Saturday 28 September 2013 – Home

Well last morning in the van and we again woke up to weak sunshine which soon disappeared as heavy cloud closed in.  However the rain did hold off until after we had packed down the van and were on the road homeward bound.  We called around to the Safeway petrol station just around the corner from the van – next stop Newborough!

The drive home wasn’t very pleasant, intermittent heavy showers, accompanied by very strong head winds saw the speedo rarely move above 80km/hr. 

It was right on midday when we pulled up out the front of our house, with the drive from lakes Entrance home taking us two and three quarter hours.

So after a quick visit from the Edebohls’ we spent the next couple of hours emptying the van, but the weather was too wild to attack the washing, which has to wait until tomorrow.  And we had managed to get the unpacking done well in time for the start of the Grand Final, so the rest of the day was spent watching the hawks bear Freo.

And so ends a really good, relaxing holiday during which time we were blessed with lovely weather, mostly friendly neighbours, plenty of reading and doing not much else.

Friday 27 September 2013 – Last full day of holiday

We couldn’t believe it when we woke this morning and the sun was shining and the wind had dropped!  What a lovely surprise.  You could never expect such a radical change overnight.  It seems that the Latrobe Valley had the same severe weather yesterday as we had here as I heard on the wireless this morning that there are over 1000 homes still without power in the Valley.

We had a visiting morning.  After breakfast and doing a couple of chores we went to see my aunty Ike who lives here in a town house.  She is 86 now and keeping reasonably well – though dramatises everything, so I take most things she tells us with a grain of salt.  She seemed pleased to see us.

Ike Grix

From there we went to see my Uncle and Aunty – Alf and Helen.  That was a different story as they were really pleased to see us and are great company.  We had a heap of laughs there, especially when their friend Laura arrived with her daughter Julie and granddaughter Hayley who were all very funny.  Old Laura is 85 and a real dag – says what she thinks and in a pretty straightforward way, so that was good.  We were there for about an hour and a half.

Alf and Helen Jessup

Back at the caravan park we had some lunch then sat out in the sun reading the paper, then my book while Grant had forty or fifty winks in the sun.  He then went for a walk – I didn’t go as I have a very sore crack in my heel from wearing sandals and thongs all the time, and it’s not easy to put my foot down with normal walking pressure.  So I continued to read and chat to a couple of the neighbours.

Tonight we’ve wound up the holiday with take away for tea – and what else would you have at Lakes Entrance but fish and chips, and they were very nice.

Thursday 26 September 2013 – Dawn goes to school!

What a day!!  Early start today – I woke at 6 and went to the toilet, so I was up!  We had a pretty rough night last night – quite a bit of rain and some strong gusts of wind, but that was just a gentle breaking in for the remainder of the day.  From about 6.30 am it bucketed down, and by a quarter to eight I decided I had to run the gauntlet to the shower and just get wet.

As today I had a professional development day for my celebrancy (held at the Bellevue on the Lake, which according to Google maps is only 400mtrs from here), my plan was to walk around, but as conditions were so bad, Grant drove me there.  He intended going fishing for the better part of the day, but when he left me that looked highly unlikely.

My day went well: caught up with a few celebrants I have met at other PD days, and the course was run by a very nice tutor with a good sense of humour.  She was from Brisbane and wasn’t at all impressed with the weather.  Our topics for today were – some of the legalities about ceremonies and who can legally marry, the value of social networking such as Facebook in getting your name out there as a celebrant, and writing a blessing for a couple.

At morning tea time there was a massive downpour, complete with hailstones and strong winds, and at lunchtime it was still raging.  When Grant picked me up at about twenty to three he said he had spent most of the day dashing in and out of the van re-hammering in pegs (which anchor our flies) which were constantly pulling out of the ground in the gale force winds.  He had gone over to Eastern Beach in one short break in the weather, as he thought it was clearing, but was soon chased back to the shelter of the van.

Once back in the van we had some afternoon tea, expecting any time to hear the canvas on the upper half of our van rip – the wind was scary.  And we were still experiencing torrential downpours pretty constantly.

We’re now sitting down after tea and being buffeted by the gusts of wind which are still battering our van, random heavy showers of rain, heater going full bore and just hoping that it all abates by the time we wake up in the morning. As tomorrow is the last full day of our holiday it would be nice to finish it with some sunshine, but I’m not very hopeful.  I think Grant’s highlight for today was the fact that he could buy a Melbourne paper – the first in almost seven weeks, so that gave him something to do today.  And I suppose I was at least inside out of the weather all day in a nicely heated conference room, so I got the better deal of the day.

