We arrived without drama at beautiful downtown Lakes Entrance (Diesel $1.20) on the 11^th after an uneventful trip except that we couldnt stop at CannRiver simply because of the crowd Nice Van Park, EchoBeach - dog friendly, owners always keen for a chat. Weather not so flash, quite variable had everything except hail & snow needed the heater though last night. Went for a walk over the old footbridge earlier today, in the rain; soon to be replaced by a new one wide enough to get an ambulance across, just incase I ever need one here again. Naturally Gracie went in for a swim even though it was freezing.  Had luncheon today at the Metung Bakery, Pies very nice probably an 8/10 followed by Vanilla slices 5/10Dog friendly too with hitching hooks and water bowls. Then for something to do drove to thriving Bairnsdale (Diesel $1.16). Last time we were here we stayed at the Moorings @ Metung, time flies, it was 6 years ago.

A couple arrived traveling with a rehabilitated Greyhound, lovely dog alas Gracie took an instant dislike to him, probably because she instinctively knew he could run faster than her.

Wednesday could be interesting, cruising the Snowy & Brodribb Rivers at Marlo aboard the PS Curlip. Different to the usual paddle steamers as it is a reconstruction of the original, hopefully Gracie will walk up the gangplank because it would need Carol and I to carry her. Pictures? Hopefully

Not much changes in LE except there is now a Target & the Bakers Delight has closed so Ill have to do without Date Scones

Forgot to bring the anti flappers for the awning, left at home with the annex that we were not bringing anyway.

Tuesday 12^th saw us drive along the Great Alpine road to Omeo, very spectacular drive road closed at Omeo due to snow, indeed it was raining slush while we enjoyed luncheon at the Golden Age. Cheap van park at Swifts Creek on the banks of the Tambo river $12.50/night/powered.

Today Wednesday we ventured out on the PS Curlip www.paddlesteamercurlip.com.au

Very expensive $30 each, no cuppa. Would have been nice had the weather been better I guess very cool & windy. Nice try at recreating an 1880s paddle steamer, yes it did have a steam engine driving it but because of modernization the boiler was diesel fired and it just lacked the ambience of the real thing we will find when we get to Echuca. Gracie was a hit with a coach load of seniors one of whom was going to take Gracie back to Paynesville with her alas she did not want to part with any of her pension for Gracies food bill. We were told that the best Vanilla slices in Victoria are available in Bruthen where we stopped for an ice cream on the way back from Omeo..

Friday on the road to TarraValley, near Yarram (the powerhouse of Victoria) stayed at the much-publicized Best Friends Retreat www.bestfriend.com.au and surprisingly we were a little disappointed. Yes this place is dog friendly with fenced sites, exercise areas, dog wash, great scenery etc however @ $40 a night for a powered site I would have expected at least a reasonably level site with a slab but no It had been wet and it needed 4x4 drive to tow the van up the hill to the sites and maneuver the GinPalace onto the site. The size of our van was a point of discussion as wellIts a very long van Do doggy people only have small vans we wondered It looked like a very old camping ground that has been rebirthed into this facility, no doubt that dogs would love it (Gracie did like the fact that she could roam the site without a leash), but we found it lacking especially @ $40/night considering that even the gates to the sites, exercise areas etc needed to be maneuvered closed and did not latch due to the posts being pulled out of alignment by whoever strained the wire that holds the mesh. The other thing I found amazing was no TV or Radio or Mobile phone coverage and you are within a good stones throw of the coast and lovely down town Yarram. A nice spot to visit but certainly much cheaper places that are dog friendly abound in this part of Victoria

Saturday at Traralgon, (Diesel $1.18) nice dog friendly FPA Park near the airport with a trip to Walhalla on Sunday, have to get there by 11:00 to catch the train to Thompson, then do the mine tour (not sure how Gracie will go underground.)

