Victoria – Mick & Sue's Aussie Adventure

June 4, 2021

Home Sky

The window of my new home office faces west. Above the street, treetops, and roofs, the clouds approach with grey, white, apricot, and raspberry hues. I am familiar with the weather patterns here at our home on the Mornington Peninsula.

Other skies enchanted us on our travels. We have seen sunrises and sunsets, star maps, and swirling clouds. Weather patterns unfamiliar to us; the strangeness reminding us that is not our home.

Meeting other travelers, they would proudly say they had been on the road for two years, or eight years, or were permanent travelers. This was not for us. We felt it in our hearts. We like a home, a base, being near to family and friends, being part of a community. Eighteen months was enough for us.

When our caravan broke down in the desert, we had already decided on the end date for this trip, just one more month. So, we thought a quick drive up to Uluru and back would be a nice way to end. It was not to be. We have been to Uluru many years ago when our children were young, and I am glad I hold the memory of that visit in my heart.

What if our breakdown and required repairs had happened at the start of our trip, or in the middle? What do full time travelers do then? We are lucky we were at the end.

So, we unpacked all of our stuff from the storage unit, and happily moved into our townhouse. We love the walks to the beach every day. In my kitchen I have been cooking things I have not been able to do in the caravan. I have been practicing playing my piano. Mick has been fitting shelves and running and cycling. Like everyone else in Melbourne we are in lockdown but that is okay, and we have had our first vaccination.

Happy to be home after 18 months travelling

I plan to stop writing this blog now that our trip is over. Perhaps I will write just one future final instalment when our caravan is eventually repaired, and we can bring it home from South Australia.

Happy travels to all those exploring Australia in 2021 and beyond. My one bit of advice is to use the Wikicamps app as this has been the most help while on the road.

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021

Central Victoria

The ducks quack happily and waddle around in troupes looking for people who will feed them. The town lake is beside the caravan park and is home to ducks, swans, and turtles. The lake level rose as the rain continued to fall. Fortunately, not as much as was currently falling in Queensland and New South Wales where flood emergencies forced people out of their houses.

Maryborough is a pretty town with beautiful heritage buildings and located in the Victorian Goldfield’s region. The railway station is a huge, beautiful heritage building with a daily train service operating. I have written about Maryborough before as we stayed here at the beginning of our travels in January 2020.

Mick set off fossicking again taking his detector out into the state forest areas. While I stay in the caravan happy to be out of the rain. I read Possession by A.S. Byatt! I download the new Libby app then borrow emagazines on my iPad from the Melbourne Library Service. I listen to music on Spotify and the Rich Roll podcast on Apple Pods.

We are happy to watch some AFL football on TV as the 2021 season begins. We plan to be back on the Mornington Peninsula in time to watch our youngest son’s first game of the season.

It seems that all of the caravan parks in Victoria are full of Victorians at the moment, finally allowed to go travelling, but not wanting to go interstate just in case there is another lockdown. Big groups of noisy caravanners fill the parks. It is not pleasant after our year of free-spirited travel around Australia.

We leave planning to go to a free off-grid campsite somewhere and we find a lovely green grassy space at Glenpatrick just at the foothills of the Pyrenes Ranges. There are large firepits and firewood here, so this must be a popular place on weekends. There are no showers, TV, power, water, and the Internet is spasmodic. But it is quiet and we are the only campers here. We share the campground with a large mob of kangaroos. It is nice to enjoy a campfire under the stars and moon for a change. We haven’t had many fires on this trip. The local policeman visits and chats about how the nearby town of Elmhurst is dying.

The next day we drive further west to St Arnaud. The little caravan park is full of a group of people from a caravan club, but we are lucky to get the last site. We walk around the town, discovering yet another dying regional town. It is sad to see. I think these towns were dying before the virus and now they are just about dead.

At Melville Caves we walk to the lookout and gaze out westwards towards the Grampians and the hills and plains. The caves are really just large boulders that are stacked to form some human-size gaps beneath. It is a nice place and there is a free camp on top of the hill that we take note of for another time.

The drive back to St Arnaud takes us through Tarnagulla. Our family spent one extremely hot Christmas Day in a shop here and so we have fond memories of this place. This town has been a ghost town for many years and the shops are either empty or used as residences. It is a pretty main street, and the shop buildings are quaint. Here too gold was the reason the town grew, and then died.