Victoria has certainly turned on a memorable ‘welcome back’ for us.

Wednesday 25 September 2013 – On the road again!

We managed to leave Wonboyn Lake at a quarter past nine on this very warm morning.  And highlights of the trip today were a couple of wallaby sightings – one on the side of the road out of Wonboyn and the other after we had crossed the border and were in Victoria.  And the other two sightings – a large black snake wriggling its way over the highway about ten kms north of Cann River – almost at the white line in the lane on the other side of the road to us, and another black snake (it looked pretty alive) half coiled on the side of the road just outside of Orbost.

We were here at Lakes Entrance by about a quarter past twelve and are now ensconced in the North Arm Caravan Park.  It has also been warm here today, but we’re not sure that the forecast sounds so good for tomorrow.  After lunch we went and got a bit of fruit, bread and yoghurt at the supermarket, then came back and sat around in the sun having a read and a chat.

Late afternoon Grant went for a wander over to Bullock Island to check out the fishing spots for tomorrow (I’ve got a Celebrants professional development day here), when he can hopefully catch us some tea.  It’s not sounding too promising though as a neighbour told us that no-one is bringing much in at the moment.

                                                 

Typical Lakes Entrance scene.

So as is obvious – nothing very exciting today, and I now have to decide what sort of day tomorrow will be, then decide what to wear and get it ironed!  Housework!!  We’ve booked here for three nights and will get home on Saturday – naturally in time to watch the grand final.

Tuesday 24 September 2013 – Looking for the big one!

Awake by 7 this morning to the sound of a rooster in the vicinity (also being loud much earlier than that), and the songs of numerous species of birds – a true morning chorus.

There was no hurry to do anything this morning, as this was planned as a total r & r day.  So after breakfast and a bit of a potter around we left the park at about 10.15 going fishing.  On the advice of Bucky (manager of the park), we made for the first of three or four options – the surf beach at Baycliff. 

Now the road to pretty well everything here (apart from going back onto the highway) is about 10 kms (1km sealed) and took us about 50 minutes each way, so it wasn’t a quick trip to find the fishing spots.  Once at the car park at Baycliff we walked the couple of hundred metres to the beach and set up to fish.  Well at this place Grant set up to fish as we only had one surf rod with us, but I was happy to sit on the beach and read my book.

    Grant preparing for the big catch.

We were there for probably a bit over an hour before deciding to pack up and move around to what is called the aquarium where we both fished as it is in the estuary of the river.  Well the aquarium didn’t live up to its name, so after quite a while there (the sun was lovely) without even a bite, we made our way back towards Wonboyn.

        Totally absorbed in my fishing.

We stopped off at Greenglade (another section of the surf coast) for a bit of a look before heading back to the lake access below our park.  By the time we got there it was 3.30, I was hanging out for a cuppa and had already had my fill of fishing without a bite, so I drove back to the camp, had a cuppa or two, started a new book,  paid for our two nights accommodation here (they didn’t want it yesterday), then went back down to the lake to pick up Grant – and he was still empty handed!  So no luck today on the fishing front.

This caravan park is in a lovely place though – lots of families with kids, a big birdfeeding table which especially the kids love, and it is very friendly, relaxed and peaceful.  And it also has a pool, so parents don’t have to do the trek to the coast for the kids to have a swim.  As I’m writing this the blue wrens are hopping around outside our door, the bell birds calls are echoing through the trees, and the lorikeets and king parrots are eager for their evening treats.  So as the sun sinks slowly in the west ………. we say goodbye from Wonboyn Lake.

Monday 23 September 2013 – Sanctuary Point to Wonboyn Lake

We were up pretty early this morning (a quarter to 7) as Margaret leaves for work at 20 past 7 and we wanted to see her before she left.  So we said goodbye to her, then had our brekky and got ourselves organised for departure on our next leg south.  We managed to leave at a quarter to nine, filled up with petrol and headed out to the Princes Highway.  Zola lost the plot this morning, as when we got to the T intersection, with Nowra to the right and Eden to the left, she confidently told us to go to the right.  Grant over-rode her instruction, and for the next half hour she constantly tried to direct us into side streets taking us off the highway and steering us back to Nowra.  So at that stage she was disconnected until we got closer to our destination when she DID get us where we were going.

Once on the highway it was pretty straight forward, as it was simply a matter of keeping to Highway 1.  The only problem was when we were nearing Moruya and we became aware of a long string of vehicles ahead of us, and they were behind some flashing lights.  It turned out to be a very large building being transported southwards.  This part of the highway was dual carriageway with only one lane going each way, and this building took up one and a half lanes in width, so even at the parts where there were overtaking lanes, overtaking was impossible.  You couldn’t see the end of the line of cars strung out behind us, so we were visualising a very slow, tedious drive.  But all was solved when, about twenty kms further along, the hauler pulled over into a sort of rest bay and let everyone pass.  PHEW!!

