nicks. Pretty hard to beat really with the sun going down and the silhouettes of the small boats just offshore. There was a pretty cool wind coming off the lake and we parked behind some bushes to shield us from its cold edge. The lake water was a deep greenish colour - probably subject to an influx of phosphates from the surrounding agricultural land and hence an algal problem- again not dissimilar to the estuaries of Mandurah.

There were a flock of black swans all spending the majority of their time with head down and bum up - literally. They were obviously feeding on something that tickled their tastebuds as they continued this habit almost every waking moment. Interestingly the mothers with a few cygnets seemed to regurgitate whatever it was they were feeding on and the cygnets would then poke about in the water picking up whatever it was.

Lakes Entrance - Metung - Bairnsdale - Paynesville - Mitchell River NP

Day 292
Tuesday, 11 December 2007

Packed up and did a quick cooks tour around Metung before making our way towards Bairnsdale - a larger regional town. We knew that there was an agent there for Engel fridges and hoped to get him to confirm that the power supply unit was kaput on our fridge so that we could get it replaced in Melbourne. As it happened he had a spare power unit there which wast he correct one for our fridge so after he checked it all out he replaced it and we were back in business - well after $365 changed hands that is. Much easier than having to try and run around Melbourne though - and probably a darn sight quicker. Either way, we no longer have to do the ice thing and are back to normal.

Whilst waiting for the bloke to do his thing on our fridge we occupied our time at the local park for a while which had a large flying fox and a great big slide which kept the kids entertained for a fair while over lunchtime. After a while we needed to do something else and took a drive towards Paynesville where the Mitchell River empties into Lake King. Over time this silt laden river has carried so much material that it has created a spit that extends about 6 km out into Lake King. This has now created a dual spit that extends the rivers path out into the Lake system. You can drive along the spits and stand at the edge. Quite amazing really.

After picking up our fridge we headed inland to Mitchell River NP to camp for the night. Although a bit of a drive we prefer to be in this sort of environment than the old caravan park as we are all much more relaxed - being able to have the old campfire is something you never pass up either. After a fairly winding road to get to the valley we set up in flat spot near the fast flowing river which was a light tan brown colour as it was carrying a huge amount of silt - not surpising as this was the same river which we had visited earlier in the day and stood on its spit that protruded into Lake King.

There was only one other group in the area but they were far from us so we effectively had the area to ourselves - just as we like it. Surrounded by large hills, green grass, a river just below - not too bad….although our constant companions (flies) for the last few weeks were still around. These all disappear as soon as the sun heads below the horizon - although having said that the daylight saving means this doesn’t occur until around 9:00pm! This usually catches us out and we don’t often start getting dinner ready until what should be the kids time to hit the sack! No school hours we have to conform to so that is OK.

With the campfire cranked up we did the BBQ thing and cooked what is rapidly becoming a family favourite - spiced up lamb loin chops on the barbie. Not a lot of talking going on around the table whilst we demolish those, although I don’t know as if our table manners would pass muster with Nana!
With a good set of coals begging to be used, making of a cake was the go, so with Brayden doing the bulk of the mixing and making under my supervision (does that mean I get to lick the bowl?!?). We prepared our cake and had it on the coals cooking merrily away in no time - although it tends to take a bit longer than it would in a normal oven. Still, slow is good -rather than too fast and having burnt offerings instead. I would have to admit our cake making has progressed a fair way since our first attempts and I reckon we would hold our own in most company pretty well! Funnily enough Brayden is none too keen on going to bed before the cake is done and he gets a slice that’s “as much as I’m allowed”! Nice way too finish off the night - a slice of warm cake - before going to bed.

Mitchell River - Stockdale - Stratford - Sale - Rosedale -Tarra Bulga NP - Toora - Foster - Wilsons Promontory

Day 293
Wednesday, 12 December 2007

An absolutely freezing cold night and both kids woke up at various stages being cold. I guess this was a function of the katabatic winds with us being firmly centred in the guts of the valley so we copped a lot of the cold air as it cooled and its density forced it into the base of the valley….where we were camped. When I surfaced the clouds were about halfway down the side of the hills so it had obviously got pretty cool.