You can give the CP near the airport/hospital a miss; no curfew here choppers wokka wokka wokka all night, light aircraft up at dawn Too noisy for us

Walhalla is an interesting place, now revamped and even a bit touristy but none the less an interesting insight into the gold rush days, talk about blood sweat and tears and just hard work, 85 km of tunnels in the area and shafts down to 935 metres deep, all dug by hand with star drill, sledge hammer and black powder. Even the railway which used to run from Moe is an engineering feat, the closer to Walhalla it gets the more difficult the terrain and the more complex and extensive the bridges, it arrived in Walhalla just in time to see all the mines close though now that the price of gold has gone up a mob called Orion Gold is exploring and mining in some of the original leases Gracie enjoyed the train ride but negated her option on the underground mine tour

Monday will see us drive the length of the M1, Morwell to Geelong, then on to Anglesea. Should be interesting towing the GinPalace thru Melbourne. We did consider the Ferry but @ $100 for our 12.5m setup we decided to drive around the Bay. Piece of cake but the trucks on the M1 seem to have total right of way and there is no where to stop for hours

It is a spectacular drive along the coast from Anglesea to Peterborough though it was quite wet for us.

Anglesea is a nice spot; the dog section was in the best bit of the park with direct access to the river and the beach. Gracie made friends with Ben the boxer and had lots of exercise on the beach Then it was on to the 12 apostles. Ho Humthis has been made very tourist friendly and is not as exciting as the bit of coast between Port Campbell and Warnambool with the Arch, the Grotto (you have to go right down the steps to see it properly or save your knees and look at the pictures) the Bay of Islands and the Bay of Martyrs.

We set up at the Surf beach CP in Warnambool and retraced our steps to the thriving metropolis of Port Campbell to see the sights. After the steps down to the Grotto my knees will never be the same

Off to Portland tomorrow and then a change of plan going to Swan Hill via who knows then either follow the Murray to Echuca or cut inland, we will have to form a committee and discuss

Staying at the Henty Bay Beachside CP, supposed to be dog friendly but you have to sign an agreement which I dont mind but it appears there are those whos dogs do not have to comply with the rules. The CP in town had a dog on leash symbol outside so may be a better one to stay at Today it was mind the curve http://australianscreen.com.au/titles/commuting-cable/clip1/

When we set forth on the Cable tram for the tour, we were the only passengers but when we got back to the depot there was a crowd waiting. Its cost someone a motza to set this up as the entire track had to re relaid and that included a new depot etc.

We also tried to see the Gannets but got lost and then drove to see the other sights alas the petrified forest, springs etc etc are all in dog exclusion zones now, the best we could do was scramble up to some caves and have a look around. The wind farms in this part of the world are intriguing they are everywhere, some environmental alarmist was ranting about them on the wireless but we couldnt hear any noise or see piles of dead birds around the base of any of the 100 or so towers around Portland

In the quest to find the best Vanilla slice in Australia we briefly crossed into South Oz to Mt Gambier, alas it was Sunday so the only shops open were subway and pizza haven, we opted for the healthy option for lunch i.e. the pizza. Our informant who is usually very reliable was wrong, if you want a Vanilla Slice on Sunday you couldnt find one in Mt Gambier.

Today Monday 26 finds us in beautiful Horsham - heart of the Wimera and the best Vanilla slices in Australia are on sale here at Waaks Bakery, the sign says so. As we wont be going thru Balranald we wont be able to compare the Vanilla slices on offer there. We had an award-winning pasty for lunch. The Wimera is in full bloom due to the recent rains, crops of Barley and Canola all along the B200, which is an interesting drive from Portland with a vast change of scenery along the way. Went back to try some more of the Vanilla slices today and informed the lady that we were representing a famous Canberra VSA (vanilla slice aficionado) and I could see this woman thinking of all the bakeries in all the world this fruitcake has to come into mine However not to show her ignorance she did say Oh yes, Irene when I mentioned the name of our informant

Also discovered how the front legs on our van may have been buggered, the local caravan man suggested that someone may have tried to steal the hydraulic Jockey wheel and in so doing released the valve causing the van to collapse onto its little (and really uselessly designed) legs. I shall have to devise a better, much improved system when I get home.

