So, we last left you in Eden, hovering over the New South Wales-Victoria border, excited to move into our 3rd state/territory... but life doesn't work like that! Because we're adults now, we have to deal with adulty situations like getting the car inspected so we can renew the registration only to find out that our LPG tank has to be inspected every 10 years and ours was 10 years and 2 months old so we had so drive back up to Ulladulla, 260km back the other way, to the nearest garage that is licensed to inspect LPG tanks... confused and frustrated? Yeah, us too...
Once we had that sorted, we returned to Eden and made our way across to Victoria to a town called Cann River. The weather for the past little while had been extremely unpredictable and frustrating, it would be bright and sunny all day then rain heavily in the evening or vice versa, leaving us constantly running in and out of the van trying to take advantage of the sun and cook before our dinner got soggy. To keep ourselves entertained we've started a chess competition (thanks Glenys!) Current score 11-10 for Holly. In our haste, we have gotten the art of packing up the van down pat!
Enough whining then, we are on holiday after all! From Cann River we took a drive down to Point Hicks Lighthouse, the first point on the east coast spotted by James Cook on his first voyage in the pacific.
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| Looking towards Antarctica! |
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| Beautiful views by the lighthouse. |
From here we drove to Lakes Entrance, arguably the most beautiful town we have seen. This holiday town is located right on the ocean and has miles of beautiful beaches and quirky stores lining the street. We spent 2 days here, suntanning, walking around, eating ice cream, and even squeezing in a game of mini-golf (Matt won, but only by 2 points!). Reluctant to leave we made our way to 90-mile-beach which held a series of 20 campgrounds dotted along. The reviews said they were perfect, located just on the other side of a sandbar from the ocean, so close the waves would soothe you to sleep.
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| Coming up to Lake Entrance |
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| Some of the most beautiful beaches we've seen. |
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| Pelican! |
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| Black Swan, didn't do any ballet though... |
As we arrived we scouted out the campground and pulled into to campground number 5, shady enough and no puddles (it had been raining that day, surprise!). Holly jumped out to check the toilets were nice, we had 20 sites to choose from, we decided we could be picky. All looked good so Matt swung the car round to park on the dirt in the shade. Only.. it wasn't dirt it was black sand and our back right wheel sunk so deep the chassis was buried. We were well and truly stuck! Luckily we were able to flag down a nice couple and their monster Jeep was able to winch us out (I want one of those next time!). Disheartened and worried about getting stuck again we left campsite 5 and drove down the road until we came to campground 19, which we finally deemed safe enough for us to stay without getting stuck.
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| Uh-oh, we must buy a shovel. |
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| Looking a little crooked... |
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| We were 1/8th of a Reekie deep in the sand. |
When we unpacked ourselves, it had started raining again in true Australian fashion, except this time the rain came with wind. It was so bad our chairs and tables were blowing about and we couldn't keep the doors of the car open without the sand blowing inside! It was a bit like when a hurricane hits Florida, and a few days later we feel the tail end of it up in Ottawa. Determined to enjoy the campsite, we decided to spend the next day. The wind, however, did not let up and we spent the next day being rocked inside our van as the wind dashed about. Every now and then the wind would let up and we'd gather up our swimsuits and towels only to be swept back inside again! A little disappointed that it wasn't the paradise we wanted, we packed up and moved on.
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It wasn't all doom and gloom, we saw this little guy as we
said good-bye to the beach. |
We drove further west and stopped at a little rest area, which was nice enough, clean toilets and we parked up under a tree with a picnic table. Holly sat outside and read while Matt stayed inside the van to try and sleep off his headache. A couple approached Holly after a while and said "Hi, we were wondering if you've ever seen a koala in the wild before, there's one in that tree over there!". Cue a little curly-haired head pop out from the van with a look of complete excitement and disbelief, Matt had finally been given the chance to see his new favourite animal in the wild!
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| The koala looked at Matt and felt a connection... |
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| ...then fell asleep! |
Now we're in Leongatha, resting up before we make our way into Melbourne. We've decided to forgo Tasmania after discovering it's a $1000 round trip on the ferry and will be continuing through Victoria and onto South Australia. First though, we have to decide where we'll be for Christmas, hopefully a beach somewhere with plenty of shrimp for the barby!
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