It was more than another week before we got around to washing Bus and putting it away for the summer, because I’d had a return of the mysterious allergy that made my face itchy and swollen. I wondered if it had been caused by exposure to sunshine while we were away? At this frustrating stage, anything seemed possible!
Washing the Bus
It took us four hours to wash the bus, scrub mildew from the awning, dry everything out, put the bus back in its slot and drape it with tarps. That was the hardest bit!
Murphy’s Law seems to dictate that, whenever we are trying to manoeuvre a large tarp over the bus roof, without snagging the air conditioner, solar panel frames or aerials – a bloody strong wind will spring up from somewhere! Never fails.
John was surprised to find that the plant debris that had accumulated through winter, under the solar panels, had not blown away on our recent trip. Really needed the pressure gun to shift it.
Awning ready for cleaning underneath
I would have nightmares that night! I was scrubbing under the partly extended awning, shifting mildew marks, and suddenly sighted a large huntsman spider – on my shoulder, just under my chin. I screamed. John almost fell off the ladder where he was pruning branches overhanging from next door. Huntsman was resistant to letting go and tried to crawl higher. I finally swiped it off onto the grass, then relocated it with the end of a (long) broom handle to a little plant in the nearby garden, where it tucked up snugly. Have no idea where it came from, before it picked on me. Would have thought that the pressure wash had eliminated any wildlife living around the bus.
My nightmarish friend tucked away under a plant – look for the legs!
Bus parked up and wrapped up in its tarpaulin, for the summer.
The bus bay…
I would really like to put up a proper carport/cover structure for the bus, where we park it. But this could be complicated by the existence of the gas line, drains, and I suspect, the sewer line, just at one side of the parking bay. Not sure if the Council would allow it, and John is not keen on the idea. I would prefer it to the tarps, though. Maybe one day I will investigate further……
The six day duration of our stay here was determined by John’s Saturday bowls, so today was going home day.
Our pack up was quick and easy. I wondered what our watching neighbour thought of that? His would take him hours…
Between Lakes Entrance and Bairnsdale, we had to slow down for a small group of wood ducks crossing the road – no young ones amongst them though.
Lake King in the distance
I noted the existence of the Bairnsdale to Orbost Rail Trail and wondered if grandson and his father had ridden that one, yet. I hadn’t known there was ever a railway through to Orbost. Knew that it went as far as Bairnsdale, of course, from taking groups down to the school’s camp at the Banksia Peninsula, in the late 80’s, on the train. I had been very pleased when the Victorian government re-opened that service, after a period of being closed down. I am a believer in the efficiency of country rail transport.
Nicholson River
Also in that section, we slowed again, where a traffic policeman had pulled over a motorist. It was only after we’d trundled past, that it occurred to either of us that John should probably have slowed to 40kmh, in line with the new rules regarding emergency vehicles.
Saw more interesting, new signage, out of Bairnsdale. A sign regarding tailgating and an instruction to allow three seconds between vehicles. There were arrow marks on the road surface for a distance, which I presumed were meant to show the actual three second distance, at 100kmh. It looked an unrealistic distance to me, one that very few drivers would try to maintain between cars.
We were rather intrigued by the multiplicity of coloured roadside posts. Apart from the usual white ones, there were blue ones in some sections, orange and yellow in others. I had no idea why this was so, but spotting the different coloured sections provided some interest.
The black and white Friesian dairy cows were dominant on the pastureland around Sale.
There seemed to be so many caravanners and motorhomers travelling east today – wondered where they were all heading. We passed same, regularly, from the time we left Lakes, right to where we turned off the Monash Freeway, in Melbourne.
Before Sale, we again had the GPS instructing us to travel via Maffra and Heyfield. We’d intended to try this route, but John was not listening to either the GPS or me, and missed the turning.
Today it was very obvious why the GPS made that instruction. Roadworks! Lots and lots of sections of roadworks. Both sides of Sale, in the town, and on from it. It will be good, though, when the highway is duplicated all the way through from the Latrobe Valley. So travel was rather stop/start.
Coming into Sale, I suggested to John that we detour back to the Victoria Gardens to give the dog a walk and us a coffee break. So he turned down the side street – only to see that it was closed off on the corner by the Gardens. There was no other street for us to turn into, and with parked cars the road was too narrow for us to U turn. He continued on, slowly, toward the traffic controllers at the barricade. One approached us and said we could turn into the street to the left, and moved the barriers for us.
There was some sort of bicycle event happening, with riders going around the edge of Victoria Gardens, and support vehicles and crews parked up the side street we turned into.
Unfortunately, that side street was a dead end! It was just wide enough for us to U turn at the end, complicated by the rubbish bins left out – must have been collection day. We cleared a green bin by millimetres!
Our friendly traffic controller waved us back the way we’d come and moved the barricade again for us.
So my bright idea had not been so bright, after all. Just one of the little hiccups of Coastering with the car behind. It would have been an equal problem in our caravanning days – except they would probably have made us turn in the first street – with much to-ing and fro-ing.
