The kids experienced a good old campfire enjoying toasted marshmallows for dessert. The smoke helped ward off the mosquitos, who were competing with the march flies for any exposed skin. Oscar suffered the worst, but everyone’s ankles were bitten by the morning.
Heading East from Lakes Entrance we visited Croajingolong National Park. On the way we past the longest timber railway bridge near Obost. We had to stop for a couple of photos.
Then on to our first stop Shipwreck Creek, 15km dirt road drive from the nearest town of Mallacoota. It was well worth the effort, as there are only a handful of camping spots in the woods, a pristine rugged beach only 300m away. A 3km walk through the forest, heathland, and scrub takes you to Seal Creek. The beaches are similar at both with creeks, dark with tannins, forming lagoons behind the beach, and forest growing down to the beach. Being one of three key hotspots for biodiversity in in Victoria, once again we found birdlife in abundance and the spring flowers proliferated everywhere.
On Shipwreck Creek beach our peaceful solitude was broken one day by two helicopters flying in, landing for ten minutes then departing again!
Another animal action day on the beach at Lakes Entrance. We took the 4km walk along the beach to the entrance to Gippsland Lakes, then back along the historic bushwalk on the northern side of the strip. Rusty relics lie in the bushes, winches used to build the seawall, timber posts that used to house bells, and much more besides. Seals and dolphins swam into ride the waves at the entrance, while a group of seals basked further out, sunning their flippers out of the water as they lay on their backs.
With Mt. Kosciuszko off the menu for now we’re heading for the lowlands and warmer conditions. My goose-down sleeping bag had a fatal rupture when I got in at Yarrangobilly and by morning the inside of our Camprite Trailer looked like a snow-scene with everyone covered in and inhaling goose feathers, The weight of the car and trailer on some of the off-road tracks in the mountains had guzzled petrol, and was giving the breaks a good workout so we decided to leave the Alpine region and head down. Into Victoria now the Alpine Highway gave us a direct route south, through verdant green countryside. Every now and then we stop for the cows, who when not being herded to the next paddock, are grazing the long grass by the verge. I’m not sure how effective a deterrent it is but dead foxes are strung up by the side of the road making quite a macabre spectacle.
Today started with a swim at Yarrangobilly thermal pools(Kosciuszko National Park). At 7am the water was lovely but air temp was 3 degrees. We scraped ice off the stove when we got up. Water dragons were already in the water, obviously familiar with a better way to warm up than solar ways usually used by reptiles. We explored the South Glory Cave then headed over the Snowy Mountain highway, where wild flowers were blooming in vibrant violet and yellow hues. The snow gum forests were eerie, looking quite dead covering much of the mountainsides. We changed plan about climbing Australia’s highest mountain given the temperature and settled for the highest town in Australia instead at Cabramurra.
Driving on from Pigeon House mountain we stopped at Yadboro flats by the Clyde river. The road had just been graded so everything was covered in dust. After the exhausting climb in the heat cooling off in the river was the best end to the day. Next morning we were up at 6am looking for wombats and found one scrambling around the river bank 50m from the camp. Then we found an ornate satin bower bird building it’s display bower, intricately decorated with blue objects and yellow flowers. A great place that we could have stayed longer at.
It turned out to be a bit of a challenge but our 6 and 7 year olds lead the way to the top. A 3-4 hour round trip involves a steep climb from the car park, a flat stretch through thick scrub, then a second climb to the base of the mountain top. This is then negotiated via metal steps and ladders to the peak which reveals a fantastic view. A challenging climb rewarded by the spectacular views from the top, especially of the Castle, a flat plateau in the Budawang National Park.
Possums arrived in droves last night to the campsite, with the sole purpose of raiding any foodstuff that might have been left in reach. Tell-tale footprints on the stove and tables showed the action didn’t stop after we went to bed.
This morning we had many more visitors, wallabies and kangaroos.
Just a couple of our avian visitors, many more of whom we encountered today in the verdant botanic gardens. One of the favourite spots was the mossy path through the forest gully pictured below.
Jervis Bay is beautiful! The birdlife at Green Patch was fantastic. In a couple of days we have seen variegated fairy-wrens, endangered eastern bristlebirds hopping through the dense bush, ospreys, sea eagles, king parrots, eastern rosellas, wood ducks and much more. There are swamp wallabies, kangaroos and echidnas around too, some even tame enough to pat. At the derelict lighthouse we found a snakeskin (brown snake!) almost 2m long.
We played a variation of Pooh Sticks with pumice pebbles we found on the beach – Pooh Stones.
Fifty Toes Walkabout 
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