Now in Swan Hill via very rural Victoria, through small yet always tidy and welcoming towns. Its hot here we went from having a heater on to sleeping under only a sheet and had to buy a fan. This place is a discount shoppers paradise with Dimmeys, Sams Warehouse, Go Lo and the ever-popular Aldi all within a stones throw. Didnt bother with the Pioneer Settlement, hasnt changed apart from moving the entrance in 30 years even the whistle on the Pyap as it cruises past is fake. Gracie went swimming with some local kids today, she exhumed a pair of old jeans from the mud yesterday and now has collapsed from exhaustion to dream.

On to Echuca where our plans to stay for a while were thwarted by the Melbourne Cup, no sites available anywhere even mosquito riddled Barmah forest had none so we partook of a trip on the Canberra, met up with an old P.S. Enterprise hand from Canberra who now is the Manager on the P.S. Canberra, now with a new steam engine. Kevin Hutchinson is now rebuilding the Surprise Im becoming a tad cynical about this paddle steamer restoration, the Surprise is in a surprising state of total decay, and maybe a few bits will be recoverable but no superstructure  I may suggest that the Lady Augusta can be rebuilt as the stem is still in a Pub and could be used as a basis in a restoration project.  Had to explain to SWMBO the difference, can you feel the vibration and the flop, flop, flop as each paddle hits the water? in retaliation I was restrained when passengers were asked if they wanted a go at the helm and also told that Gracie was not to be allowed a go at the wheel either, I could see the look of disappointment in her eyes.

Drove on to Narandera for a cuppla nights and Narandera shuts down for the weekend as does most of the Riverina. Leeton has some superb art deco buildings as does Griffith

Where Walter Burley Griffin practiced before being let loose on Canberra. A little trivia for you I gleaned at the Visitors centre is that the nice wide streets with large median areas of parkland were actually put in the plans for these towns to allow for the passage of streetcars, no doubt Walt would have had some mates at the Chicago Car Co and thought they could service the needs of Leeton and Griffith, if only he could have foreseen the small town side of things I did not understand why in one place an irrigation channel crosses another via an aqueduct; all the water comes from the Murrumbidgee after all. We passed through Barellan where Yvonne Gooloogong was born and her birthplace is celebrated with a giant tennis racquet and ball. This was in its day a substantial town with many solid stone and brick buildings evident. This bought on a discussion as to why these towns die and my theory is that the tyranny of distance no longer dictates that you have to buy in your own town, so small town business cant compete as they dont or cant move on with the times, or am I being cynical yet again? The tennis Racquet was the best of the big things we have seen this trip, the big Log, big Koala, big Cod, big Excavator, big Cheery (though the Big Cherry was cleverly formed of circular plough shares welded into a sphere) pale into insignificance alongside the BIG RACQUET Maybe the BIG RORT of the 12 Apostles when there are actually about 30 of them in the next bay along would be the exception.

On to beautiful Young, where there are literally 1000s of mainly young Asians waiting to try and get a start picking fruit. We hear differing stories about how the growers cant get anyone to pick the fruit yet one place we found had already cherries for sale which we bought and they have their own team of pickers mainly grey nomads. Still this parochial small town theme still seems to pervade with local business berating Maccas because people buy their take away food there but as I said you cant expect people to wait until Monday to buy, if your shop is not open, tourists will go somewhere that is. Our main quest in Young is to find SWMBOs house where she lived when she started school, found it first go, Im told I have to photograph it. We have 26 digital TV channels here, Centrelink, seasonal work, and they are keen for families to relocate here, will be an interesting social experiment. So maybe the cherry pies are just cherry pies but the choc coated dried cherries and cherry port is something else.

Today, Tuesday we toured the area and experienced Grenfell, I Was trying to recall some Lawson to recite, alas even though it was drummed into me at school, not a line could I remember

We return to Canberra tomorrow.

Oh we are home now or I could not send this to to you....

Cheers

Trevor and Carol