Lakes Entrance

24th Feb-28th Feb. Have you ever had one of those days- we booked the boat and we will only sail at night as neither of us are good sailors. At night it is great, a little alcohol and some drugs- go to bed and you wake up in Devonport. I got a little off the track- when the confirmation came by email it was for daytime. So it was on to the phone, there was nothing available until the 5th March, ok we will take it. Ness then enquired about leaving the cat in the van for the trip. The woman Ness spoke with was very nice but kept telling Ness she was better in the kennels as they were RSPCA approved and Ness kept telling her a cat surrounded by dogs/ or her home with her own bed etc was always going to be a better option. So finally an email was sent with the indemnity form attached. Scarlia is travelling in the van to Tassie. Then on to the task of finding a caravan park west of Melbourne pet friendly. “No pets but you can try ……”, “yes we take dogs, no cats they upset the dogs”, “No pets”, “booked out”, “Yes but the site has no water as it is our last site”- we will take it. Yeah we found one at Pakenham. This was some of the examples of the response we got over a three hour period.
So it was onto seeing the area. We went for a drive to Nowa Nowa- don’t you love that name. I love it Ness just shakes her head. We continued on to Buchan and the caves. The cave we went thru was called the fairy cave. Some great formations and the guide was interesting with her information. The caves where found on purpose to rival Jenolan Caves, the Victorian government paid a gentleman Moon (we cant remember his 1st name) to search the area for caves that could be open to the public. He found them and they became large part his life and his family’s’. Mr Moon named his daughter Fairy after the fairy cave. She was married in the Fairy cave and named on of her sons Cave.

It was then on to The Snowy River NP, a twisting road up the mountains. We reached the fork in the road right to Snowy NP, left to Jindabyne. Jindabyne was only 130kms. We hesitated, as to cross the border in a different place is one of the things we like to do. No we will continue into the park to see Little River Waterfall and Victoria’s deepest gorge and of course The Snowy River.

We had lunch at the entrance, fighting off the March Flies. It was then a short walk down to the falls- it was a great day with a cool breeze and the sun was out. The falls weren’t spectacular but they were pretty. The walk back was up hill- just to remind us how unfit we really are- huffing and puffing, we made it. The drive thru the park was glorious, it was very obvious were bushfires had burnt out areas and where it didn’t touch. We stopped at the Gorge car park and took off down the track downhill and downhill it kept going, I think the sign said 400 m but I’m sure we walked 200 and it seem to be getting steeper. Ness went for a quick half jog half walk to the next bend came back and said it was getting steeper. “Let’s abandon this idea.” It was back to the car- slowly, stopping in the shade for a breather. I think it was a lot further than 400m. We continue further into the park, the road got narrower. We had stop and pulled to the side to let a van pass, the driver told us to take it easy as the road is very narrow up ahead and the bends are very narrow. Oh boy did it!!! We got to a bend and all we could see was the road winding down the side of the cliff. Off in the distance we could see the Snowy River.

If you closely at the photo you can see the river in the top left corner.

On the drive back we spotted an interesting place to stop for fuel- the picture explains it all.

Not sure what type of fuel they sell, maybe it was only the fumes.

We got back to the highway and turned off to have a look at the river as suggested by a local. It was worth the time.

We then followed a dirt track thru a timber plantation to find a trestle railway bridge, all made from the timber in the immediate area. The bridge was built in the late 1800’s and it was used until 1988. The only reason the railway was closed was because it was damaged during a bushfire. That’s what the sign told us but a discussion with a local told us the government shut railway down from Bairnsdale to Orbust anyway.

On our travels back to Lakes Entrance we found the first oil bore in Australia and of course 90 mile beach.

The next we did nothing but washed clothes and sat around freezing. The following day we were going to Dargo but of course got sidetrack to another National Park. This time it was the Mitchell River NP.
This has many indigenous sites of significance. Ness walked to one of them Den of Nargun. I didn’t have the right shoes- yeah I was happy about that one. It was once again a downhill climbing over rocks but the photos are good.



The following day we travelled a bit further to Port Albert via Sale. This is where all the grey nomads hide out. It has a parking area that you can camp in for 48hrs if you are self sufficient. This is a quaint village that was once the largest port in Victoria 2nd only to Port Phillip, in its hey day.


Looking towards the Bass
Strait.



The local cementry.


We then had to stop at the largest swing bridge in Australia.



It was off to Pakenham the next day Tuesday 1st March. We found Lakes Entrance pretty but very like central coast of NSW. Its great if you like fishing and even at the tourist information centre they can only suggest a charter fishing trip on the lakes, or short walks along the lake or beach. In Ness’ words a very fishy place.

Will write more soon.
Ness and Michelle
Email: Ness1211@hotmail.com
Blog: nessmichelle.blogspot.com