Pretty little town of Cobargo

The highway now bypasses a number of places – the picturesque historic township of Tilba Tilba and Merimbula being a couple of them.

We stopped at Bodalla rest stop for a wee break, chatted to a couple with a dog with dementia, then next stop was Eden where we again filled with petrol and had a leg stretch and something to eat with a cuppa.  From there it was only 33 kms to our latest home – Wonboyn Lake Cabins and Caravan Park, so we are about half way between Eden and the border, but 10kms in from the highway on the coast.  A few kms before we turned off the highway we came across an echidna scarping across the road.  He was only halfway across the lane going the opposite way to us, so still had a lane and a half to go.  We wished him luck in getting safely across, and I think he would have needed it, but we don’t know the outcome.

The park is not a big upmarket one, but in the bush, by the lake, full of birdlife – feeding the rainbow lorikeets, king parrots, etc, etc and very friendly and chatty.  We are here for two nights, so Grant will probably do a bit of fishing tomorrow.

Grant with friendly rainbow lorikeet.

Sunday 22 September 2013 – The Jervis Bay area

We had a sleep in this morning, not waking till around eight o’clock.  And we had only sat talking and having a first cuppa before breakfast when Marg’s daughter Deidre and the two girls Charlotte and Zoe arrived.  They were on their way around to feed a friends chooks, and called past to see if there was any sign of life here.  It was lovely to see them, and the kids (Charlotte is 5 and Zoe is 3) are real cuties and very friendly.  They probably stayed for a bit over an hour, so after they left Grant and I had our brekky (Marg had been up at 6.30 and had already had hers), then I had my shower and we decided to go out for a drive and explore the district.

We went with Marg in her car which was really good as she knew the best places to take us.  She showed us where she works, then we drove to just outside Huskisson which is ten km away.  There we parked and walked along the walking path into town – probably taking us about 25 minutes, then wandered around the shopping strip before going to the bakery where we had an early lunch.  We sat at an outside table and it was beautiful in the sunshine.

Dawn and Marg

After we’d eaten (and talked some more) we walked back to the car via the beach, so it was another good walk.  From there Marg took us to several little bays, obviously all very popular as there were people on every beach.  One of them was Iluka Beach and as we drove up the gravel road to the carpark there was quite a large snake lying half way across our lane of the road, with its tail curled round on the side of the road.  We stopped while grant took a photo of it.  We think it was a diamond backed python and it was probably about a metre or so long.  It didn’t move, so we drove around it, but when we came back a few minutes later it was curled up on the edge of the gravel.

Snake! 

This is an extremely pretty area, water in and out into bays, inlets and rivers, so that there would be a sheltered spot whichever way the wind was blowing.  But today was very calm and they were all pretty inviting.

Then we went to the Booderee National Park which borders on Jervis Bay, and went again to several local favourite spots before going to the Cape St George lighthouse which was built in 1860.  Controversy followed the decision about the approval of this lighthouse from 1856 due to incomplete and faulty planning, bad positioning and questions about its effectiveness. The resulting light was not visible from the northern approach to Jervis Bay, and was barely visible from the southern approach. When inspected by members of the Pilots Board it was found that on top of the inaccuracies, the contractor built the light 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north of the intended site, as it was closer to the quarry he was obtaining the stone from!

From 1864 to 1893 there were twenty three ships wrecked on the South Coast of New South Wales in the vicinity of Jervis Bay. The light was eventually replaced in 1899 by Point Perpendicular Light in Point Perpendicular, a much more suitable location for a lighthouse on this part of the coast.  After the commissioning of the new light, it was considered that the confusion of having two towers in close proximity to one another would be a hazardous to navigation in daylight, especially during foul weather. As a result, the Cape St George Tower was unceremoniously used from 1917 to 1922 for target practice by the Royal Australian Navy and destroyed.

Ruins of the lighthouse

While we were up at the lookout adjacent to the remains of the lighthouse we saw several whales frolicking out from the cliffs, and also a couple of dolphins. And as we walked back along the path to the carpark again there was a big blue-tongue lizard in the middle of the path (another photo) and we also saw a wallaby, so this was our ‘spotto some wildlife’ day.

So all up we had a great day and saw the best parts of this area.  Back at Margaret’s by about 4.30pm we enjoyed some cuppas, and then we’ve just relaxed for the rest of the day.   This is certainly a lovely part of the world.