The main arterial roads in Victoria fan out from Melbourne, so when you travel across the state the roads are minor backroads. We drive from St Arnaud further westwards to Horsham, back to our relative’s farm. It is a year since we had to retreat to this place for the first lockdown., but we were here just eight weeks ago during the Christmas break. We will park our caravan and drive back ‘home’ for Easter.

March 20, 2021March 21, 2021

Acheron VIC

This landscape heals my soul. The towering gums, bird calls, fast clear rivers, grazing cattle, ducks, blue mountains, and round yellow hills.

The walk to Ned’s Peak takes about an hour but is steep. The view is worth it, the valleys stretching out below, rugged Cathedral Peak, with more dark ranges beyond. I see a lyrebird. Mick sees a Red- Breasted Finch of some variety. We hear Currawongs, Kookaburras, Lorikeets, and Cockatoos. The white trunks of river gums stand tall and healthy along the Acheron River.

At Eildon Weir we drive across the wall, then stop to look down at both sides. While Mick scopes the pondage for fishing spots, I reminisce about my youth spent water-skiing on the flat green expanse of the weir. No luck with catching fish at the pondage or at various spots along the Goulburn River. Mick eventually catches a nice size Rainbow Trout. He sees two platypus swimming in the river, and we both see a large water rat swimming under the bridge. It is the same size as the brown ducks that it chases away.

It is Autumn so the days are sunny and warm and the nights are cold. We are snug in our caravan staying at the Breakaway Twin Rivers Caravan Park just metres from the clear and fast flowing Goulburn River. The brown ducks love it here. We walk to where the Goulburn River meets the Acheron River taking in the quiet and looking for platypus and fish.

We drive around the area visiting Alexandra, Thornton, Eildon, Rubicon, and Taggerty. We dream of owning a farm in this area.

The weekend is busy at the caravan park with big groups of loud Melburnians crowding the space. Unfortunately, they stay an extra day despite it not being a public holiday; do children and teenagers ever go to school nowadays? Our last day is quiet with only six caravans left.

This is a beautifully situated caravan park, and very well managed, but the majority of the park is taken over with the ‘permanent’ and scrappy huts that seem to fill most of the caravan parks in Victoria. I realise the economics of the business, but caravanners are not being served adequately in my view. The permanents detract from the ambience and turn away other business. I have seen so many negative comments on Wikicamps about this. It is no wonder that caravanners are seeking the off-grid free camps as a better alternative.

Neighbouring permanent caravan/hut at Welshman’s Reef VIC

We drive the backroads west to Welshman’s Reef which is situated on the banks of the Cairn Curran Reservoir. This caravan park is in total contrast to Breakaway. It is dry. The water level is low and dead trees stand exposed in the lake. Water skiers come here regularly, and the caravan park is managed (very poorly) on a not-for-profit basis by a water-skiing organisation. Again, the permanent shacks fill the park. It is midweek and off-season, so no one is here except for two or three other caravanners. We prop in between two of the permanent shacks. Mick fishes but finds too many snags. Mobs of kangaroos sneak down to the water’s edge in the afternoons but are quick to bound away if they see a person.

Cairn Curran Reservoir Welshman’s Reef VIC

We drive around the region visiting Maldon, Castlemaine, Newstead, Sutton Grange, and Emu Creek. Lunch at Castlemaine is disappointing. The town feels dirty and in great need of cleaning and maintenance.

Our next stop is at Maryborough and we book a week. https://micksuesaussieadventure.home.blog/2020/01/18/the-golden-triangle/ This is one of the first towns of our big trip of Australia. We were here in January of 2020 before the virus invaded and made us change our route. It feels like a full circle heading back to this location in Victoria.

Trip route crisscrossing Victoria 2020 – 2021

March 13, 2021

Chiltern VIC

The cowboy comes charging out of the gate holding on to the unhappy bull, and my first sight of this sends my adrenalin pumping. What power and brute energy! The cowboys are worse off for this ride. They line up and try their luck to stay on, but no one scores a point at this event in Chiltern.

Cowboys riding bulls at Chiltern Rodeo VIC

Next the cowboys try to ride an untamed horse. They buck and jump, twisting this way and that, trying to shake off the cowboy. It’s no wonder a local medical clinic is one of the sponsors. Some are slow to stand up or they crawl out of the arena.

Cowboys riding horses at Chiltern Rodeo VIC

The women show off some very good skills on quarter horses, lassoing calves, and running a short obstacle course. They look awesome at speed, as their hats fly off.

