MURRAY RIVER TRIP 2007
Friday 7 December to Tuesday 11 December
Melbourne to Sydney
Blog 7
We let the GPS direct us out of Melbourne and onto the highway to Western Port Bay. It took us through the back roads which was a straight run across the Mornington Peninsula. The countryside of cattle, sheep and vegetable farms was lush with a fresh green covering. The weather cleared to sunny blue skies after a grey start. We drove around Western Port Bay through Wonthaggi and stopped for lunch at Inverloch on Venus Bay. We then stopped at Venus Bay, drove on to Foster and Yarram on the back roads stopping for the night at the free camp on the 90 mile beach at Paradise Beach. The flies were dreadful, as they have been all trip. We lit a fire and then walked over the dune to enjoy a stretch of the 90 mile beach.
Our first stop for the day was the town of Sale where Mike had worked during our first year of marriage 38 years ago. It had certainly changed since then. We walked along the Port of Sale which was built by digging a canal linking up with the Thompson River in the 1880s.
According to the locals, St Mary’s Church in Bairnsdale with its beautiful painted ceiling was a must see, so of course we had to stopped to look.
We stopped for lunch at Metung and were joined by a swan and her 3 signets.
Along the boardwalk on the esplanade at Lakes Entrance there were beautiful chain saw wood carvings carved into the stumps of the trees that were planted to remember the fallen soldiers in WW1. In the afternoon we went for a walk to the ocean and then along the river enjoying the masses of birds we saw including 2 yellow tailed black cockatoos.
It was the last few days of our trip and even though we had travelled this road before, there are always new things to see.
We took the Princes Highway, A1, to Orbost where the countryside was quite different with forests and hills. The information centre is situated in an original Slab Hut that was dismantled, transport from 40km away in the High Country and reassembled in its current position. In its original position was lived in until 1966 after which it was donated to the Orbost Historical Society. It still has the smell of a hut that has had lots of fires lit in it.
We crossed the Snowy River on the way into Orbost and decided to take the scenic route along the coast to the little town of Marlo where the Snowy River flows into Bass Straight. The countryside was quite different again with plains that looked like flood plains.
Our next stop was Cape Conran where we walked down to the boat ramp among the rocks with red lichen and the beautiful bay. We finished our detour and headed to Cann River which is at the junction of the Monaro and Princes Highways providing this little town with lots of traffic. From there we left Victoria and were back in NSW. On the way to Eden we took the turn off into Ben Boyd National Park and to Boyd’s Tower. Ben Boyd was a Scottish entrepreneur who started the whaling industry in the area in 1843. He had built the tower using sandstone transported from Pyrmont in Sydney but never actually got to use it for the light house for which it was originally planned. It was used a whale lookout. It was an absolutely spectacular spot and definitely one of the highlights of this coastal scenery. The bush in the park near the tower was mainly dense tea trees and we saw a wallaby eating as we walked to the tower; it didn’t run away, just looked at us and kept eating.
We stopped at Two Fold Bay near Eden for the night.
In Eden we took our time reading the history of the area in the Killer Whale Museum.
Eden started as a whaling town in the 1840s and the local aboriginal people were the best people to have working on the whaling boats. They could see the whales at long distances without the use of telescopes and they had a great amount of energy for rowing the whaling boats. The whalemen were assisted by a pod of killer whales that herded the other whales into the bay and therefore made it easier for the whalemen to kill. The leader of the pod was a whale called Tom and when Tom died the whaling industry basically stopped.
Tom’s skeleton is in the museum. The largest whale ever caught with a hand harpoon was a 97ft whale caught by one of the Davidson men who ran the whaling station. In the 1930s the whaling stopped and the town continued to survive as a fishing town with tuna being caught and exported to the American market.
We continued to drive along the coast road through Merimbula taking the scenic drive along the coast which was the old highway. The countryside is very green, lush and undulating. We drove through Tilba Tilba and Central Tilba and enjoyed the quaint 19th century towns. We had previously explored this area in depth so we didn’t stop. Back on the highway, through Narooma, the large hub of Moruya and then along the river to the coast to Broulee, Mossy Point and the other little towns to Batehaven. The whole region is just like suburbia with beautiful big new homes. We walked along the beach and enjoyed our last afternoon of this trip.