Just out of Sale we were passed by a Coaster, going the same way. It was a new one, with the new more square roof shape, which will make it easier to put cupboards inside, when conversions are done, we think. It was still in bus mode, but with an older couple as driver and passenger. I wondered if the people were running it in before converting it. Think I’d like one of those……… We could see it for some time, getting further and further head of us, slowed by the roadwork sections.
Today we could see the ranges to our right, from Sale through to the Latrobe Valley. They were still slightly hazy, after yesterday’s rain, with the moisture in the air.
Avon River at Stratford
Travelling through Traralgon is the pits. Why on earth didn’t they put a bypass around the place when the duplicated road reached there from Melbourne? It is going to be ridiculous: good duplicated and divided road cruising from Melbourne to Traralgon, ditto the Sale side, before too much longer, and in the middle the long slow crawl through sprawling Traralgon, with so many sets of traffic lights. Ridiculous.
It was a relief to get onto the freeway.
Just on the edge of Traralgon there was a rail bridge over the road, with a sign reading Briquette Rail Line. I’d never noticed this before. Wondered do they still make briquettes from coal?
Coal mine
There were more roadworks, on the freeway, around Morwell. A long one lane crawl at 40kmh. There was the usual moron who came speeding up the left hand lane, after all the rest of the traffic had slowed and merged to one long lane, as per electronic instruction board, some distance back. Then he had to push across into the merged lane, in front of us. A white Mitsubishi AWD type vehicle – John let him push in front of us, but honked at him. I hoped the loud noise gave him a fright. Karma will catch up with him, one day…….
At Moe, we left the freeway on the slipway to the Old Gippsland Pioneer Settlement, where we knew there is a long stretch of parking beside the road. Parked there, along with several caravans and cars. Walked dog. Took ourselves over the road to the toilets, then sat in the bus and ate the lunch I had thought to pack this morning. It was a good place for such a break, and straightforward to get back onto the freeway, after.
Good parking area at Old Gippstown
It was 12.25 when we left there, on the last leg.
Traffic on the Monash Freeway was not too bad – it actually did not seem as heavy as it had been on Sunday! The roadworks continued……
Freeway and roadworks
Somehow, John missed the turnoff to Eastlink. I think he was expecting the lane he was in to become part of the slip road, but he actually had to diverge left onto it and realized too late. I have to admit it is rather a confusing deviation, and the GPS instructions of merge left and keep right did not help!
We took the Wellington Road exit, further along, then had to make our way back to Eastlink.
On the trip down, last Sunday, the ETag had not been registering and beeping. From Lakes Entrance, John had phoned City Link and they said they would send a new tag out to us. However, on the way home the damned thing began to beep again, when it should! So do not know what had been going on there…..could be interesting to check the City Link account in a few days!
We came off Eastlink at Canterbury Road and made our way on the familiar road home, getting there at 2.20pm. Just missed the start of the big afternoon traffic build up on these roads.
By 3pm, we were all unpacked again and trip was over. Except for washing the bedding, which can wait a while, and wiping out the fridge, tomorrow.
I love motorhomes – it is just so easy.
Lakes Entrance had proved to be an excellent place for a short getaway and one I’d be quite happy to return to.
After a restless night, I was up at 7am. The morning was rather warm and humid and that got John up at the early hour – for him – of 9.30am.
Our Lakes Entrance site
During the night there had been one of those little incidents designed to make mobile life that bit more unpredictable. Soon as I appeared, the guy opposite came and told me he’d turned off our water tap at 6am, because the site was flooded. Seems our hose connection had burst off. I’d heard a noise at 3am, but thought it was the dog jumping out of her seat bed. The hose had been leaking when we had first set up, but John thought he’d fixed it.
With the really sandy soils here, all the water had drained away quickly.
The van opposite moved out, then the one two sites down moved onto the vacated site. I couldn’t discern any difference between the two sites to justify the rigmarole of relocating, but there must have been some reason.
John fixed the hose then played computer games. I read and did some sewing, outside.
From the late morning there was cloud build up from the west. Definitely looking stormy.
Looking ominous
John wanted bread and cheeses for tea so we went shopping for a nice crusty bread and some Turkish rolls. Bought some brie, a cheddar, blue cheese and a jar of bread and butter cucumbers. Went to the floating fish outlet and bought a couple of kilos of flathead pieces. Back at camp, I packed meal sized lots of flathead for the freezer, keeping out enough for tomorrow night’s tea.
By lunchtime it was really humid. Mid-afternoon there was heavy rain and some wind. That passed, then there was more around tea time and later in the night.
Storm coming
The rain cooled things down considerably and made it a much more pleasant night for sleeping. I went to bed early, being tired after last night’s poor sleep.
John said he didn’t feel like doing anything much, except his usual computer based stuff, so the day passed much as yesterday, except we didn’t need to visit the shops.
Marina at Lakes Entrance
I set up my laptop on the outside table – fresh air and sunshine. Caught up with emails. Wrote up my diary. Sewed.