Another cowboy bites the dust at Chiltern Rodeo VIC

I have never seen so many cowboy hats in one place at one time. This is a whole lifestyle that people choose to live every day. The rodeo event had been on the previous day in another town nearby. We’ve seen enough and leave early not wanting to get caught up in the crush of cars trying to leave the rough paddock at the racecourse.

Despite the fact that I went along to learn how to use my DSLR camera prior to taking this trip, I found that my skills and knowledge fall short when trying to capture great images at an event like this rodeo. Complicating factors are the fast action, heads and bodies of spectators getting in the way, the fading light at dusk, other obstacles such as large amplifier speaker boxes, and the necessary fence. My automatic focus kept catching the things closer than my subject. Everything happened so fast and I was just one of a few thousand spectators keen to see the action. My iPhone managed to capture a few good videos that I posted online. So, I was juggling cameras in search of that elusive shot, that I didn’t get this time.

Back at the caravan park we are camped next to a lovely town lake where ducks live. It looks calm, but we can hear the constant drone of traffic from the Hume Freeway nearby, and the train line is in between and trains thunder past regularly. It is the long weekend, and we have an unpowered site as the caravan park is full. Many Melburnians are escaping the city after a year of lockdown.

The Tuan Track is nearby and winds through the forest. This bushland is quite boring and dry. The walk is exercise for us and we enjoy the solitude. Like wobble-headed dashboard dogs we look up and down, watching for koalas in the trees and snakes on the ground, but see none of either.

Is this the last telephone box found in Chiltern VIC

Chiltern town is pretty with heritage buildings lining a quaint main street. We enjoy an excellent chicken parmigiana at the Telegraph Hotel. The local market is in the park on Sunday, but it is small and uninteresting.

On Monday, the caravan park empties. We move on to our next spot the following day.

March 7, 2021March 10, 2021

Myrtleford and Surrounds VIC

Was it wishful thinking by William Baker when he named this area Eldorado back in 1840? Gold was found here ten or so years later. We visit the disappearing town that nestles nicely against a rough ridge line, seeing the mounds of discarded rocks where mining took place. There is nothing to keep us here, and the caravan park is closed indefinitely, so we drive across to Milawa to sample some wine at the Brown Brothers estate. We enjoy lunch and buy some liquid gold to take with us.

Myrtleford is a perfect central location for exploring this area and there is a lot to see and do. The pretty Ovens River flows through the town and valley, with plenty of fishing and picnic spots along the old rail trail, now a popular bike trail.

Mount Buffalo can be seen in the distance, grey rocks beckoning. We drive to Porepunkah, then another thirty kilometres winding up the mountain. It is a popular route for keen cyclists, and you need to be wary on every bend.

At the top we drive on to The Hump and The Cathedral. We have walked this trail in recent years. It is one kilometre up along a nice rocky path to the granite eyrie where you can prop to look at the 360-degree view, Mt Bogong in the alps nearby. The Cathedral is a solitary monolith that is popular with abseilers. Once on the top they stand unsupported with nothing to hold on to.

Mount Buffalo Chalet has passed its Hey Day, what was once a beautiful luxurious accommodation place, now houses ghosts. Peeking through the windows reveals beautiful original furnishings, as if you could just go on in and sign in to stay awhile. It is heritage listed and now a museum relic unfortunately.

The carpark is full of daytrippers, teens learning how to abseil, lots of leather-clad motorcyclists, a few lycra-clad cyclists, and emergency service crews practicing rescue drills off the edge of a cliff.

At Bright we stop for coffee. It is a popular and busy place at the base of the ski mountains. Autumn is its busiest season as the leaves on the trees turn to red and yellow and people flock from Melbourne to see this. We drive over the mountain to Mt Beauty and walk out to the Gorge. It is an easy and pretty walk with a clear stream running over rocks that are easy to traverse. At the gorge there is a swimming hole, and someone has cleverly stacked river stones into a tower.

Mount Beauty is a sleepy town that snuggles at the feet of the alps, but unlike Bright it was not busy or bustling with tourists. We try to have a counter lunch at a pub, but the pub isn’t serving meals. This region has too many European Wasps and an infestation of blackberry bushes. Where are the environmentalists?

We drive back via Yackandandah. There is family history for Mick here too but we are tired of the fruitless search, and instead enjoy afternoon tea in a charming shop full of olde worlde charm.