Friday 7 December to Tuesday 11 December
Melbourne to Sydney
Blog 7
We let the GPS direct us out of Melbourne and onto the highway to Western Port Bay. It took us through the back roads which was a straight run across the Mornington Peninsula. The countryside of cattle, sheep and vegetable farms was lush with a fresh green covering. The weather cleared to sunny blue skies after a grey start. We drove around Western Port Bay through Wonthaggi and stopped for lunch at Inverloch on Venus Bay. We then stopped at Venus Bay, drove on to Foster and Yarram on the back roads stopping for the night at the free camp on the 90 mile beach at Paradise Beach. The flies were dreadful, as they have been all trip. We lit a fire and then walked over the dune to enjoy a stretch of the 90 mile beach.
Our first stop for the day was the town of Sale where Mike had worked during our first year of marriage 38 years ago. It had certainly changed since then. We walked along the Port of Sale which was built by digging a canal linking up with the Thompson River in the 1880s.
According to the locals, St Mary’s Church in Bairnsdale with its beautiful painted ceiling was a must see, so of course we had to stopped to look.
We stopped for lunch at Metung and were joined by a swan and her 3 signets.
Along the boardwalk on the esplanade at Lakes Entrance there were beautiful chain saw wood carvings carved into the stumps of the trees that were planted to remember the fallen soldiers in WW1. In the afternoon we went for a walk to the ocean and then along the river enjoying the masses of birds we saw including 2 yellow tailed black cockatoos.
It was the last few days of our trip and even though we had travelled this road before, there are always new things to see.
We took the Princes Highway, A1, to Orbost where the countryside was quite different with forests and hills. The information centre is situated in an original Slab Hut that was dismantled, transport from 40km away in the High Country and reassembled in its current position. In its original position was lived in until 1966 after which it was donated to the Orbost Historical Society. It still has the smell of a hut that has had lots of fires lit in it.
We crossed the Snowy River on the way into Orbost and decided to take the scenic route along the coast to the little town of Marlo where the Snowy River flows into Bass Straight. The countryside was quite different again with plains that looked like flood plains.
Our next stop was Cape Conran where we walked down to the boat ramp among the rocks with red lichen and the beautiful bay. We finished our detour and headed to Cann River which is at the junction of the Monaro and Princes Highways providing this little town with lots of traffic. From there we left Victoria and were back in NSW. On the way to Eden we took the turn off into Ben Boyd National Park and to Boyd’s Tower. Ben Boyd was a Scottish entrepreneur who started the whaling industry in the area in 1843. He had built the tower using sandstone transported from Pyrmont in Sydney but never actually got to use it for the light house for which it was originally planned. It was used a whale lookout. It was an absolutely spectacular spot and definitely one of the highlights of this coastal scenery. The bush in the park near the tower was mainly dense tea trees and we saw a wallaby eating as we walked to the tower; it didn’t run away, just looked at us and kept eating.
We stopped at Two Fold Bay near Eden for the night.
In Eden we took our time reading the history of the area in the Killer Whale Museum.
Eden started as a whaling town in the 1840s and the local aboriginal people were the best people to have working on the whaling boats. They could see the whales at long distances without the use of telescopes and they had a great amount of energy for rowing the whaling boats. The whalemen were assisted by a pod of killer whales that herded the other whales into the bay and therefore made it easier for the whalemen to kill. The leader of the pod was a whale called Tom and when Tom died the whaling industry basically stopped.
Tom’s skeleton is in the museum. The largest whale ever caught with a hand harpoon was a 97ft whale caught by one of the Davidson men who ran the whaling station. In the 1930s the whaling stopped and the town continued to survive as a fishing town with tuna being caught and exported to the American market.
We continued to drive along the coast road through Merimbula taking the scenic drive along the coast which was the old highway. The countryside is very green, lush and undulating. We drove through Tilba Tilba and Central Tilba and enjoyed the quaint 19th century towns. We had previously explored this area in depth so we didn’t stop. Back on the highway, through Narooma, the large hub of Moruya and then along the river to the coast to Broulee, Mossy Point and the other little towns to Batehaven. The whole region is just like suburbia with beautiful big new homes. We walked along the beach and enjoyed our last afternoon of this trip.
