Jack Frost came to visit overnight so once again we had ice on the inside of the caravan. No worries – we tough (not). It got us moving early though which was good as we had shopping and sightseeing to fit into our day. It was quite foggy in quite a few places but come mid morning it had burned off and we were presented with a lovely sunny day. After getting some food and fuel it was off east to Lakes Entrance. The view of the extensive estuary system from the lookout was great and with the weather so nice we stopped there for lunch and from there moseyed down to the town itself for a bit of a gander.
Quite an interesting and attractive place really with the town spread all along one of the numerous waterways that make up the place and although a resort town it also has a significant fishing industry. A long walkway exists that connects pedestrian traffic from the town to the eastern end of 90 Mile Beach. We had camped further down the beach in early December 2009 at a place called at Golden Beach. After a bit of a jolly around the town we got back on the road with our eyes set on a camp spot next to the Snowy River for the night. The drive was quite scenic through undulating and often quite steep hill country and significant and very pretty forest areas that make up the ranges of the southern end of the Snowy Mountains.
Unfortunately the camp areas by the Snowy turned out to be quite small, muddy and close to the road and overall not that appealing. No problems – on to the next selection from our book. A pretty picnic and reserve area in the depths of the forest through which the main road passed. Ok, another problem as the area had been signed as “No Camping”, and once bitten twice shy when it comes to illegal camping in Victoria so on we went to the next option at the Bemm River Reserve. A nice choice as it turned out as it was about 300m off the main road and in amongst rain forest, small areas of which are quite unique to this area.
The reserve had a lovely walk which in the morning before leaving we took time to complete – all the time on the lookout for Lyar Birds which apparently live in the area. The forest was quite a change from what we had been in for the last however long with the damp silence broken only by the occasional echoing bird call reminding us very much of some of our native forests back home.