Back in Myrtleford we walk around the town. The Big Tree was a very big tree once. We walk along the trails of Reform Hill where gold mining ran its course back in the 1850’s. Mick tries his luck fishing in the Ovens River, seeing some big fish but not catching any.

March 4, 2021June 8, 2021

Old Stories at Tallangatta VIC

Do we ever know the real story? Our story, history, current stories in the news, are always subject to interpretation.

While we try to find answers to the mysteries of our own family history in Tallangatta, in the news the Australian Attorney General is accused of a story of rape from 33 years ago, when he was just 17. The girl/woman now deceased. What hope do we have to know the truth?

While the Crepe Myrtles distract us with their gaudy magenta blossoms in new Tallangatta, we discover that in Old Tallangatta the secrets washed away with the manmade Hume Weir during the 1950’s.

There is history here, but who knows what lies beneath? The foundations of Old Tallangatta lie exposed with only 55% capacity of the lake, while in the new town, the caravan park perches beside the new lake, with old lean-to “permanent” huts destroying what ambience might exist otherwise.

I am uneasy here despite the calm lake, quiet surrounds, active birdlife, and pretty town. I wanted answers but find nothing.

Pearl Matilda (nee Newman) Bentley told us when she was alive of her childhood years in Tallangatta helping out in a large family. Did I remember that right? We only knew her as the blue-haired, much-loved, truth-speaking, Grandmother who could cook to satisfy many children and grandchildren. The story has gaps in it. Born in 1910 she would have been a girl in Old Tallangatta. But where?

Many years ago, I found online a family history titled “From Cornwall to Eldorado” written in 2010 by Peter Prevos and Sue Brewer-Prevos. In chapter 6 they mention in passing only, Lilian Christina Higgins who married William Joseph Bentley. William is Mick’s paternal Great Grandfather. Lilian was born in Tallangatta in 1887. But these are not Pearl’s family. Pearl married William’s son Edward Laurence Bentley. How did they meet? Where? Edward was born in nearby Stanley in 1909.

Lilian Christina (nee Higgins) Bentley, William Joseph Bentley (to her left), and Edward Laurence Bentley (at far right).

Many were in search of gold back then. What did they find? How did they live? We can’t hope to overlay the 21^st century living conditions onto these early settlers. Beside each old timber shack there is a newly constructed dwelling.

We traipse around the cemetery at Tallangatta but don’t see any names from the family tree.

A lady in a store tells us of a walk in the state forest nearby and we drive into the untouched Aussie forest, walking uphill along a leaf-laden trail, to Conic Rocks. These granite monoliths form a convenient veranda where we eat our lunch and gaze out across the panorama towards Lake Hume and the mountains beyond. Mick startles a family of three lyrebirds in the bush. They cry out with a strange sound then fly up onto low branches before scurrying off into the scrub. The old trestle bridge near the highway once carried trains. At Koetong Pub we quench our thirst with a beer while sitting alone under the leafy trees.

We drive around the lake to Bethang and Bellbridge, inadvertently crossing into New South Wales. Here the weir was formed with a large wall that channeled the flow into a turbine to generate electricity before belching it out to flow as the Murray River once again.

The next morning, I wake to the cry of a Black Cockatoo as it flies out across the lake in the morning light. I get up to see the moon set in a sky striped with blue and pink. It feels good to finally leave the Murray River behind, but I feel disappointed that I didn’t find whatever it is that I was looking for here.

Moonset at sunrise over Lake Hume Tallangatta VIC

Our next stop is Myrtleford and we will visit nearby Eldorado.

February 27, 2021February 27, 2021

Further Along the Murray River VIC

Follow the water! What is it about humans that we are always attracted to water?

The Murray River is not that attractive really, just brown water with stranded dead trees and muddy banks. We continue our journey following the Murray River Highway that runs in a parallel fashion along the route as the river worms along the border.

At Lake Moodemere Estate Winery the unique Murray River water essence we tasted in the wine and the perfectly cooked Murray Cod. The cod was bathed in a butter sauce with capers and macadamia nut slivers. The Riesling was crisp, the Rosé paired nicely with the Gnoochi and chestnuts, and Mick enjoyed the bold Shiraz with the Wagyu steak. We sat in the shade of a tall conifer on the high banks beside the lake near the old homestead. When in Rutherglen a winery visit is a must.

