Glorious Gippsland

Hi everyone!

Lakes Entrance

I can’t believe it has only been two weeks since I left Singapore!  This has truly been an unforgettable trip, and I’m only a third of the way through.  I left Perth at 0-dark-30 on Monday for a three hour flight east to Melbourne where I was greeted by the beautifully 8-1/2 months pregnant Jacki and husband Stephen (Melbourne based friends I met in Singapore).  Monday and Tuesday were spent touring the surrounding area and enjoying some well deserved R&R.  We haven’t made it into the city center of Melbourne yet, but it’s on the list for next week! 

Stephen had to travel to Sale for work on Wednesday so Jacki and I decided to tag along and make a road trip out of it.  We arrived in Sale mid-afternoon and decided that an evening at the pub was in order.  We drove 30km down the road to a tiny little town called Tinamba (reminiscent of Two Dot, Montana).  The local pub/restaurant/hotel turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise.  We ended up staying for about four hours and had a delicious three course dinner complete with local wine and homemade Baileys.

Thursday morning Stephen flew out to the rig and Jacki and I took off for 90 Mile Beach.  Ninety Mile Beach is exactly what it sounds like… ninety miles of pristine white-sand beach running from Port Albert to Lakes Entrance along the south-eastern coastline of Victoria. We made a couple stops along the drive to take in the view until stopping at Golden Beach for Macadamia nut ice cream.  After taking some pictures at the beach (it was far too cold to go swimming) we drove back inland.  There was much deliberation with the local information gurus, but eventually we decided to carry on to Lakes Entrance. Lakes Entrance is a little holiday town located at the man-made channel that links Bass Strait and the Tasman Sea with the Gippsland Lakes, a 400 sq km network of inland waterways.  We were looking for something a bit different from the standard Comfort Inn and ended up staying in a great little cabin at the Lazy Acre.  The manager recommended we take a walk through town but we opted for a drive instead as there was a significant arctic breeze whipping across the water.  Within two minutes of leaving our room a life-long dream of mine came true… I saw black swans in nature!!!!  For those who don’t understand my excitement, I had a book about black swans when I was young and always dreamed of coming to Australia to see them.  Check!  =)  We drove around a bit longer, facing a difficult decision between the airfield and the rubbish tip, before coming back to the cabin for a quiet night in.

BLACK SWAN!!!

We got up early this morning to start our trip back towards Sale to collect Stephen.  Blessed with a gorgeous day, we took a slightly different route back following some smaller country roads and dipping south to Metung.  Metung appeared to be a smaller and far wealthier version of Lakes Entrance.  There was a small yacht club in the center of town and a boardwalk all the way around the water’s edge.  And… more black swans!!!  

Spike the Spider

We made it back to Sale in time to pick Stephen up from the heliport then took off towards Melbourne.  We stopped for lunch in Traralgon after a moderately frustrating scavenger hunt for “the other Peterkin Street.”   This is a picture of our lunch buddy on the umbrella over our table.  We pulled into Melbourne (Hoppers Crossing) around 4pm and have an evening of laundry and homemade pizza ahead of us.

Tomorrow we are going for another overnight along the Great Ocean Road so be sure to check back soon for another update! Much love!


New pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/smichelle.manning/GloriousGippsland?feat=directlink