Orange is the New Stan: Thanks, Victoria, you've been beautiful.
With the new, new rental van, we were given some hope that we could actually achieve what we set out to do. We hadn't actually been in Victoria long when the job opportunity popped up so we had unfinished business to get on with- and get on with it we did!
Being easy to travel to and with plenty of different sites to visit, the Dandenong Ranges made for a good day out. We made our first stop at the 1000 Steps Kokoda Memorial Walk. It advertises itself as do-able for all ages. Be warned, if like us you find yourself here and you choose not to stretch beforehand and after (and don't regularly complete marathons), you will find yourself with DOMS for days. The pain is real. The area is beautiful at the base, with plenty of places to picnic and BBQ and the walk itself was nice enough, through the massively tall trees and ferns but any hopes of seeing a spectacular view down the gully are dashed by the abundance of plant life (though I shouldn't really complain). As recommended by a few other blog posts, we took the Lyre Bird track back down. It's not a track to descend if you are an unstable downhill runner and I oddly found myself glad to have had ruined my legs on the 1000 steps up, rather than this route. All in all, it was a good stop in the Ranges.
Driving a little more east, Sherbrooke Falls was our next stop. You're greeted by brightly coloured parakeets flying from all angles at the entrance and the route to the falls is much easier on the body. However, I was drawn in to this particular spot under the pretence that the falls would be like a proper waterfall (as indicated by a photo used in a blog I'd read for inspiration). The falls are more of a trickle than a fall and not quite as spectacular as I'd hoped but it didn't really matter.
The last place we visited was the Alfred Nicholas Gardens. Now I'm not really one for visits to gardens but as it was only a few minutes up the road, there wasn't really a reason not to visit. The gardens themselves were really pretty with all the shades of pink flowers in bloom. The paths lead to a small "lake" with a cute little boathouse tucked away in the corner. It was all very lovely.
Our journey then took us down towards the southeast side of Melbourne's Mornington Peninsula area. Our visit to Frankston was short and sweet but nothing to really rave about. The beach was pleasant, there was a cool crab and it marked the first real day of sunshine since starting our road trip east.
We actually talked about skipping Phillip Island- we'd already seen the penguins so wasn't sure that there was any need to go. We were glad to have changed our minds. We walked along Nobby's boardwalk, which whilst very blustery, shared some great coastal scenery. The geese had the right idea, nestling themselves up in the long grass for shelter. On our travels across the Island, we spotted a sign for a trout and bush tucker farm that took our interest. What started out fairly cheaply turned into a $$$ day by accident, but it was great fun. The main point of the farm was to catch your own rainbow trout, which you could then have prepared to takeaway to BBQ or have cooked by their chefs in their restaurant/cafe. It had an outdoor lake and an indoor pool (recommended to use if you suck at fishing and need a bit of help). We spent a good hour or so sucking by the edge of the lake before heading indoors. Now, being poor travellers, we aimed to catch fairly small fish (especially as there was a no release policy when catching). The fish were not aware of our plans so you can imagine the "Ooh for heaven's sake" look on my face when I pulled out a trout weighing in at 1.6kg (baring in mind the average was supposed to be about 400g!). A reasonable while later, Kjel plucked out a healthy 600g fish and his first ever catch! We had them cooked for our lunch and knew that my fish must have been the biggest of the day so far when the lady who brought out our mountain of trout kindly offered to box up the rest for us, knowing in advance that we'd never made it through it all (and she was right!). We ended our time with a brief visit to Woolamai beach. It has the softest sand and it was easy to see why it is a magnet for surfers.
I'd been keen to visit Wilsons Promontory for months after reading a post on Pinterest. It didn't disappoint. While the weather could have been more favourable, we were met with dramatic mountain views and stunning coasts. We started at Norman beach, with its sand being carved by the tidal river at one side. The algae that grows there stains the water a dark tea colour. One of the main draws to this location is the abundance of walking tracks up and around the mountains and hills and it was easy to see why. The bases are thick with vegetation and wildlife and even the smaller peaks give great views of the area. We didn't choose to trek that day, instead we opted to visit another key attraction: Squeaky Beach. Sometimes you see a name of something and even though you hope it lives up to its name, it doesn't. Well, Squeaky Beach definitely lived up its name. Though the beach area is nothing to necessarily boast about, it was certainly a novel and child-like fun to make the sand squeak (and we loved it!).
Travelling east towards the NSW border, Gippsland Lakes is home to the famous "Ninety Mile Beach". Unlike the beach of the same name in New Zealand, it is actually 90 miles long and it feels it! It's not very deep but the sand just seems to go on forever. It's still been very windy on our travels and our visit here was no exception, making the beach still pretty cold even with the sun shining.
When planning our trip, I kept getting confused between Lakes Entrance and Gippsland Lakes as to where the 90 mile beach was and when that was clarified, I wasn't sure I was overly fussed by stopping in Lakes Entrance. However, as we drove down the windey hillside, our minds quickly changed. The golden sandbanks at the entrance of the waterway and the sapphire coloured waters are really rather beautiful and was definitely worth the drive back up the hill to stop at the lookout point.
Following the coastal route out of Victoria, we made a brief visit to Cape Conran. It's easy when stopping off at points like these to get into the mindset of "It's just another beach." But really, it was just another beach and while it was still nice, wasn't really anything to rave about.
Mallacoota was initially on our route because we needed fuel; it's pretty out of the way and could have easily been missed. I was keen to visit as it was the only van accessible location in the Croajingalong National Park and fancied a nose but in the end, it turned out to be the ideal location to have my first "surf". I'm pretty useless at it but after much trying, I did manage to get up one and a half times, so that's success to me!
Leaving Mallacoota marked the last stopping place on our tour of Victoria and the same day, we passed through the border and into New South Wales. It's been a fun adventure and I'd certainly never imagined spending the amount of time here that we did when we first thought about coming to Australia but through the hardships and the rubbish weather, it'll definitely be somewhere that we look back on with fond memories.
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