Lunch at Lake Moodemere Estate Rutherglen VIC

Being released from lockdown we head East and stay at Cobram. The caravan park on the highway was small, busy, and noisy. It was full of tourists and the trucks decelerate as they reach the town limits. The small pool enough for a dip on the hot days. We explore the quaint town and Thompson’s Beach near the bridge. This must be a popular place on hot evenings for locals as there is a café / wine bar with lots of shade and grass with a large sandy beach providing easy access into the river.

Thompson’s Beach Murray River Cobram VIC

Our next stop is at Rutherglen and we stay at the caravan park beside the small lake which teems with birdlife and turtles. A family of four Tawny Frogmouth live in the tree beside our caravan. The heritage public swimming pool is next door, and we enjoy a lovely swim there. It reminds me so much of the old Belgrave Pool where I spent my youth. There is a diving board and “diving is permitted”, so I dive in joyously, reliving days gone by. Mick plays golf at the local course which is a bit rough and not ideal for putting. Rutherglen town is beautiful with old heritage buildings showcasing the early settlement years.

We drive through Wodonga not wanting to negotiate the larger towns while towing a caravan. We find Ludlow’s Reserve on the banks of Lake Hume (Hume Wier). It is a free off-grid RV park with lots of space to camp near the boat ramps. The spot we claim has thick green grass and nice shade with a panoramic view of the lake and the hills beyond. Mick fishes and catches nothing but sees more small turtles.

I take more photos at sunsets and sunrises enchanted with the changing colours of the sky reflected in the waters.

Next stop is Tallangatta.

February 5, 2021February 5, 2021

The Wimmera VIC

Clouds skid across the sky in a kaleidoscope of colours: apricot, raspberry, smoke, and slate; white powder puffs disappear into blue. The sky is big out here above the dry flat brown ground of the Wimmera. At night, the stars and planets are easy to identify using the SkyView app.

We are glad to be back in our caravan, cosy in our small home on wheels once again, lucky to be camped amongst trees on private land with access to the swimming pool for those 40C degree days.

The animals remember and greet us: Sunny and Star the crazy Aplacas, Lily, Ebony and Jack, the black cats, Raj the peacock, and the two fluffy chooks Lady Gaga and Madonna. Jet, the 17-year-old black dog did not see the daylight of 2021. The pretty chooks were laying small nutritious eggs. The peacock was shedding tail feathers. The Alpacas roam and shake their ears. The cats laze in the house during the day then try to escape at night, Ebony, the master escapist succeeding regularly.

Mick helps with the painting again and runs along the rural roads. I read the popular novel Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and a clever science fiction Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson.

I complete a six-week course on Genealogy online through Future Learn and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. It is interesting, informative, and current. It taught me how to properly document, validate, track, and reference my research. The information about DNA testing for genealogy was exactly what I want to know and has inspired me to get a test done in the near future. I feel confident I can continue my own family history research when I get home to my records.

Mick played golf a few times with his brother and another couple of blokes, while I scour the op shops of Horsham with three other gals. The Saturday market at the tiny town of Jung was fun and I bought homemade tomato relish, apple scrolls, and coffees.

We plan to continue our Aussie Adventure this year staying in our home state of Victoria. We briefly discussed travelling back to Western Australia as they finally opened the border after almost twelve months, only to slam it shut again after a scare of a case of the virus in Perth. Melbourne too is currently tracing an outbreak from quarantine of the highly contagious UK strain. It is a worry.

January 31, 2021January 31, 2021

Mornington Peninsula VIC

Cars with trailers lined up along the main road causing traffic problems as their friends sat on jet-skis beached beside the small sandy boat ramp. We sat with friends beside a boat shed nearby, enjoying John’s homemade Asian prawn salad, as the sun set across Port Phillip Bay. The queue at the boat ramp was still as long when we returned home some hours later.

The Mornington Peninsula is a popular tourist destination in summer and the people of Greater Melbourne flock there. It is our home. The boat launching facilities are shameful, insufficient, poor quality, and cannot meet the demand. Mick no longer owns a boat and has not fished in the bay for over a decade.

We left the caravan parked at Horsham planning to spend the Christmas and New Year break with family on the Mornington Peninsula. Still “homeless”, we stayed with our son, daughter-in-law, and our two granddaughters. We helped them move into their new house, built by our builder son. We gave them some respite after the long period of restrictions and lockdown due to the virus, minding the girls, allowing them to spend some time to themselves.

