6/2/17
After a wet night , with 43mm of rain , we wake to another overcast day - and none too warm either !! As it turns out the maximum temperature for the day happened at 1:30AM - 19.5 degrees , and the days minimum - 14.5 degrees arriving at 2:15PM . Yes that’s right , it was hotter near midnight than during the day .
Anyway , back to the days events , we packed and hitched up and headed north - has to be warmer there right !!! Nope , not a chance , the temperature in the car kept going down !! We got to Tyabb and headed east to Leongatha . We were in dairy country , rolling hills , paddocks with cypress pine hedges used as wind breaks on the fence lines . So here's some horses .
There were many small towns along the way , one was Meeniyan - it has a garlic festival in a few weeks time - that would be interesting , everyone smelling of garlic together !!
After a driver change , we continued toward Foster , stopping at the top of a long climb to check the view out to Wilsons Promontory .
A bit further on was the township of Yarram , many art deco buildings lined the main road through , nowhere to stop and park was a problem , so we kept going and had to suffice with a drive through photo .
Arriving at Sale , we went to the park on the western side of town , they charge a flat fee of $22 and then charge you for electricity used !! That was it for the day !
7/2/17
A better than expected night , it stayed around 14 degrees !! Time for a drive - we passed 3 turnoffs to Seaspray as we drove yesterday , so that was a destination for today .
Not far out of Sale is the Historic Swing bridge , not sure what we were going to find made things interesting . Stopping right on the approach to the bridge - it was chained off - we got out for a look , lot’s of cast iron & steel and a timber deck . The swing part is from the movement of the bridge to allow river traffic through - it pivots around the middle structure of the bridge , and was opened for use in 1883 , and it’s still used now - opening on Wednesdays and weekends . It used to be a manually opened bridge , but it looks like they have some slide on motors to do all the hard work now .
The bridge is situated near the junction of the Latrobe and Thomson Rivers and was a huge help with all the river trade that occurred many , many years ago .
Off to Seaspray , lot’s of cattle country out this way , and a stunning tree lined entry through wind swept cypress pines .
The rain continued as we drove into Seaspray , it’s a small town with plenty of holiday houses and a few permanents , a caravan park , surf club & school . The rain wasn’t letting up , so we headed further up the road toward Golden Beach . There are many campsites beside the road and beach , and are looked after by Victorian Parks & Wildlife - they don’t cost anything , but you do have to go to their website and book them online . Some plenty big enough for caravans , we could fit into some of them !!! but you’d have to know which ones before booking !
There’s a ship wreck of the Trinculo - an old iron sailing barque that ran aground here in 1879 - it was blown ashore by gale force winds !! There isn’t any where to hide along this stretch of 90 Mile Beach , so you would be a captive audience and take whatever was dished out !! The ribs of the boat are the only parts visible at the moment . We found out that there’s another boat right beside this one , just covered up by the sand , the Paddle Steamer Paynesville was forced to beach here after starting to leak shortly after leaving Lakes Entrance . There are a lot of other wrecks along this stretch of coast line .
Back to the ute and off to Golden Beach . There is an RV parking area for 48 hours free camping , capable of fitting about 14 or 15 vans . 6 large spaces are on a bitumen area . A donation for use of services is requested .
There seem to be many holiday houses here as well as rental houses / units . The weather wasn’t really enticing us to stay , so we headed off to Loch Sport - about 30 klms away .
We weren’t expecting much here , as the other small towns were just that , small . Well did we have a surprise in store , Loch Sport covers a large area between 2 lakes , has many boat ramps , a golf course , a bowling club , a school , police station and some shops - just about the most holiday houses we’ve ever seen !!! Especially surprising as there’s only one way in here , it’s restricted at it’s northern end by The Lakes National Park , Lake Victoria on the west side and Lake Reeves on the east side . There are some locals living there , but they would be outnumbered by the visitors !!
Driving up into the National Park we found a lookout and got some views of Lake Reeves .
Hema Maps in the ute showed us a road that would take us toward another locality called Seacombe and then on toward the northern side of Sale - that would be a nice round trip - pity there was a lake in the way - it was only about 40m across , but may have required a punt of car ferry to get across . Unfortunately for us , there wasn’t one , so we headed back the way we’d come .
And that’s how our day finished , after a drive around Sale - it’s a very big place - not sure whether it’s classified as a city or not , but it could quite easily be one !!
The Thomson River runs by the side of the park , here’s a photo .
A map link for you :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tVz3g7qnWDuR6Q4HaxlkaFw-Et8&usp=sharing
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