A pleasant corner of the park near us
The noisy neighbours seemed to spend most of the day at the park pool, for which I was thankful. I did find it a little strange that they were not off looking at some of the sights, though.
Location of the park by Cunninghame Arm and the beach
Couey had several walks. On one of those, which John did while I was changing my leg dressings, he decided to throw a stick into the Cunninghame Arm channel, for her to retrieve. Repeatedly. He said she loved it. She came back totally wet and it took ages for her to dry off, outside in the sun. At least, she certainly was less energetic for the rest of the day.
Cunninghame Arm looking east – dog swim spot
Changing those dressings really hurt, today. The pain didn’t go away and I ended up taking Panadol a couple of times through the night.
John wanted bacon and eggs for tea. I added a corn cob and some potato slices to his meal. I wasn’t all that hungry, due to leg pain, so just had eggs and potato.
Although the night started off normally cool, it became quite warm, later, to the extent that I had to move the doona off me. Not a great night’s sleep.
We both had a sleep in until 9.30 and I woke to a lovely day – blue sky and sunshine. It felt warm, though there was a slight cool breeze. No sea mist this morning
I walked Couey and then had my breakfast outside, whilst John slept until later. I sewed for a while. John did some bowls club work on his laptop.
I was a bit startled by the sudden appearance of a man from the other side of Bus. He was a worker on a scallop boat and was doing the rounds, selling them – freshly caught, cleaned and $30 a kilo. Too tempting to pass up – I bought a kilo, hoping he was legit and that we didn’t wind up with food poisoning. Sometimes one trusts…
The dog was walked a couple more times, including across the bridge and down to the little park. It was really a lovely day to be doing not much.
Cunninghame Arm – looking east from the bridge
Mid afternoon, drove to the shopping centre to pick up a few groceries and some wine.
Some of the Lakes Entrance fishing fleet
When we got back, there was a guy setting up a camper trailer on the next site. He’d parked almost a metre into our site. Had we not come back I am sure he’d have put his guy ropes across our car parking space. I saw him holding a guy rope and surveying the car after we’d returned. In the end, he left both ropes dangling. He made some comment to John about always liking to set up right in the corner of his site because his trailer was so big. And it was! He had a young girl with him and said his wife had gone shopping. She stayed away for a good couple of hours more – reckon she was avoiding the set-up work, and I could see why!
Note the pink painted lines that denote the site boundary!
I couldn’t believe the outfit this man had. Apart from the large camper trailer, he put tarps over most of the site, then draped a lot of shadecloth around. He set up a fair sized gazebo. There was a portable BBQ with its own large gas bottle. Given that he’d started before we came back from the shops, his setting up took another three hours! The rig was ridiculous. He did say they’d had trouble fitting in on some caravan park sites. I’m sure of it.
Our intrusive neighbours
We had to move where we’d been tethering Couey because of his intrusion into our site – it was the area with the afternoon shade.
Unfortunately, they were here for four nights, before heading further west. Not great neighbours. Only three of them but they were quite noisy.
I cooked some of the scallops for tea, in garlic and butter. Served with a fancy Caesar type salad. Delicious. Froze the remaining flathead strips and scallops.
The day began sunny and pleasant. I took my breakfast outside and enjoyed the sun whilst having it. Mid-morning, a thick sea mist rolled in and it became cooler.
There are lots of banksia trees planted in the park and these are the haunts of wattle birds.
Native vegetation at the caravan park
I took Couey for a walk around the park perimeter. She promptly became a target for the wattle birds, who kept swooping at he, making clack-clack beak clashing noises. She tried valiantly to pretend they didn’t exist, but was very keen to keep moving.
John got up about the time the fog came in. After his late breakfast, we drove to the central shops. I browsed a quilting fabric shop and indulged in a modest purchase.
The main street town – the Esplanade – is most picturesque, running parallel to Cunninghame Arm, which acts as a marina along here. Lots of very good looking boats were moored, boat trips were on offer – both in the lakes system and out in the ocean. It is a great place to wander, watch boats and people, and take photos.
At the floating fish restaurant and sales outlet that we have patronized on previous stops here, I bought some flathead strips, a piece of duckfish and half a dozen oysters that John wanted. The fish here is fresh of the trawlers each day, and what is available varies, depending on what has been caught.
Can’t get much fresher than this…
Lunched back at camp and took Couey for a walk, over the bridge and down to the little park. This time, as well as some more swooping wattle birds, a magpie got into the mix too. Saw some interesting looking houses across from the park, with frontage to Cunninghame Arm.
Drove back to town again and onto the area called Bullock Island, opposite the entrance to the lakes system. Down a dirt road from the marine businesses and fish co-op was a lookout area that was walled to protect from erosion and where there were more boat moorings. A refuelling point for boats was a bit further around. This was an interesting vantage point. We could watch a few people fishing from the top of the wall. Any boat traffic going from Lakes Entrance to other parts of the Lakes system has to come past here, so there were various small craft to watch. It is below the main highway that comes down the steep hill into town, so we could also see the traffic.
