Foster / Wilsons Promentary

20th January When we first left the flat at 9am the temperature had already hit 30C and we were very glad that today was a travel day. After the tiresome routine of packing up we wacked up the aircon and headed west. We stopped at the first town we came to due an odour from the back of the car and as we opened the car doors the heat was unbelieveable. We now had a new record for the trip at 41C but it felt even hotter than that - so hot it was hard to breath. After changing Charlie's nappy, throwing away his shorts and washing his shoes in MacDonalds' loos we hid from the heat in KMart for an hour. Isaac bought a pair of Redback style jackeroo boots that he is very proud of.

We wound our way along Princes Highway to Sale feeling adventurous with the Sav Nav switched off and then turned southwest on the South Gippsland Highway to Foster. Foster is a small town but looks as though it will be interesting to browse. We picked up some basic provisions including a new book for Al (for Robin: Nevin Shute, So Disdained) and then found the sign for Stockyard Creek Cottages.

Wattle Cottage was exactly what we had hoped; a slightly ramshackle old house reminscent of childhood visits to grandparents. On a smallholding and quite a long way from anywhere it is beautifully quiet and very very dark at night.

We had a walk around the land and there was a moment of excitment when Charlie spotted an elephant but it turned out to be an alpacca.

Everything is on a very steep slope which actually makes walking quite difficult.

The boys found a playhouse while Al went to see if Stockyard Creek was fishable, which it wasn't.

In the evening we jumped back into to try and drive the kids to sleep. This proved to be a long journey but we saw some great scenery a lot of which reminded us of the West Country.

There are so few cars (and people) out here that when you did see one they always wave which makes the place seem very friendly.

21th We woke to a very pleasant morning that had none of the previous day's vicious heat. There was a fairly slow getaway as were all feeling very relaxed in our country hideaway and the horse needed some grass etc etc. After a quick game of "Pants on Ya Head" we were on our way.

The Prom (Wilson's Promonade) was a 45 min driving away and after a brief stop for ham sandwiches we paid our 10 bucks and entered. It is not your common or garden variety national park but a full on 50,000 hectares of rainforest covered mountains and dramatic coastline and as we drove to the visitors' centre it was hard to know which way to look. We picked up the walking guides and an iridescent beetle that looked like it would make good fishing bait which was carefully wrapped in loo paper and stuffed in Isaac's pocket for safe keeping.

Lilly Pilly Gully Nature Walk did not start well as Charlie was hysterically tired and refusing to go in the buggy but we eventually managed to force him in and with sobs echoing off the world's most southerly rainforest we walked for about 3km into gradually darker and cooler vegetation. At the end was a boardwalk loop that took us over some protected marshland and serious mosquito habitat. Rachel was doing a good job of keeping them off the rest of us until a motherly type took pity and lent her some spray.

On the return leg we stopped to view a hideyhole that Isaac had found that was actually quite spooky inside.

At this point we noticed that the iridescent beetle was now riding on Isaac's shoulder and closer inspection showed that he had eaten a neat hole through his wrapping to escape. He was re-captured and secured in a raison box.

Further up the path we were warned of a large snake that was lying near the track at which point Isaac hopped in the buggy and told Mummy and Daddy that they had to be brave! (but we didnt see it).

Norman Beach is the only one recommended for swimming within the park and immediately went near the top of our all time favourites. A crescent shaped beach about a mile long and, as we arrived at low tide, a good breadth of sand. The best bit though were the "swimming pools" left behind by the outgoing tide which the sun had warmed to bath temperature - and the boys loved them. Happily in the water up to their necks they would have stayed for hours if we hadn't dragged them away. After steak sandwiches (with a fried egg on top of course) we headed home and on route saw our first wild wombat. It looked like an over grown guinea pig and trotted spritely across the road - quite unlike the fat, comatose ones we had seen in the zoo.

22nd Al put his favorite Bruce Sprinsteen album on and we all had a major air guitar session before breakfast.

We had passed the turn off for Agnes Falls on the way in to Foster and decided to investigate hoping that it would be a little less oppressively hot up in the hills. We stopped in Foster on route and as what got out of the car an older man shouted out "You must be Poms!" which we conceded. It turns out that you are only allowed to park on your own side of the road. There is such a lot of Australia to park on but so many restrictions - often in the middle of nowhere the only visible sign of humanity is a No Parking sign. The man and his wife were very pleasant and he had come out from Tunbridge Wells 40 years before.

We drove through some beautiful countryside and saw very few cars. We had a brief picnic during which we were beset with flies which have really been a problem in the last few days and are driving us nuts. Isaac and Charlie then settled down to some fishing but Charlie was a little impatient and took Rachel off to find the falls.

At this point a major dry thunderstorm errupted right on top of us with earsplitting lightening strikes very nearby. Al reckoned that the very worst place to be during lightening was standing on top of a hill, amongst very tall gum trees holding a 8' fishing rod and it was fairly hairy for a few minutes as there really was nowhere to go. Al & Isaac ran to find the others and then got within 50 metres of the car when the rain started and by the time we reached it we were absolutely drenched through.

As drove out of the hills the level of destruction that the storm had left was impressive. There were trees and branches down everywere and our road was down to one carriageway in several places. We passed 2 fire engines that were on their way to lightening fires.

Bright sunshine had followed the storm and the air was much clearer now so we went for a swim. Isaac is now quite happy paddling around on his own with various bouyancy aids and Charlie went solo for the first time.

