- Visiting the West Coast of Scotland
- This is it!!!
- On the road again
- Back Country – NZ
- NZ update – east coast
- Back Country – very different this time!
- Lake Taupo
- The Coromandel
- Mini-break
- More little adventures – NZ
- Getting out and about again!
- More holidays!!
- A new year of adventures
- The mountain cottage
- Ginny’s visit
- Another visit – Marni and Jodi
- More changes!
- First stop in Canada – Niagara Falls
- Quick visit – Toulouse and Venet les Bains
- Ffald-y-Brenen
- The Cotswolds
- Back in France again!!
- Barcelona
- A much more interesting path – crossing the Irish Sea!
- London to Loxton
- Enniscorthy – a quick visit
- County Donegal
- South Gippsland, Victoria
- Next port of call
- Victorian High Country
- Snowy River Country
- Reindeer Lodge – Tanjil Bren
- Hiccup to Blessing
- Have tent will travel!!
- Family and friends – hugs and kisses
- Road Trip to the West
- Very snail like!
We went on a weekend break recently. Packed up our car with a few bits and pieces – clean socks and knickers, tracky dacks and jeans, hiking boots, warm coats, wine and nibbles. We’d booked a cottage on a farm in the Gelliondale area – north of Port Albert, south of the Tarra Bulga National Park and Strzelecki Ranges. All in South Gippsland, Victoria. Lots of beautiful coastline to visit – but our focus was on the ranges. Keen to breath some mountain air. Not exactly the Rockies or French Alps but high enough to get the occasional snow fall.
We drove through Wonthaggi and cut along the back roads – bypassing Wilsons Promontory and heading for the little town of Port Welshpool. Very long impressive jetty – views over to Little Snake Island. Not sure if there are any tours to Little Snake Island – not sure if we’d take one anyway!! No fishing boats docked at the jetty – must have all been out at sea doing their thing. Next it was on to Port Albert for lunch. Decided on fish and chips at a little restaurant on Port Albert Wharf. Nice to sit on the outside deck overlooking the wharf and harbour – sunny day, fresh breeze. Fishers busy nearby, lines in the water. Other small jetties/marina further along the foreshore. Boats of various shapes and sizes bobbing up and down. Seafood yummy, white wine exceptional. Visiting seagulls looking for scraps! Very cheeky!! We then looped north to Gelliondale and settled into our cottage – really a weatherboard extension on the back of the main farmhouse. Heater on, movie chosen, wine opened. Heaven!!!!
We decided to get a little adventurous the next day – just for a change! We took a minor back road that climbed high into the Strzelecki Ranges. I’d done some research and it all looked good online! The plan was to arrive at a junction with Grand Ridge Road – a well known tourist drive. Lots of twists and turns – beautiful views. Anyway not a lot of signposts and our GPS wasn’t doing its job. Ended up taking a wrong turn. Our “wrong road” slowly narrowed into a “bumpy goat track”. Just to make it even more interesting there was debris everywhere – must have had a recent storm. Reg had to move a small tree off the track at one point! Still a couple of things gave us hope:
1. There were some fairly recent tire tracks – someone had braved the path before us!
2. And all roads must lead somewhere!!!! Right??
We eventually made it to our destination – GPS still going crazy – no help whatsoever. Grand Ridge Road did not disappoint – not the panoramic views we were expecting but a low dense mist; tall ghostly gum trees guiding us as we drove along. Eiry! Finally turned off and headed down towards the coast – beautiful rolling hills, sea and Wilsons Promontory on the horizon. Called into Agnes Falls and then on to Woodside Beach – a section of the long flat stretch of coast known as 90 Mile Beach. White sand, blue skies, neverending vista – gorgeous. We’d seen just about everything in one day! Variety plus.
Packed up and left our cottage the next morning. Drove north into the Tarra Valley – famous for its beautiful mountain ash and fern gullies. Another winding road – interesting road signs about “avoiding” oncoming traffic. Visited the Tarra Falls – steep zigzagging walkway to the bottom of the falls – steel barriers keeping us safe. Next the Tarra Valley Rainforest. Time for a quick walk – gravel path, little bridges, wooden boardwalks. Water dripping off of leaves. Filtered light. Beautiful. It was then a mixture of back roads and highways as we headed home. Highlight was the hilltop drive to a small village called Arawata – lovely stop off at the Lancey Lookout on the way. It was Mother’s Day so we gave Reg’s Mum a call. Nice to sit at the lookout – Hyland and Western Reservoirs in the distance – chatting away. Also a welcome little break from the journey. Tired but happy when we got home. Back to work!!
Love Di and Reg
This entry was posted in Australia
- Arawater
- Lancey Lookout
- Port Albert
- Port Welshpool
- South Gippsland
- Strzelecki Ranges
- Tarra Valley
- waterfall