Our Travels Across and Destinations in Victoria

The Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, Boat Bay and Port Fairy

Lakes Entrance.

Because of the high winds we traveled through, as leaving N.S.W., it was a cautious drive to eventually arrive at the Victorian border but once there the winds seemed to drop off and the scenery was now very green in the forest where it (the border) is encountered. The drive from the border down to Lakes Entrance was a continuation of these green scenes with lakes Entrance itself being quite unique with a small fishing fleet in the lakes protected harbour. The next day was spent looking around the town but Wednesday we decided to take a boat cruise to Wyanga Park Winery, which seemed like a way to learn about the area at the same time as enjoying a boat trip. It was very well priced at just $45.00, which included lunch, the cruise and even the first glass of wine. The wine tasting was free and true to form this meant the wines were excellent. The owner’s wife is an artist and her art sells very quickly with most of the art on display being “not for sale”. The captain of the boat, like the owner of the winery, is a character, making his informed commentary amusing as well as interesting. Oops the boat came loose whilst we were up in the winery and the end of the jetty was now underwater – All great fun. On returning back to the caravan park we were met by the high winds we thought we had left behind in N.S.W. Tomorrow was supposed to be Wilson Promontory but the wind was so bad that we decided to go straight to Melbourne.

Melbourne then off to Tasmania

After an horrendous drive through gale force winds, followed by trying to guess what the rules are when encountering a tram on the same road as oneself, we, having settled into our caravan park, where we are told that we should catch a bus into Melbourne on the morrow to the Victoria markets which are a must do. Friday and the advice is taken. We discover that Melbourne seems afrasian as we travel on a bus as a minority or is it that we are just one of a superdoopermulticultural group in this place. The markets are a must do for the ladies but David & I returned back to the caravan as soon as possible. I won’t be catching a bus again but the others might – maybe! Ho ho! Saturday brings with it the opportunity to visit the Yarra Valley (My sister Jane has suggested that our trip sounds like a winery tour so she will be pleased as on this day we only visited one winery). It is advertised as the Yarra Valley Trail and we pretty much followed the suggested trip through Lilydale to Healesville next to Yarra Glen then back to Melbourne. Not far out of Lilydale we encountered the “Chandon Winery” which I had seen before and that was appreciated by everyone as a spectacular winery although no one bothered with a wine tasting at $15.00 and as they don’t sell coffee’s because they don’t want the smell to make it hard for people to appreciate their wines we had to move on from there to look further for a suitable lunching spot. Healesville was a pretty town with a well-priced antique shop, several small café’s (one of which was chosen for lunch) and a proliferation of “Op shops” if that’s your thing. Everyone was disappointed with the trip as they were expecting lots of “fresh regional produce” and something of a gourmet food trail to eventuate. If there is a food trail we couldn’t find it but the scenery was worth much of the trip. On the return journey we stopped at Watsons Creek which has a very interesting antique store where we were tempted towards a grappa still that had we were told belonged to a French policeman in the 1800’s. Sunday is Bathurst Race day so I elected to spend the day in the caravan whilst Mary, after watching the race start went into Melbourne for another shopping spree. Monday we took our car to Werribee Nissan to have a suspected faulty wheel bearing replaced. Yep it needed it and they were very helpful as are most people when they find out that you are a “nomad”. Whilst they attended to our problem we went with David & Merrilyn to Mt Dandenong. This is a lot like the Blue Mountains except with trees that go up forever and it is full of great little spots to stop, look and dine at. Mary decided to frame herself (photographed at left) in the wishing tree whilst in one of the parks. We all agreed that the Mt Dandenong and surrounds trip was a highlight of our Melbourne stay. On return to the caravan park after picking up our repaired car Mary & I decided to do a trial run into the Spirit of Tasmania ferry and were pleased to find that the G.P.S. saved us 8 kilometres over the suggested mapped route supplied by the caravan park. It is obvious that to try to supply a description of what the G.P.S. route was, would be far too difficult for most to follow so the supplied suggested route is more a matter of making sure people get it right if they don’t have a G.P.S. From the ferry terminal we drove to St. kilda where we enjoyed a meal on the beach in a vegetarian restaurant. Mary loved it! Tuesday bought with it the need for Mary to post many items back home to many different locations so an extended trip to the post office was called for. It is amazing how much “stuff” was parked around the caravan – I will need to be more vigilant in future!

Here we left Victoria to go to Tasmania before returning to Victoria.

Back from Tasmania and off to Lorne

Tuesday the 13^th of October and once off the “Spirit of Tasmania” we turned left and drove straight across to “Lorne” via “Geelong” on the “Great Ocean Road”. This destination was chosen by Mary who had never forgotten the town since we were taken on a scenic drive through there by Peter & Marrilyn Scott about ten years ago. “Lorne” is now an up-market holiday destination with many local attractions over and above its beaches and location. Once settled we took a nostalgic walk amongst what is now, more trendy clothing stores and varied eateries etc than you can poke a stick at. Next we drove to “Erskine Falls” where after walking down the gazillion stairs to view it from the bottom you get to see if you can make it back to the top without suffering some kind of fatal seizure. Next it was off to “Terrys Lookout” which also offered a nice walk of around 45 minutes and in fact several different lookouts for those who took the walk. Wednesday was spent in town and walking along the beach there.

The Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, Boat Bay and Port Fairy?

On Thursday morning we left “Lorne” bound for Port Fairy via the “Twelve Apostles National Park”. David was a bit keen to leave and managed to forget his spare water containers that he had stored under his caravan. Unfortunately there were a lot of ducks in Lorne caravan park so when his caravan pushed the bottles along as he drove out they developed a brown bottom. When Mary and I eventually caught up with David & Merrilyn we returned their bottles to them. Back to the trip – We left about 45 minutes after David & Merrilyn and whilst driving (we are doing the trip to “South Australia” on the “Great Ocean Road”) we came across a “Koala Bear” (yes I know they are not bears) on the road so stopped to help the little fellow escape back into the bush by directing traffic etc (much of it stopped anyway to watch the goings on). After that we proceeded on to eventually arrive at the “Twelve Apostles” which is very well presented for all to view from many different angles on short walk trails with lookouts. They are quite spectacular and are definitely on our list of things not to miss. After we left there we were heading west and spotted a turnoff to “Loch Ard Gorge” which although we had not heard of it we decided to go in to. It was just as well that we made this decision as it was also spectacular and had lots more walks than the “Twelve Apostles” with many different vantage points and even a stairway to allow the public to walk to the bottom of a small cliff to a beach. There are 6 “Apostles” thingies here too. That done and again heading west there is the “Bay of Islands” and the “Boat Bay” where the latter has a suicidal looking boat ramp for extreme enthusiasts that must have a 4WD vehicle with not too bigger boat in tow. It was now getting late so we headed into Port Fairy to stay at a nice park on the river with the ocean a block away. Friday and Mary accompanied David & Merrilyn on a trip to the “Grampians” (it is about 150Km away so I chose to have a day off at the caravan park). Saturday bought with it the opportunity to take a good look around the town and in the case of the girls a chance to check out the markets. David had some private time until at about lunch time I walked back to pick him up and take him to meet with the girls before having a look at a gallery café followed by a drive around the outskirts of “Port Fairy”. On our travels we discovered “Griffiths Island” where we all went on the “around the island walk”. The sea was fairly heavy with waves that we estimated to have been around 2-3 metres. In the evening we cooked a barbecue at the caravan park facilities before getting an early night in readiness for our trip to “Mt Gambier” in “South Australia” in the morning.