Looking east from Bullock Island
There looked to be a big trawler working just outside the Entrance. John was hoping to see it come in through the channel, so we hung around for a while. But it seemed to be working in a pattern that took it back and forth outside.
Big boat working outside the entrance to the Gippsland Lakes system
The entrance can be tricky to negotiate. It is not very wide and the currents can be an issue. There have been boats capsize there in bad weather. It has required ongoing dredging to keep the entrance open and make it safer for shipping.
We were just about to go, when we realized it was actually coming in, so stayed to watch it negotiate the narrow channel.
Ship coming through The Entrance
Nearby, a man in official work clothes was taking photos of the vessel and told us it was in fact a new sixty metre long dredge, to be based permanently here. It had been built in China specifically for this job, costing the Victorian Government $23 million. It arrived here last month, for trials and final handover from the builders, and started its dredging work less than two weeks ago.
It was called the Tommy Norton. The original boat of that name was a paddle steamer that used to operate on the Lakes over 150 years ago and towed other vessels through the dangerous Entrance, back in the days before dredging.
We watched it make its slow way through the little cut from the Entrance. A catamaran was too impatient to wait for it and proceeded to motor across the path of the big boat, earning a very angry blast of the horn. A small Coastguard boat, though, waited back then passed around the back of the dredge. I wondered if it was following the catamaran – maybe it would get “booked” for failure to give way?
Big boat offended by the catamaran
The dredge’s berth was just along from where we were standing so we watched it berth.
Turning right…
Obviously it had the modern engines that enable easy sideways movement as well as front and backwards.
Turning around…
The crew parked it more precisely and easily than I can park my car! Quite fascinating to watch. There seemed to be four crew members.
Parallel parking
Good to see this government investment in the ongoing port and fishing operations of the Lakes.
Thence to the very attractive Visitor Information Centre. I did not pick up much material there, as we were not really intending to go touring about. I did buy a beautiful art card by a local artist, featuring a rainbow bee-eater bird.
Back at the Bus, I changed the leg dressing, whilst John took Couey for yet another walk.
Chatted with our neighbours for a while. They were off to Merimbula tomorrow. Had done the three hour cruise on the Lakes this morning – said it was great and well worth doing. They had seen dolphins. Unfortunately, because of dog, not an activity open to us, though I would really have liked to do it. John thought he might like to do the five hour fishing trip, out at sea, which costs $160. He would think about it.
Our tea was later than usual, because I stayed talking. Salt and pepper flathead strips – very yummy.
As usual on most Sundays, I was up early in order to breakfast with M, who comes to dinner Saturdays and stays overnight. She was invited to join us on this little trip, but had other appointments.
John had to get going much earlier than was his usual custom.
Breakfast over, in a leisurely fashion, m departed and we got stuck into the last minute preparations. Pot plants were watered, power points turned off, laptops and camera packed. We were soon ready to move Bus out onto the street, hitch up the Terios behind it, load the dog – who had gone into her usual anxiety mode. As in…”are they going to go somewhere without me?”
Trundled off at 10.15am on a pleasant morning. Blue sky, some sunshine, only high cloud.
Drove through Bayswater. There removal of the railway level crossing there, earlier this year, had certainly improved the traffic flow. Onto Eastlink to the Monash Freeway.
One hiccup, though. Our e-tag did not beep as we passed under the detection gantries. Had no way of knowing whether the tag in Terios was picked up. That was something that would need to be checked in the coming week. We discussed whether these things have batteries that need periodic replacement? Or if it had just died, for reasons unknown.
Once onto the Monash we were into roadwork territory. It seemed that lanes were being added. So, from Eastlink, to beyond Berwick, there was constriction of lanes, and 80kmh speed limit, and a confusion of yellow and white line lane markers – the yellow ones were the temporary ones to follow.
It seems that, these days, there is just constant catch up being played, where Melbourne has outgrown its infrastructure – and then the improvement of this leads to more growth, and so on. Those of us in the outer east are waiting to find out which route, of three alternatives, will be the chosen one for the extension of the Ring Road, which currently rather abruptly ends at a standard road. I would love to see the government be truly visionary and create a true outer ring road around the urban area, but that is not likely to happen.
We seemed to encounter a lot of traffic, compared to what I would expect on a Sunday. This was so for both ways – towards Melbourne as well as out the way we were going. It flowed, but was solid, and did not really lessen until the Latrobe Valley region.
The day was quite hazy. Usually, travelling the Princes Highway through the near parts of Gippsland, the blue rises of the Great Dividing Range can be seen to the north, quite close in places. Today, they were hardly visible at all.
Approaching Morwell, the chimney stacks of the now closed Hazelwood Power Station were to our right. It seemed strange to see these without any smoke or steam coming from them.
Defunct power station
But further on, at Traralgon, there were the familiar plumes coming from the Loy Yang plant.