With the flies coming out in force as the sun rose we did a quick bit of journal with the kids (inside the camper trailer andway from the little mongrels)before packing up and letting the sun dry out the canvas. Took some back roads via Stockdale before meeting back up the main road of Princes Highway at Stratford. Although not our preferred choice of type of road we needed to make some time / progress so the main road was it.

We detoured out to Tarra-Bulga NP with its microcosm of fern habitat that has essentially existed since time immemorial - or at least when dinosaurs walked the earth. After a quick walk around the ferns and a walk across a small replica suspension bridge which affords a wonderful view of the fernery below you get to reverse the scene and walk beneath the fern fronds peering up through mottled sunlight ensconced within a very cool and serene environment.

We took the Grand Range Drive - which soon degenerated into a currently active logging track - and were winding merrily along the one lane track when around a blind corner we managed to meet one of the afore mentioned logging trucks. Somewhow managing to squeeze between it and the gutter and the rock wall we passed it, hoping that we wouldn’t see to many others. We caught a bit of two way radio traffic where a couple of them were talking about us reckoning on us being lost - on the contrary we just like to be in places that are off the standard trail wherever possible. Besides which it was a designated tourist drive - although it seems we must be one of the rare few that actually use it!

Arrived in a small place called Toora and decided to continue onto Wilsons Promontory instead of staying there - a caravan park immediately adjacent to the Princes Hwy doesn’t make for a nice quiet night of sleep. Barrelled back along the highway and made our way to the National Park arriving after 6:00pm - luckily there was a heap of space.

After we were in bed for a while we heard a bit of knocking or something seeming to be hitting the trailer. I got up and lo and behold a wombat was nosing around looking for some food and was knocking his head on our metal steps making the noise. He has smelled our bread box and was trying to open it - to no avail. So at last we had finally seen a wombat that had its legs pointing to the ground instead of it being on its back with its legs pointing to the sky (ie: a live one!!!).

Wilsons Promontory - Fish Creek - Leongatha - Korumburra - Melbourne

Day 294
Thursday, 13 December 2007

With the wind at a full strength gale Brayden and I went for a ride whilst Amanda and Rhiannon decided on a walk. Riding along the beach with the wind behind us was an absolute breeze (funnily enough) and sidelong along the main beach we were leaning over at what seemed like a fair old angle just to stop from being blown over. Sand was being blown at sandblasting strength along the beach and all the waves were topped by white as the wind peeled back the water as they broke towards shore. Whitecaps were evident as far as you could see out into the bay. We passed Rhiannon and Amanda on our return journey and they too were leaning into the wind. So it was definitely strong.
Riding back into the wind had us dropping down to the lowest cog possible and we were still pretty snookered at the end of it. Good exercise though…

We enquired about the return walk to the southern tip but with a 38 odd km round trip requiring at least one overnight stay we were hardly ready to take on that journey just yet with an 8 year old girl (that’s our excuse anyway). As the accommodation at the lighthouse was also set at around the $70.00/pp it would turn into a fairly expensive exercise to enable us to stand at the southern tip of our continent. We decided that the point that we had got to at Tidal Bay would have to suffice in the interim.

As the wind gave no sign of letting up we decided to pack up and head towards Melbourne instead. With 481 sites holding approx 8 people per site along with day visitors the place would be absolutely chokkas at the peak periods - ie: Xmas/New Year. All the sites are allocated by ballot over that period - rather be somewhere else I reckon.

We duly arrived on the Melbourne outskirts, entered into the traffic fray and found our way to where we were staying with relatives.

Melbourne

Days 295 - 299
Thursday, 13 December 2007 - Tuesday, 18 December 2007

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Photos

Fernery
been around since T-Rex was a boy

A live wombat!
Finally one that has not been hit by a car...!