Fun with family Mornington Peninsula VIC

It was great catching up with family and friends: a surprise 60^th birthday party, Christmas lunch, a funeral, meals and coffees with friends, fine dining at Stillwater Winery, Italian food at Donna Maria in Flinders, a visit to the Rye Carnival, walks to the beach, and Mick played golf while I played with the little girls. It was festive and fun. Also, exhausting, and difficult negotiating the summer crowds and traffic.

Mick looked at real estate, shocked at the skyrocketing prices, everything far too overpriced. The few open houses we went to were like a feeding frenzy where #FOMO choked the air.

I wrote a formal six-page letter to the MPS Council describing how bad and expensive the caravan and camping facilities are there on the Peninsula foreshore in comparison to everywhere else in Australia! Of course, I have not received a reply and it has been about six weeks since I sent it to them. Not that I expect a reply. I hope they take my complaints seriously and actually do some work to improve the Rosebud Foreshore in particular. It needs a lot of work to accommodate all of the needs of residents, campers, day-trippers, and businesses.

We were relieved to leave the crazy Mornington Peninsula and return to our caravan in Horsham. In the next few days, we will resume our travel adventures.

December 9, 2020December 9, 2020

Gippsland VIC

The vessel rocks. I hear the soft lapping of the waves and I look up from my writing to see blue water to the horizon. Seagulls and pelicans carouse in the gusty wind. I am not on a boat but sitting inside our caravan that is parked near the water’s edge at Port Albert in South Gippsland of Victoria.

The apocalyptic bushfires of last year tore through large forests and small towns of the Gippsland region and one year on the new growth appears bright green against the blackened trunks. Our first stop is at Mallacoota, which became famous last year as the place where people were rescued from the beach and taken to safety in navy ships, while the sky glowed dark and as red as hell. Fortunately, the town of Mallacoota was not damaged and is thriving now with the second virus lockdown over.

We camped beachside looking out across the blue inlet where a flotilla of pelicans perched and drifted. Mick fished but had no luck. We enjoyed dinner at the pub with a couple we had met at Eden. All of us confused about the mask-wearing protocol, but we did our best. A koala strolled across the campground then up a tree; the first we have seen on this trip around Australia.

It is cold and windy and so we now wear long-sleeved tops and have the extra blanket on the bed.

Further south we stay at Lake Tyers Beach so that Mick can catch up with a golfing buddy who has moved here recently. The beach nearby is the northern tip of the 90 Mile Beach with beautiful sand stretching on forever and clear cold turquoise waters crashing onto the beach. I see a large echidna snuffling around in the beach scrub.

Mick caught a big flathead at Lake Tyers VIC

We visit Lakes Entrance and walk along the bushy spit to the entrance where fast-flowing waters assist the fishing fleet. I am not a fan of Lakes Entrance and never have been. Something about it disturbs me and makes me anxious. But many other people love it, live here, or come regularly for holidays. We have lunch in a café at nearby Metung, looking out to the lake. Back at Lake Tyers Beach Mick goes fishing and catches a one metre long flathead, and after taking a photo, releases it back into the water. He has a game of golf with his friend and we all have a nice meal at the tavern looking out to the blue Lake Tyers and the beach and sea beyond.

I am happy to move on and we drive further south to Port Albert where we stay at a free RV friendly park next to the water. It is still windy and cold at just 20⁰C in the sunshine. A walk about the town reveals that there is not much here; a general store, a fish and chips shop, a closed and empty pub, and lots of holiday accommodation. The boat ramp and piers are excellent. This little harbour is sheltered by offshore islands from the wild seas of the Tasman Sea and Bass Straits beyond.

The next day we wind our way through beautiful South Gippsland towards a caravan park we have heard of at Lang Lang foreshore. The weather is bleak and cold typical of this region. We park on a waterfront site between some permanent shacks. The afternoon is calm and still with the low tide revealing mud flats. French Island is beyond sitting in the middle of Western Port Bay.

The forecast storm hits like a freight train in the evening. Our caravan is unprotected and rocks and creaks in the gale force winds. At daybreak, the wind has not abated, and now with the high tide, waves are crashing over our caravan! The sea is as high as the rock wall and water gushes across the ground into the main caravan park. The high tide level is beyond the front wheels of our car that is still hitched to the caravan. Waves drench us as we leave the inside of the caravan and get ready to leave. It is ridiculous and something we have not experienced in this trip. What a way to spend the last night.

We drive in windy conditions towards Melbourne heading for Horsham. The motorways have light traffic, and we make it across the Westgate Bridge and through Melbourne in good time.