At Traralgon, our unpredictable GPS wanted to direct us via Heyfield and Maffra, thus avoiding Sale. This seemed strange. When John moved the gadget from his car to Bus, this morning, he had not changed it from car to truck mode, so it would not be picking up on things that might worry us, like low rail bridges! So we ignored it and stayed on the highway. Later we realized that its requested detour route was because of the several lots of roadworks happening along the highway. But being Sunday, construction was paused, so the works didn’t bother us.
There was clearly much effort – and expense – being put into duplicating the highway from the Latrobe Valley to Sale, and beyond, to Bairnsdale. Much of the section from Traralgon to Sale was already complete.
We needed to stop in Sale to give the rather hot dog a drink and walk, and get ourselves some lunch. On our past few trips, I’d stopped my usual practice of packing lunch before we left home, as John inevitably was tempted by the bakery fare at Yea or Heathcote. Today, I should have made some! We didn’t see much of promise, food wise, where we could park the rig, as we drove through Sale. But, on the far side, there was a Red Rooster, so we turned down the side street before it and found Victoria Gardens – easy parking.
Hot dog
John walked to buy lunch and I watered and walked dog, who was really hot. She still had much of her thick winter coat, it seemed, I might need to investigate some sort of cooling jacket for her, for hot travel days like these. Or see if we could get vehicle air-con installed in the Bus. It did not appear to have ever had this and of course the motorhome unit on the roof does not work when we are travelling.
Victoria Gardens Sale
John came back with a chicken roll for himself, and a small container of chips for me. Not the healthier fare I’d have preferred, but beggars and all that…
There were a couple of interesting old water towers in the Gardens, on one of which restoration work appeared to be happening.
Water tower at Victoria Gardens
It was 1.45pm when we left Sale. As we drove past the Red Rooster it became apparent that there is quite a cluster of food outlets in that section. There was also a pizza place, a Subway and a hot bread bakery. I will remember that for future travel.
Stopped again at a park in Stratford – a toilet stop for the humans, this time. The little park there would also make a pleasant coffee or lunch break spot. There was easy parking and some information boards.
Road accidents have been a problem on the unduplicated sections of the Bairnsdale road, evidenced by a new type of road sign we saw there. It showed five arrows branching off a straight line, and illustrated that there were five sections of passing lanes between the two towns. In theory, this deters impatient and imprudent passing and thus reduce the incidence of head-on collisions. In practice…?
Also new to us was an electronic sign board that was lit up with a warning that there were bushfires in the area, with instructions to refer to the Vic Emergency App. All very well, but no help right now. I would have to consult with someone more mobile phone savvy than me to find out how to get that on my phone – one of the grandchildren perhaps?
In the meantime, we trundled on, figuring that if fire was an issue near the main highway, there would be other warnings of a non-mobile phone dependent nature.
Negotiating the main street of Bairnsdale, with its sets of traffic lights, we were behind a caravan that had no working brake lights. As we drew level with that outfit, at the last set of red lights, John beeped to get the driver’s attention, and I held up a sign I’d hastily written, saying “NO LIGHTS” in big letters. From the way the driver stared resolutely straight ahead, hunched over the steering wheel and ignoring us, I suspected he already knew this, and was continuing on, regardless.
The last stretch, between Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance, is an attractive one, with the crossing of the two rivers, the Nicholson and the Tambo, with their attendant small towns.
Tambo River
Then there was the long downhill run into Lakes Entrance, with its brilliant views, from high up, over the lake to the Entrance to the Gippsland Lakes system. It was a pity the driver had to concentrate on the curving road, rather than the view.
Coming down to Lakes Entrance – with the entrance channel straight ahead
Our destination of Eastern Beach Holiday Park was on the far side of the town, down – no prizes for guessing – Eastern Beach Road. Just before we reached that, pulled into a servo and refuelled – it was one with easy access for a rig our size. Paid $1.289 cpl for the diesel.
The caravan park had a dedicated check in lane – usually a sign of a good park. It was a Top Tourist as well as an NRMA one. After discount, I paid $252.90 for our five night stay on en-suite site. At the end of the stay, we felt it had definitely been worth that money.
The site we were allocated was the smallest of the eight such sites, but still adequate.
However, we had to park Bus nose in, and on the shadecloth that took the place of a slab. There was not quite enough room on the angled site to park beside this, without having the back of Bus, and the hitch, uncomfortably close to passing traffic. I did wonder if the man on Reception had sufficient visualization of his sites, because I’d told him, when booking earlier in the week, that Bus was a bit over seven metres long. Any one of the other sites would have been better for us – and they were not all occupied. Next time, I would ask for a more suitable one – as I am sure we would be returning here.
En suite sites at Eastern Beach
The ensuite bathroom was excellent. I rated it, along with the ones at Lightning Ridge and Kinka Beach, as the best we have encountered. It was roomy enough and with a wonderfully large shower recess, with glass door – and with a type of bench at one end to put toiletries on. Plentiful hot water too.
