Port Albert, Victoria

Sunday 6th March 2011

Woke up to a lovely sunny day, and after breakfast went for a drive down to Port Albert, which is about 8 kms down the road. We walked along the boardwalk and then went to Darrell and Helens for coffee. They have a lovely house only about 6 months old and it is for sale at present as they are moving back to Tassie. There are quite a few homes for sale in Port Albert at present. Below is a picture of one we took a picture of. It has fantastic water views but the flow through breeze could be a problem in the winter.

The next day we went for a drive to Traralgon and then Morwell. We passed the Loy Yang Power Station, which is huge.It is bigger than the stations in the Hunter Valley The road has the power station on one side and the open cut mine on the other side.

We went to the Country Club in Yarram for tea. By the way, today was another beautiful day and the locals reckon that we have been very lucky as we actually have seen Victoria's summer today!!!!!

Tuesday 8th March 2011

Ray and Darrell went fishing today and caught some flathead which Darrell is going to take to his father when they go and visit him in a few weeks. They got chased in by the wet weather. Yes..... summer in Victoria is over. Next day is Wednesday and we went down to Port Albert to take some photos. Ray has been attacked by sand flies-big welts all over his legs. They don't like me so I didn't get bitten. We had lunch at the fish and chip shop on the jetty which is supposed to have the best fish and chips in Victoria. We had King George Whiting and chips and they were scrumptious.

Boardwalk at Port Albert

The fishing boats at Port Albert

Looking along the strand at low tide

Panorama shot of Port Albert harbour







Old man fishing on the jetty
On Thursday it rained most of the day. We went to the chinese restaurant for lunch and started to pack up in the afternoon as we were leaving the next day

Friday 11th March
We had a huge trip today, about 65km. We had to leave Yarram as it was going to be a long weekend in Victoria for Labour Day and the caravan park at Yarram was booked out. So we headed to Rosedale which is inland, halfway betweem Traralgon and Sale. There is a free camp there called Willow Park, about 1km out of town on the banks of the La Trobe River. When we got there there were about 6 other travellers there and each night there were between 12 and 16 different camps, from caravans to tents to campervans and even some sleeping in cars. We decided to stay for 3 nights until the end of the long weekend and then head east. We had a great time. The people next to us had left Melbourne 6 weeks before and were travelling around Australia for 2 years with 3 little boys. She home schools them on the road and they were looking forward to the adventure.

View form the caravan at Willow Park
While at Willow Park we went for a drive to Sale and also for a drive to Traralgon to do some shopping. On the Sunday we went to the markets at Rosedale but there wasn't too much there.

Monday 14th March
After leaving Rosedale and heading east we stopped at St Marys Catholic Church in Bairnsdale. It has some beautiful murals on the wall which were painted by an Italian migrant between 1931 and 1939. They are magnificent and are well known all over the world.

We then headed towards Marlo. Marlo is where the Snowy River meets the ocean. As we were driving into Marlo we saw all of these people free camped in spots along the river. When we got to the caravan park in Marlo we didn't like it so we went back and set up camp along the river. It was a glorious afternoon. We saw a great sunset and it was very peaceful.

Sunset over the Snowy River

Looking across the river from our step.

Our campsite beside the Snowy River

Looking out on the Snowy River in the early morning.

Late at night some other people pulled in behind us but they were pretty quiet and when we woke up in the morning there was a little campervan behind us. There were three people sleeping in it and they woke up packed up and left before us. They were all young people so were probably rushing on to the next place.

Tuesday 15th March

We moved on to Twofold Bay Resort in Eden for a couple of nights. We hadn't done any washing for 10 days and we had to get some done. Lucky we had a clear day on Wednesday and did 3 loads of washing so now we have all clean clothes again. We are heading to Lake Conjola on Thursday for 6 nights.