Tuesday 15th September

The first part of the journey was down to Eden and was covering ground that we’d been over both on this trip and on previous visits. We stopped at Eden for coffee and then carried on. Once past the Boydtown turn off we were on new ground but it was easy as in fact the A1 runs directly all the way to Lakes Entrance.

After Boydtown it swings away from the coast and you’re travelling through what appears to be dense woodland all the way. We went through some fantastically heavy rain on and off for the next part of the journey. We stopped at Cann River for a quick lunch as Robyn and Len had warned us that this was only the place on the road where we’d be able to get food.

A bit further on we decided that as we had time in hand we would make a side visit and we went down the C615 to Sydenham Inlet at Bemm River. This was interesting as we drove virtually the whole 23km down a good sealed road and saw hardly any vehicles. Bemm River is a small holiday village but at this time of year is completely empty. We drove to the jetty on Sydenham Inlet and took a few photos. We saw some spoonbillls as well as black swans. The most striking thing however was the black storm cloud that was coming over so we didn’t stay long.

We drove back up the C615 to the A1 and then shortly after did a loop on the C107 down to the coast at Cape Conran, along the coast to Marlo and then back to join the A1 at Orbost. This was fascinating. We went to East Cape at Cape Conran where there was a picnic site complete with free bbqs overlooking a perfect beach which must’ve gone on for miles. We managed to get a shot of a blue wren. Going along the coast to Marlo there is simply miles of sand dunes and beaches. Just as you reach the town of Marlo you come to the mouth of the Snowy River. The layout is a lot like the Coorong and the mouth of the Murray at Goolwa. A long sandbar makes the river run parallel to the coast for a long distance before going out into the ocean. It seemed that the whole area was empty but Marlo itself has an aerodrome and there were signs of the road to a campus so there must be various things going on. It maybe that we simply can’t see anything from the treelined roads.

We stopped and had a cup of tea in Marlo General Store & PO. A bit odd. The store itself is very modern and well stocked but was being run by a very elderly gentlemen who was extremely slow. He would’ve seemed more at home in some of the places up in the Flinders Ranges.

From Marlo the road runs along side the Snowy River up to Orbost. This is a complete change of landscape. It’s a fertile river valley with lots of cattle. They must talk in terms of cattle per acre here rather than acres per animal as they do in much of Australia.

From Orbost we were back on the A1 going through some quite hilly country until we got back down to the coast at Lakes Entrance. Although this is a largish busy town it’s still quite quiet as it does a lot of holiday trade. We noticed that many of the cafes and restaurants weren’t open. It was easy to find the BW as it’s on the main road. When we checked in the lady on Reception could see we weren’t happy with an upstairs room so she immediately switched us to the disabled room on the ground floor. This is very nice. It has a single bed as well as a double so we can stack our cases. It also has a small table with two chairs as well as a work desk with a chair and a stool so we’ve been able to spread computers etc everywhere.

Our first move was to get the washing into the laundry. Again the lady on Reception was very helpful and gave us washing powder even though it was shown as costing $1. We put the washing on and then got in the car and went through the town, essentially to look for restaurants. We happened to see a sign for Woolworths so we went into the shopping centre and in Woolworths we bought fruit salads and bananas for breakfast (they only do a room service breakfast at the hotel). We also bought some paper plates and plastic cutlery which will serve us for the rest of the holiday. When we came out we went next door and bought a few bottles of beer in case we eat in. We went straight back to the hotel and put the washing in the dryer while we fired up the computer. Wifi is quite good. We decided to eat in and booked a table for 7pm.

While we waited we downloaded photos and were able to check our email although there was nothing of any significance.

We went over to the restaurant at 7pm. We had a nice meal. Anne was particularly lucky as the fish of the day was gummy shark. This is also known as flake and is a bit like English rock salmon/eel. Sadly we were alone in the restaurant for the whole time. The waitress explained that we’re out of season and it would start to get busy when the school half-term holiday comes next week.

When we got back to the room there was an email to say that Tracey had tried to make contact on Facetime so we immediately called her back an were able to chat for 15 mins. We heard all about Niamh’s scuba diving. Niamh and Rick were out collecting Banjo from Rick’s Mum. They might call later this evening if they’re back early enough (they didn’t).

Wednesday 16th

Breakfast in room with fruit salad bought yesterday evening. Packed and checked out and drove down to the footbridge and parked. Walked across to look at 90 mile beach. Really impressive. Sand dunes and then lovely sand and rollers coming in. The beach stretches as far as you can see in both directions. Had a look at the start of The Entrance walking track and then came back to the car, stopping only to let a pair of black swans with four cygnets cross the path in front of us.

Drove down to the Visitor Information at the very western end of the peninsula. Collected some more maps etc and then set off. Stopped immediately at a view point on the hill out of the town with a fantastic views over the various channels and the actual Entrance. Discovered that this is an artificial entrance created in the late 19thC and is kept open by dredging - we could see dredgers working. Also learnt that this is the centre of a considerable offshore oil/gas field although we couldn’t see much evidence of it.