We were to find that the park had an interesting layout. At our end, the sites were conventionally laid out but all quite spacious. There was an amenity block and BBQ area close by. At the other end, the sites were arranged around a large central grassed area – and I mean large. This contained a playground, camp kitchen and amenities block. There were some cabins with private outlooks onto the Cunninghame Arm of the Lakes, which runs behind the park.
After setting up the camp and finding that there was an area beside Bus where Couey could be tethered on a good length rope, we all went for a walk to explore down Eastern Beach Road. This road continued on, past the park, across a bridge over the tidal Cunninghame Arm, to end by a park area that had a playground and BBQ’s. From there, a sandy wide foot track extended through the scrub to the sea and the Ninety Mile Beach.
A foot track between the park fence and Cunninghame Arm led back towards town and meant that those more energetic than us, could walk that way to town, or a circuit involving that and the beach.
It was a very attractive setting, overall.
I’d brought skinless franks with us, for tea, and a loaf of olive bread, which I warmed up in the electric frypan, to freshen it up. That made an easy meal. John’s sort of food!
We were both really tired. Maybe we were no longer used to travel? So it was an early night. Could hear the waves breaking on the beach – a lovely sound to fall asleep to.
As seems to happen these days, we did not intend for there to be such a time span between trips. However, as always, life intervened.
Investigation into my thyroid health – or otherwise – extended to specialist visits and procedures. Ultimately, it was decided to let the status quo be, but only after a particularly unpleasant experience called a needle biopsy. This involved not moving whilst a needle probed the gland in question. “Keep very still now, this is really close to the carotid artery” is guaranteed to scare one – literally – rigid, I can promise!
As well, yet again, an ulcer opened up on my lower leg, and required many medical visits through much of winter.
Then, too, the winter weather in Victoria was not conducive to short breaks in this State.
In the way? Just helping, Dad
There were school holiday periods to avoid…and, of course, the bowls season started up again in spring.
Being grounded did give me the opportunity to create another crocheted patchwork blanket – this one claimed by M, who loved the autumn colours.
The latest blanket
John thought he would give some of his vegie garden a head start on spring, by putting up a greenhouse. The plastic structure lasted only until the first strong winds.
Once was a greenhouse…
A little window of opportunity opened up in mid-October, so we quickly planned a few days’ break, to give Bus a run and remind dog about “holiday in Bus”. We just had to hope that the weather did not suddenly get hot enough to adversely affect John’s young vegie plants. It was the very productive vegetable garden that usually kept us tethered to home through the summer months.
Yet again, we contemplated a run along the Great Ocean Road, but decided against that. With the short time available, it would have meant driving most days. Also, dog-friendly caravan parks along that stretch of road were few. The options were too limited for my preference. Given the increasing volume of travellers along the Great Ocean Road, it really was time that the quality of parks, and the range of travellers they catered for, was improved. I would like to see some pet friendly establishments with some en-suite sites – not too much to ask, surely?
So, we decided to go in the other direction, and spend our time at Lakes Entrance, where we could basically just relax and not do much. Whilst we’d overnighted in that town several times, had not spent a longer period based there.
For those previous overnight stops, had used caravan parks close to the town centre, so we could stay hitched up and walk to shops, especially the fish suppliers that were an attractive part of the place.
This time, for a longer stay, space, attractiveness and access to places to walk the dog were our main needs. I focussed on the Eastern Beach Holiday park, initially because it advertised as an NRMA park, and we’d previously found these to be of a good standard, if on the expensive side.
Google maps showed the park to be within walking distance of the ocean, and with a grassed area nearby where we could take dog. What I could see on the satellite view looked pleasant. They offered en-suite sites too, which would keep the driver happy.
I phoned and booked us in for five nights.
The packing needed was minimal, given that most needs were kept permanently in Bus. As I intended to indulge in fish meals whilst in this town that was home base to a decent fishing fleet, the only frozen foods that needed to be transferred from the house were a pack of the dog’s mince, a few rashers of bacon just in case, and some of the Magnum ice creams John had taken to eating for dessert.
Unfortunately, packing did have to include all the paraphernalia required for my leg dressings.
Fed dog a Nexguard tablet, to give her some protection against paralysis ticks, which can be found along the eastern Victorian coast.
After the usual cold night it was hard to get up early, so it was 10.15 by the time we were packed up and leaving the park.
The day was pleasant – getting warmer, with blue sky, but rather hazy. That might be due to the inversion and smoke previously mentioned.
Looking down at our Maryborough camp from the lake walking track
I thought that it would be best to go home the long way, via Bendigo, rather than down the Calder Highway and through the city, which might be quite busy with traffic related to football and other special events happening today. We could tootle up some previously untravelled back roads through Eddington and Lockwood. John agreed with that thinking, so he programmed Marong into the GPS.
The ”lady” instructed us to turn right out of the caravan park. That wasn’t logical, according to the basic town map I had in a tourist pamphlet, so I made John turn left. Then, I worked out that the machine had been going to take us around the town centre – very smart. Oops! I had to apologize to John as he negotiated the surprisingly busy centre of town.