In the evening we went to a local pantomime titled Bush Magic. The queuing in its self was a performance and seems to have developed into a local artform to test ones cunning and aggression. The show was based around some city kids who were left on their own on a farm, went walkabout and got lost. They discovered that the bush animals could talk and would help them. The best bit was a couple of big hairy graziers dressed up as cows singing about the inadequecy of their once a year relationship with the bull. Lines like "My poor fresian heart, I wonder if I'll hiefer see him again!"

It was good fun but suffice to say we left at the interval.

23rd January. We had a great cooked breakfast to start the day. Australia has mastered bacon with rashers that are twice the size of ours and cover both the back and belly streaky sections and they cook without heamoraging indeterminate white gunk.

The 3 boys gathered the scraps and went in search of the farm chooks but unfortunately they'd had an encounter with a well dressed gentlemen with sandy coloured whiskers and were now ex-chooks. Charlie is currently fascinated by what different animals eat but could not persuade the dog to eat our left-over brocolli.

Rachel had heard that Walkerville beach was excellent which was clarified by our host to South Walkerville and so was chosen for todays adventures. Half way there we noticed that we were low on fuel so we had to turn off to Tarwin Lower which proved to be a long detour and we arrived with only 7km showing left in the tank. Eventually arriving, the beach did not quite live up to the billing but we found a quiet corner and ate our picnic. Before long the boys had befriended an 18 month girl and were playing ball with her quite sweetly. Soon afterwards the mother appeared and said that she had 3 boys and had never seen young boys sharing so well - fortunately she was facing Al and not able to see Charlie garotting her daughter with his hat string in order to retreive the ball.

The 3 boys had great fun running sprint races across the beach. By modifying the levels of head start given to Charlie and then Isaac we managed to make them very competitive. "Do you know why I am faster than you Dad? Because I have got more puff!" Indesputable.

Both Wattle cottage and this corner of Victoria were lovely and we could have spent a lot more time here.

Lakes Entrance

17th We had a quiet day pottering around the shops in Lakes Entrance, mostly shopping for presents and birthday things for Isaac. We stopped in a very friendly coffee/banana milkshake shop and got some local news. Al managed to book the flights to Tasmania which is slightly a leap of faith as we have nowhere to stay, no hire car etc etc. The town itself is very naff and touristy but the surrounds are pretty. Lakes Entrance is the main holiday spot in the Lakes National Park which is a vast area of saltwater lakes and lagoons running along the Victoria coast.



Rachel and the boys had a dip in the Motel pool and then we settled down to Toy Story 2.

18th Isaac's Birthday! The boys found the balloons and party hooters and brought them into bed with us which woke us up very effectively. Isaac had forgotten about presents and didn't mention them at all until Charlie started to hand them out. They all went down well despite being from the $2 shop.

We went to the local Anglican church which was a fairly traditional service but they were very welcoming to the boys who were the only young children. The vicar invited them to the front and gave them pens and paper to draw things that they shared as this was the theme for the day. At the end of the service they went back up to show off their artwork and both performed very well. There was slight confusion as the vicar didn't know what a croissant was but the lollipop, ball and book were readily identified. The only other child, an 11 year old, had drawn a man being fired from a cannon onto a target with knifes sticking out of it so our 2 were comparative angels.

We had lunch at the playground



and then went out to hire a motorboat on the saltwater lake system as a birthday treat. Isaac assumed the controls and we were soon zigzagging our way up the North Arm. There were some beautiful houses along the shores no doubt Melbourner's holiday homes.




We were trolling a small spinner from Isaac's rod and Rachel had a bite but lost it. At our northern boundary limit we pulled into shore and sat and watched the small fish leaping out of the water.


Looking at this photo its hard to see how anyone might fall out!


On the return journey Charlie started throwing the hats out of the water which, fortuitously, gave us Man Over Board practise. Shortly afterwards a powerboat went past creating a large wake which caused Charlie to fall out of the back of our boat. Al immediately dived in after him and swam over to where he was bobbing in his life jacket. Charlie looked across and said " 'Cuse me Daddy, I want to get out!"

Meanwhile Rachel and Isaac were rapidly dissapearing into the distance as they did not know how to slow down. Eventually they came about and headed back at full speed. Charlie and Al managed to avoid being run down and caught the trailing mooring rope. Charlie was easily passed back in but it took some time to heave Al in, mainly due to Rachel's hysterical laughter - Al was not quite so amused.

Back at the jetty the boat-hire girls had seen the whole incident and were swooning over Al's bravery and speed of action (Editor: No they weren't). Isaac was given a can of bright pink creaming soda as a birthday present.


After a long eventful day Isaac was put to bed and asked "Is it Boxing Day tomorrow?"



19th We were slightly underwhelmed with Lakes Entrance and ready to move on but we thought we had better check out ninety mile beach whose western edge started in town. We picked some fish and chips and headed over the lagoon to the surf beach. The area was quite reminiscent of Camber with sand dunes to climb over before a wide coarse yellow sand beach. We had come barefoot and had to run between the patches of shade as it was red hot.

It was slightly bizarre sitting on ninety miles of beach were everyone was crammed into a 30yd stretch however just dipping a leg in was enough to show there was a vicious sideways rip and that staying between the flags was a good idea. There was a strange phenomenum where the water washing back out was going fast enough to create waves, one of which knocked Al over just in time for a shore bound 8 footer to tag team him.



We saw a dad and ~8 year old boy swept out and then across by the rip. They were completely stuck with relentless large waves dunking them until the lifesaver reached them.

Victorians are far less conscious of the skin cancer issues than Sydneysiders and despite being a stinking hot day there was a fine collection of deep purple tans getting more sun. Al was again approached about his Mahommed Ali t-shirt!

Poor photo but gives an idea of the night sky here