Day 11 / 2016 - Its 2016 and Back on the Road Again

With Christmas and New Year over and after seven weeks of catching up with family and friends we are now back on the road starting once again in Victoria. Our plan is to leave Melbourne and head around the East Coast along the Princes Hwy through Phillip Island, Sale, Lakes Entrance, Bega, Batesman Bay, Kiama, Wollongong then finishing this leg back at Lane Cove Sydney. 

After a delayed returned caused by the tragic fires in Western Australia we left Bunbury 3 days later than we planned. Virgin Australia were kind enough to change our flights without charge as we were unable to make the original scheduled flight due to the train line and roads and being cut off.

Leaving Perth at 5:15 pm we arrived back in Melbourne at 10 minutes to the Witching hour. Deciding on a taxi to take us straight to our hotel instead of the Skybus we really just wanted to hit the hay so we could make a start as early as possible the next morning.

Checking out the hotel the next day we made our way via the overhead walkway to Southern Cross Station just in time to make the 10 oclock train for the 55 minute journey to Geelong. Arriving in North Geelong we the caught a Taxi to Fry's Storage about a 5 minute drive from the station. Checking in with the Manager and settling up the bill he then walked us to and unlocked the big shed in which our van and car were stored.

Looking just as we had left them we did a quick visual check to make sure there was no damage then prepared to hookup and move out. Now I had a few concerns about the batteries in both the car and van expecting them to be flat after nearly 8 weeks in storage. Checking the caravan battery first I could see it still had 12.8 volts which is basically a fully charged battery. The van has an isolator to disconnect the 12 volt supply to all the caravan appliances so there must have been just enough ambient light for the solar panels to keep the battery topped up.  

Going over to the car I expected to hear that awful sound of a starter motor struggling to turn when the battery is going flat but was pleasantly suprised when the engine kicked into life as soon as the key was turned. It was as if we had only just stopped the motor the day before.

Our next problem was getting the van and car out of the shed. There was very little room to move and sometimes just reversing the procedure to getting in doesn't always work but after a little juggling we were able to manouvere out without damaging the van, car or shed.

Geoff and Robyn whom we had met while we camped at the town of Hay in 2014 wanted to catch up and kindly offered a spot at their place in Beaufort west of Ballarat. Driving out we headed north from Geelong to Ballarat then turned West onto the Western Motorway to Beaufort. We spent a coupe of days enjoying their kind hospitality, visting the Talbot markets and generally talking about world events while consuming wine of course.

Eventually bidding farewell we headed back down the Western Motorway  towards Melbourne. On the way we stopped at Melton Bunnings Hardware as the kitchen flick mixer tap had sprung a bad leak with us deciding to replace it instead of trying to repair it. From Melton we drove through Melbourne and out the other side. We were heading towards Phillip Island chosen as our first destination but we hadn't made any park bookings. Still being school holidays we didn't want to arrive at a park and be told there was no room at the inn so decided on a Wiki listed low cost camp in the town of Tooradin just off the South Gippsland Motorway next to an inlet about half way to Phillip Island.

The campground was a large grassed area near the boat ramp quite pleasant with great views of the wetlands and inlet. At $15.00 a van per night you had free use of the toilets which had showers, the BBQ areas and rubbish bins. Considering the Caravan parks in the area at this time of year were charging between $50 and $80 per night for 2 people on a cramped site we though this was reasonable value as we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was a short walk to a supermarket, post office, bakery, cafe's and a dam fine ice cream parlour.

Ringing around caravan parks near and on Phillip Island we soon realised there were no sites available. I was a bit disapointed with the parks as once we told them our dates we would like to stay they just said sorry no room. I would have liked them to help us by letting us know when their busy time finished and offering alternative date suggestions but but they didn't seem interested in helping. Our original plan was to follow the South Gippsland Hwy around the coast to Sale then onto Lakes Entrance but from the experience with calling the caravan parks along that part of the coast they were going to be busy and for who know's how long we decided to change our plans.

Firstly we called Caravan Park at Lakes Entrance. We found the manager there quite helpfull in that he suggested we could easly get in from 26th as most campers would have left by then leaving many sites vacant. We then decided to change our route and would follow the Prince's Hwy to Sale. Being an inland route there were more free and low camp options along the way. We then decided to stay an extra night in Tooradin to soakup the friendly relaxed atmosphere and watching the tide quietly going in and out.

Leaving Tooradin we headed back towards the Prince's Hwy via Koo-Wee-Rup. Rejoining the motorway we headed east towards Warragul, Traralgon then Sale approximatly 170km away. We decided to drive all the way through to Sale as we had prevously been along the Hwy as far as Traralgon while staying in Warragul in 2015. Arriving in Sale we made our way to the Showgrounds a site for $20.00 per night including power and water was good value.

Visiting Sale Tourist Information Centre we found out there is quite a bit to do in the surrounding area. After getting brochures on what attractions we would like to see we headed off. Our first stop was Sale Port where we could catch a river cruise on the Rubeena and old 40 seat ferryboat built around 1912 originally powered by steam now has an eco friendly electric motor. The cruise takes you out of the port along the man made canal which links the port and Thompson River. This canal was dug in 1886-1888 using bullock and horse drawn machinery. The cruise takes you along the canal then the Thompson to where it meets the LaTrobe river and where the last remaining operating swing bridge of its type in Australia is. 

The Swing Bridge is located on the old section of the South Gippsland Hwy. It was built to swing into the middle of the river creating a passage to allow boats to high to fit under the bridge to pass from the Latrobe river into the Canal that leads into the Port of Sale. The Bridge was built in the 1890's and was designed to swing on a central piller embedded in the riverbed. The bridge is constructed to be opened manually by a person using a crank handle but is now opened using a hydraulic motor. The bridge now only opens to a regular schedule between 3 and 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Sale has a number of Wetlands you can walk through and Lake you can walk around located close to town. This makes ideal locations for regular walks for exersise. They are well maintained with interpretive boards along the tracks describing the local area.