Into Victoria

11 December Sunday

Rain in the night didnt last long, bit overcast this morning. (Rose is still losing weight, all those clothes she didnt bring cos they were too tight).Took spuds to other couple (Linda and Feff) and got talking to them till gone 11 Had a coffee) really interesting couple who gave us lots of advice. Finally left camp at 11 45 and left the easy way this time along Imlay Rd(no wonder they got a caravan up there) and onto Princess Highway till we got to the turn for Mallacoota. It is a very old fashioned seaside town,

We met a lovely English lady in the information center,

 she'd kept her accent even after 50+ years in Oz. Decide as we'd had such a late start to stay at the rest area at Genoa. (back on Princess Highway), Nice place and cold showers if you want them. Had a walk into town over the historic bridge, but it really is only a few houses.

12th December Monday

Away by 9.30 back on Princess Highway till we took the road to Cape Conran as thought it would be nice to drive alongthe coast road to Marlo. Stopped at Point Ricardo car park and walked to beach, waves amazing,

 beach goes on for ever. At Marlo

bought some tobacco for Colin before rejoining Highway to Lakes Entrance, what a beautiful spot. The sea is behind the dunes which are infront of inland lake/port.

And the sun is trying to come out. Decided to go to Bairnsdale for 2 nights at the Mitchell Gardens Holiday Park ($48), it is a lovely setting by the river and it has a pool (looks cold). Used camp kitchen to cook dinner and sat in there catching up on Emails and getting blog up to date.

13th December Tuesday

Thought it might be noisy being so close to the road but not too bad at all. Just pootled around in the morning and got gas bottle filled($11), had a walk round town in the afternoon, it is much bigger than we thought,we got our food shopping for the week at the same time. Weather would be warm except for the chill wind. Colin did some checking over the motor. Catted with neighbour before bed to warm up and get out of the rain.

14th December Wednesday

Warmer this morning , left site about 9.30 and went to library to upload photos onto blog, quickest WiFi yet , got feul then back on road by 10.30 Drove through Stratford ou the Avon, bit disappointing as it has such a famous name. Through Sale and down to Yarram, we stopped at port Welshpool for lunch, it is a fishing port

which also services the oil industry, it has an old fashioned feel to it and also has a very long and very old jetty.

 Carried on to Foster and got a local map before heading onto camp site for the next couple of days at Bear Gully Reserve. We can see the sea from our tent, it is approx 100 meters away.

 For a site site that is only suitable for small vehicles there's an awfull lot of caravans and big campers.


15th December Thursday

Woke to an orange glow in the tent, sunrising, should have got up but went back to sleep till 8am. Very hot sunny day.  I went for a walk to see where one of the tracks went and came across a near black Wallaby having a feed, don't know who was more surprised, went and got Colin to see.  Later the English neighbours Eve and Eric called us through to see an Akidna

wandering through the camp.
Just read and chatted rest of day.

16th December Friday

Said goodbye to Eve and Eric our neighbours as they had to go as they had run out of water and electricity for the fridge, after chatting to Colin they are going to buy a solar panel to keep battery topped up. We decided to go to Fish Creek as they are the nearest shops 35k away as Colin needed fag papers, it is a very quaint village. Stopped at Waratah Bay for lunch on the beach, very windy ended up with sand in our sarnies and everywhere else, pitty as its a very nice beach.Drove onto the Cape Liptrap Lighthouse

(there was a bird on the road sunning itself, but it did not move, our very own roadkill) amazing views can see curvature of the earth again, also can see over to Wilsons Prometory which is southern most tip of mainland Oz.

 Later back at site, more campers comming in for the weekend. Had a chat and nibbles with local couple Peter and Marj, they had lived in NZ a couple of times with work, Marj loved the country. By the time we finished dinner it was dark so went to bed.