It seemed we had hardly left Maryborough before we were into Carisbrook – almost a suburb. Saw an interesting home there, built from shipping containers. There should probably be more use of these, for all sorts of things as there seem to be a lot sitting around in various places mot be utilized for much. One of our former employers in the NT made quite a reasonable dwelling using a couple of containers. The one at Carisbrook looked like it had been architect designed.
By the time I finished admiring that house, it was evident that the GPS had decreed we were continuing on towards Castlemaine, not the way I’d intended. Perhaps I should regard that gadget as adding extra spice to a trip, as in wondering: where is it taking us now?
The country was different on the eastern side of Maryborough. I could see the occasional volcanic cone in the distance and some paddocks had volcanic rock in. I hadn’t known that the western Victorian volcanic district extended this far to the north.
Saw an old, two-storied substantial bluestone house that would have dated from well over a hundred years ago. Still occupied and cared for – good to see.
This stretch was really interesting to travel. It was quite rich looking land, possibly volcanic soils. There was a lot of cropping evident, but I think it was still grain of some kind, We crossed an arm of Cairn Curran Reservoir – which dams the Loddon River for irrigation and town supply – and could see the cone of Mt Tarrengower in the distance.
Crossed a rail line – defunct, of course, once part of quite a dense rail network serving these agricultural areas. Around the 1970’s the State government shut down so much of Victoria’s country railways, citing cost of upkeep and greater convenience of road trucking. I suspect that, if an honest study was done, the cost of road upgrading and upkeep now far outweighs what rail upkeep would have.
Suddenly, we were in Newstead, where the GPS directed us onto the Maldon road. Ah – now I see its logic! That put us on a road we’d explored last year. I would have preferred a virgin route.
Maldon was busy – maybe there were Sunday markets? We didn’t stop and proceeded out of town and past the old dredge we’d visited last year.
Could clearly smell wood smoke and even see smoke lightly lying in hollows. Such a smoky time of the year. I love wood fires, but have to admit that, in these times, they are not really environmentally friendly.
Stopped at Marong to top up the fuel, at an automatic Express diesel place – where it seemed easier than waiting until we were in Bendigo. But John had immense trouble getting his card to work, knowing which buttons to press, and just how to make it all happen. I didn’t have a clue. Maybe it says something about our world today, when two people who hold post-graduate university qualifications, can’t make a bloody fuel bowser go? John became very cross. He did not want to just up and leave, in case he ended up being charged for $50 worth of fuel he didn’t obtain! Eventually it all happened, though neither of us was quite sure how. Then he was worried that we might be charged twice for one lot of fuel! This is not a fuel stop we will repeat when we are up this way – ever! There are a few servos on the road from Bendigo to Heathcote that offer adequate access for a rig our size. The diesel there was $1.299 cpl.
Negotiating our way on the usual route through Bendigo was not too bad, though I think we struck some Mothers’ Day lunch traffic. It was just after midday as we cleared the central part of that city.
I noticed that, between Derrimal and Heathcote, there were kilometres of dying eucalypts on the roadside verges, and wondered what was causing this.
We stopped for lunch at Heathcote, parking as usual on the side street by the entrance to the oval. This place, too, was quite busy. John took Couey for a walk while I went to the bakery, to spend $28 on coffees, pastie and pie for John, egg and lettuce sandwich for me. The bakery always has a large range of pie types and I chose a chunky steak and pepper pie. John decided it was a bot too chunky! Plain ordinary meat pie for him next time! My sandwich was on grain bread and was stuffed full – yummy.
While we sat at one of the roadside tables, near Bus, we saw a caravanner demonstrating why so many people think badly of the species. This clown – a 4WD towing a big Concept van – drove down the side street, did a U-turn, then drove back towards the main street, passing a couple of long empty spaces where he could have parked. He then pulled in, right at the corner with the highway, almost touching the Give Way sign. He was actually protruding a little way into the intersection, and blocking the crossing from the footpath, so proceeded to reverse, forcing a small car that was parked – legally – behind him, to quickly reverse too, so as not to be hit, That car had been there before the clown arrived. Luckily, there was still a driver in it. All for the sake of saving less than fifty metres of walking distance. Arrogant morons like him give caravanners a very bad image. Unfortunately, we have encountered far too many of them on our travels.
By the time we’d finished our leisurely lunch, mister idiot had departed.
Place where idiot driver parked his rig, right across footpath and poking into highway!
Continued on the usual route home. By now, the day had clouded over. Or maybe it was the smoke polluted air around Melbourne? Near Yea, some of the hill tops just poked out through the haze – looked like they were floating.
Thin line of floating hilltops between the trees
Did not need to stop in Yea, which was its usual Sunday busy.
John decided to top up the fuel at the usual servo at Glenburn, so we would have an almost full tank when we head off on the next trip. Here fuel was 3 cents a litre cheaper than at the best-forgotten Marong place. $1.269 cpl.
