A few days of R ‘n R in Gippsland
With our girls on school holidays a week earlier than most of the rest of the state, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to have a few days away in country Victoria.
In 16 years of living in Melbourne, we are a little embarrassed to say we had never been to Gippsland which (we had heard) is a lovely part of Victoria.
So we headed to Lakes Entrance, three and a half hours drive east of Melbourne.
Lakes Entrance is (as its name suggests) located at the entrance between the ocean and around 500 sq km of lakes system. It is also home to a large fishing fleet. The town centre is wedged between two arms of the lake, then there is a footbridge across one arm to the Ninety-Mile Beach – a stunning stretch of white sand ocean beach.
About 45 minutes drive away from Lakes Entrance are the Buchan Caves. We took a tour of the Fairy Cave – 45 minutes through 500 metres of underground caverns linked by slippery staircases and tight little corridors through limestone which required stooping and squeezing. Note to self: the touring of caves is not recommended for persons with claustrophobic tendencies.
We went fishing by the edge of a creek running into Lake Tyers.
And Queenie managed to catch one fish…which was released back into the creek.
We watched the antics of one very determined pelican. He positioned himself right behind two fisherman, and every time they caught something he made a run at it. The fisherman were too quick for him, and he had an “I’m-a-very-annoyed-pelican dance” which involved flapping his wings and turning in a circle each time it happened.
On the whole we were lucky with the weather.
Beautiful one day…
…windy and overcast, (but not raining) the next.
And Gippsland lived up to its reputation – definitely a magnificent part of Australia.
