We checked into the Sale Showgrounds Caravan Park for one week to give us time to explore the area. The day after we arrived was the Monthly Farmers' Market so we stocked up on fruit and vegetables freshly picked from local farms and gardens.
A drive to nearby Maffra for morning coffee brought back memories of a few days spent there over 30 years ago visiting friends who lived there at the time. One of the highlights of that holiday was taking our (then) young children to a dairy farm to watch the cows being milked. This time we settled for coffee in the bakery and a look around a shop selling "old wares".
The Sale Botanic Gardens were begun in 1860 and are bordered by a lake which is home to several duck species, swans and water hens. We walked along several paths, past the fragrant rose garden and through the trees. We were followed around by a colourful peacock and we came across a life sized sculpture of the "Jolly Swagman" complete with a "jumbuck in his tucker bag".
We had a short day trip south to 90 Mile Beach and had lunch looking over the sand dunes. The beach here is 90 miles (145 kms) of golden sand which stretches forever.
From Sale, we continued east, through Bairnsdale, bypassing Lakes Entrance where we stayed a few weeks earlier and made our way to Orbost, on the banks of the Snowy River. The information centre is a refurbished "wattle and daub" building and we decided to stay for a week to give us time to check out the area.
We picked up a brochure giving comprehensive details of a day drive and set out the next day to explore. First stop was the PS Curlip, an old paddle steamer moored at Marlo on the Brodribb River. We drove around the small town of Marlo which is at the mouth of the Snowy River. There are several lookouts to see the estuary and river mouth.
From there we made our way into the coastal rainforest to visit the Cabbage Tree Creek Flora Reserve and to walk among the cabbage tree palms.
Then we drove on to the Cape Conran Coastal Park with it's beautiful coastal scenery. Pristine sandy beaches and rock pools make this park a popular holiday destination. It's a pity that Vic Parks have greatly overpriced their camping "facilities". Really all you get for your $35-$40 per night is a patch of bare ground with a fire pit. No water, or electricity and sometimes a long walk to the long-drop toilets. The sites are generally not suitable for us as they are in well treed areas (therefore no chance to replenish our solar batteries) or are too small for our caravan. A great pity as we'd love to camp there on a sunny site - at a lower price!
On our way back we detoured to the Yarram Gorge for another bush walk. A hakea bush had interesting seed pods which looked like snails on the branches.
Back to Orbost and more exploring, this time along the Snowy River Trail. We drove north along the Orbost-Buchan Road through farmland to Buchan, known for the limestone caves there which we've visited in the past. After a morning tea stop we continued north through Murrindale and Gelantipy and the quaintly named Seldom Seen. As we turned eastwards, the sealed road ended and we continued on a well maintained, winding dirt road.
Next stop was the Little River Falls and a few kms further on the Little River Gorge with it's amazing rock strata. There wasn't much water flowing over the falls. It wasn't hard to imagine what they would be like following a good fall of rain. We stopped for lunch at the McKillop Bridge Campground on the northern side of bridge where the Snowy River and Deddick River meet. This is the second bridge built on this site. The first was completed in 1934 and was washed away by a flooded river the day before it was due to be opened. This second bridge was completed in 1936 and the deck is 255m long.
Our drive back to Orbost was long a winding road through beautiful, rugged, tall timber rainforest. We made the trip in a clockwise direction. In hindsight, anticlockwise might have been better as we would have had the more difficult driving, through heavily wooded, very winding roads, early in the day. On the whole a fantastic trip through the Snowy River National Park.
We only travelled about 60km after we left Orbost. We drove about 35km east along the Princes Highway, then turned left towards the Errinundra National Park, through Club Terrace and into the Ada River Campground.
The first few days were quite hot so we cooled off in the afternoon in the waterhole at the Errinundra River.
We didn't spend all our time hanging around the campground. We drove into the national park climbing from 150m at the campground to 1,200+m at the top of the range. We turned left at the "main" road towards Bonang which we'd passed through a few days earlier when we'd travelled along the Snowy River Trail. This time we stopped at the Ellery Saddle, Ocean View Lookout with its views to the coast. It was also an opportunity to access our emails and make some phone calls as it's the only place in the park with phone and wifi access.
A few days later we were on our way back up the mountain. This time to turn right at the top of the range towards the Errinundra Rainforest Walk. We had had some wet weather so the 45 minute walk was cool and damp. We walked amongst the trees and tree ferns, constantly picking small leeches from us as they dropped out of the trees or climbed onto our shoes.
Fallen logs were covered in moss and some trees had colourful fungi visible on their trunks. We decided not to have lunch at the picnic area and continue our fight with the leeches so drove back to the Ocean View Lookout with it's large flat rock for our picnic lunch. This really is "Soul Country" and once again we returned to our camp feeling very happy and rested.
After 11 glorious days we decided to pack up camp and continue on our way. We had met some great people and shared many campfires during our stay in this magical place. On our way out we saw several small dark furred wallabies and 5 lyrebirds. We had also seen a young fallow deer with its light brown fur covered with white spots. Some fellow campers had seen a large stag, which we had only heard. Next stop was Cann River. A small town where the Princes Highway crosses the Cann River and only about 50km from Ada River. We checked into the caravan park for a couple of nights to power up our batteries. At Ada River we had needed to use our generator to keep our batteries charged due to the overcast weather and huge trees around the campground so plugging in to mains power was very welcome.
We had a full day to travel the 45km to Point Hicks and return to Cann River. This was where Australia's mainland was sighted during Lieutenant James Cook's voyage in 1770 and is named after Lieutenant Zachary Hicks who sighted the land on 20 April 1770. The walk from the carpark to the lighthouse is about 2.5km each way.
The forest in the Point Hicks area is ironbark gum trees. Tall and straight and showing evidence of recent bushfires. After a couple of days in Cann River, we've made our way north to Bombala in New South Wales. We'll be here for a couple of days as we amble slowly towards Canberra.