We came down the range into the autumn colours of the trees and grapevines around Dixons Creek and Yarra Glen, Very pretty. More smoke haze hanging about.
It will be good when (if?) the Yarra Glen bypass actually gets extended across the Yarra River towards Coldstream. The section of road that currently winds across the river flats and takes both the Coldstream and Lilydale back road traffic, is so slow and tedious. It always seems to have more than its share of impatient and idiot drivers, too.
Reached home at 3.30pm.
The usual fairly quick unpack and sorting things out followed – and a bout of clothes washing.
Trip done, I needed to focus on this week’s appointment with a thyroid surgeon and working out what might be going on with the half gland that remains. Back in 1996, a benign enlargement of half the thyroid – a butterfly-shaped gland that lies across the front of the neck – saw its somewhat difficult removal. The resultant scar drew speculative looks for years after – had things really been so dire that I’d tried to cut my throat? When we’d been travelling in Tasmania, John had been known to tell people that the scar showed my Tasmanian ancestry – it was where the second head had been removed!
Once we know what needs to happen, and get it sorted, can start planning the next trip. Maybe somewhere warmer and drier?
After the usual morning routine for dog and me, I left her to slumber with John in Bus, and drove to the town centre, ostensibly for the Saturday papers. Parked where John had, yesterday, and walked to the main street. It was not far to the newsagent. As one would expect, the town was busy.
Now that I had time for myself, was the chance for some indulgence. At the quilting shop, I bought three pieces of Japanese style black/grey/glittery fabric. I am gradually building up a collection in these colour tones, that might one day be turned into a quilt.
In the wool shops, which had some superb yarns, I could not resist buying the wools and instruction booklet for the garment in the window, that had caught my eye so strongly yesterday. The proprietor explained the colours she’d used to knit the sample garment and I bought those same colours. The jumper had a textured stitch, the wools were variegated tones, the end effect was irregular stripes. Hard to describe, but looked beautiful. Hopefully, I might get it made for next winter! That indulgence cost me $138. Money into the local economy.
I visited the very good Information Centre and collected a number of pamphlets. There is much emphasis placed on the history, here, and some of the substantial old buildings date from the 1800’s. Maryborough began as a settlement in the gold rushes of the 1850’s. Gold was a local industry until the 1920’s and, of course, with modern metal detectors, the gold hunters have returned. I would keep the information gathered today for a future visit, hopefully not too long away.
I’d heard train whistles at intervals since we’d been here. It sounded like at the park we were not too far from a rail line. I noted that Maryborough has a grand old railway station, dating from the 1890’s – far more substantial and large than the place ever warranted, apparently. Next trip, we will go look.
Maryborough site
John had to get up in a hurry while I was away. The neighbour from the next van was leaving and very nicely wanted John to turn off and move our water hose, so it wasn’t split as he drove over same. So, he’d knocked on our Bus door – and Couey went beserk! Just as she does at home when there is a knock on the door. People can walk around Bus, with no reaction from her, but knocking on the door is a different matter altogether. So John had to get up and deal.
I had a late breakfast. Hadn’t eaten before going shopping, because I need to leave at least half an hour between medication taken first thing, and eating.
I took Couey for a ball game. I walked her on the lead around part of the lake, to a large grassed area beyond the caravan park. I judged it was far enough away from the water, so let her off the lead and threw the ball for her until she’d had enough, signalled by refusal to give it back to me. Purpose accomplished – one tired dog, however temporarily.
Lake Victoria
As we walked back – on lead again – there was a large black swan wandering about. Couey took one look and just about pulled my arm out of its socket – not in the direction of swan, though. Suddenly, she was very anxious to get back to the safety of Bus. Smart dog.
Walk track behind our site
Read the papers until lunchtime, sitting outside in lovely sunshine.
The large bus motorhome by the amenity block was an older, imported American one, showing its age. I could not see a driver’s door at all – it looked like the side entrance was the only way in. Judging from the tradesman’s ute parked at its front, it might be a long term fixture.
John was not in sightseeing mood, but after lunch suggested a walk right round the lake. In one area where there was some parkland, he let dog off lead for a bit of a free range. There were no people anywhere near us. For a little while she ranged quite happily, gradually and sneakily working her way back towards the lake, until eventually, she ignored John’s calls and happily went in for a dip. I knew that would happen!
Beautiful Central Victorian autumn day at Maryborough
After that walk, I sat outside with the drying dog and did some of my Hardanger embroidery, until it got too chilly to stay out there.
John played his WOW game on the laptop for most of the afternoon.
Tea was tinned mushroom soup, chicken and mushroom sausages, fries and egg. The latter two were John’s choices – woe betide that we should eat healthy vegetables!
The night was cold. There was a full-ish moon. It smelt very smoky outside, partly due to wood fires, I thought. Apparently, Melbourne’s air pollution this weekend had been worse than that of Shanghai! A good time to be away in the relatively unpolluted country air.
This Adventurous Age 