Victoria & Southern NSW - Box Ticked

Melbourne, Lakes Entrance & Eden (NSW) - 25th Jan - 9th Feb

We spent one night at Nhill, halfway between Adelaide & Melbourne just as a rest stop. The park was very basic (daggy) so happy to just stay the one night. We arrived at Braybrook Caravan Park just outside of Melbourne on Australia Day & were happy to discover that the staff put on a free barbecue for tea that night.

We met some interesting couples at the barbecue. Quite a few of them spend the night at this caravan park before boarding the Spirit Of Tasmania ferry. Some were on the road full time & others were 'part timers'. We met a lovely couple who run a cattle, sheep & grain farm near Albany WA. He said he had approx 7,000 cattle. We told him about our friends who have 100 acres & asked how many acres he had. He replied 15.......... 15,000!!! We met another couple who, when we told them we were just starting out caravanning said "we've been everywhere" I thought, here we go, I've heard about the  long timers who can't wait to tell eveyone all about their extensive experience. And there they were, after telling us "we've been everywhere" for the second time we decided to retreat back to the sanctuary of our caravan.
We had a lovely day at Uncle Lens & caught up with some of my cousins too. Next day we had a great dinner with Anna (ex Tip Top) & her husband Nigel. Nigel made a traditional Japanese dish called okonomiyaki. It was beautiful.
We spent a day in the city & saw the stage show Kinky Boots. It was fantastic!





We then moved up to Lake Tyers Beach which is near Lakes Entrance in northern Victoria. I

bought a Travel Auction so only paid $18 per night for the caravan park. The park was nice but a bit too far out of the town & not on the beach as advertised. It was on the beach if you didn't mind bushwalking through some dodgy paths then walking down, then up 85 steps. The town was nice but we agreed we didn't need to go back.




Next stop was Eden which is just over the border in NSW. It's a beautiful coastal town with a nice

caravan park that is also home to some kangaroos that come & visit most nights at dusk. The Eden Whale Museum is very popular so we decided to pay it a visit. To my disappointment, it was a 'whaling' museum as Eden was popular in the mid 1800's to early 1900's for whaling of the beautiful Orca Killer Whales for medicinal & many other uses. As soon as I realised that, I didn't really enjoy looking around at their whaling history.

I had a sore back so went to the local chiropractor. I should have known better than to book an appointment with the only chiropractor in town who answers his own phone at 9am says "I open at 10, what time do you want?" When I ask if I can come at 10 he says "make it quarter past as I'll have to go get a coffee first". He was nice & was very interested in our travels but next day my back was no better. I then phoned a chiropractor in the next town, Merimbula. Although his receptionist said he was fully booked for the rest of the week he agreed to see me during his lunch break to help me out before we moved on again. He was very thorough & fixed my back. We had a great day in Merimbula as a bonus. We actually liked it better than Eden.

The town of Bega is not too far from Eden & apart from wanting to visit their famous cheese factory

they also had their country show on while we were there. The Bega cheese factory / museum was a bit boring but the Bega Show was great! With good old fashioned giant pumpkins & cattle judging we had a ball.

We had never been to the north Victoria coast before. Although we had a nice time we don't need to go back. Box Ticked!




Next stop ............Batemans Bay