The Gippsland Region of Victoria is large when considered against the total size of Victoria. It provides a huge diversity of landscapes, from coastline and beaches, rainforest, woodlands, alpine snowfields, lakes and floodplains and acres of fertile farmland. And it’s here that Jules, BJ and I decided to spend our next few weeks.
Leaving my folk’s place in Wonthaggi, which is in West Gippsland, we met up again with BJ at Heyfield. As has become our new travelling custom for this trip, Jules and I chose Heyfield as it was only a short 150km drive, allowing us to slow down and enjoy the journey.
Choosing the backroads wherever possible, we stopped for a beautiful lunch of thick homemade tomato & oregano soup with crusty sourdough bread at Lamezleighs Cafe in Mirboo North. Then as we got closer to Heyfield we were awestruck by the horrifyingly beautiful Loy Yang Coalfired Power Station, which we drove through the middle of, with the open pit coal mine on the left and the power station on the right. More on the power station later in the post.
Whilst we loved catching up with my family and being able to sleep in a house again, it was great getting back into our van and catching up with BJ. BJ had arrived in Heyfield a few days earlier, following his short stay in Smythesdale.
The volunteer-run Heyfield RV park is great. New toilets, with a $1 per 3-minute shower, and plenty of grass meant we had no trouble finding a spot. They also provide potable water, but unfortunately no power, so this was a great opportunity to pull out and use our new portable diesel heater, which worked a treat.
On the recommendation of Max, my sister, we first explored North, driving out past Glenmaggie and around the Paradise Valley Campground. Wow, what a campground and general location. Steep rolling hills with the Macalister River running through and past all the campsites.
From here we drove out to Traralgon, which is a larger town and didn’t inspire us, but we stopped for a nice coffee. We then drove a few km’s down the road to view the Loy Yang Power Station from the lookout. As mentioned above, the power station is stunning and beautiful, but in a terrifying apocalyptic kind of way. It stains the horizon like dog’s balls, but they’ve splashed some paint on the buildings so it kinda looks ok. There are huge plumes of what looks like a noxious gas, but the info sign says it’s mostly steam, billowing from the nuclear reactor-looking towers. It sits aside Australia’s largest brown coal mine which produces over 30 million cubic tonnes of coal a year, and is fed coal by four dredgers that run 24×7 and are each 150 metres long, 50 metres high and weigh 5000 tonnes. In short, it is a monstrosity, but we humans love our mains electricity supply, so it’s currently a necessary evil. From my googling the plant is planned to be decommissioned by 2035, and the Coalition recently announced this as a site for one of its new nuclear power stations, noting the cooling towers already look like a nuclear reactor. I’d absolutely hate to live anywhere near this thing, but I also have to admit it intrigued me. We can only hope we continue to find cleaner, more efficient and sustainable methods for maintaining our desire for and consumption of power.
We finished our day exploring, looping back through Rosedale, where we stopped for lunch and a couple more pics, before heading back to camp for wood-fired pizzas for dinner.
For our second day in Heyfield, we went South. Our first stop was the local Heyfield Market where we bought a little present for Harriet (our dog) which we’ve posted back home, and then we were off to Sale where, on my Mum’s recommendation, we visited the Gippsland Art Gallery to view a few pieces by Annemieke Mein.
My Mum is very much into her quilting and patchwork art and Annemieke Mein, I have learnt, is a legend in this art. And after seeing a small selection of her art, I have to agree. First sketching, then painting, before finally creating her art using material and thread, her work captures Australian scenes in textured three dimensions and is absolutely beautiful. I also enjoyed some other sculptural art by Geoff Bartlett.
The next stop was Port Albert, via the backroads, which was a typical nice little seaside town and a good stop for lunch. Then, it was off to Yaram for a quick look-see, including taking a pic of our good friend, TT’s, old grandad’s house which he built back in the day, after serving in WW2. We were then pleasantly surprised by enjoying the lovely drive back through the hills as we meandered back into Rosedale and eventually Heyfield, in time to fire up the heater and have dinner.
It was a very cold start to our final morning at Heyfield, with sub-zero temps overnight causing a frost.
Moving on from Heyfield, our next destination is Lake Tyers, a free pub camp just outside of Lakes Entrance. Using WikiCamps the evening prior, Jules found and proposed a great mid-route stop in Paynesville, where we took the free ferry across to Raymond Island to walk around and view the wild Koalas.
From Paynesville, it was then a short run up through Lakes Entrance to Lake Tyers Beach Tavern which blew us away. The pub is on the waterfront with billion-dollar views, but they also allow you to camp out back, for free, and provide power, water, a shower and a dunny! Upon arrival, I sent the drone up for a quick look-see and had to grab some shots of the thin band of sand between Lake Tyers and the ocean. Jules and I intend to walk this tomorrow.
After a sleep-in and lazy start to the day, Jules and I did a 6km hike, up Lake Tyers Beach.
Then it was off into Lakes Entrance for a look-around and fish’n’chips for lunch. We hadn’t actually intended to do fish’n’chips, but whilst walking around we came across the chippy which was heaving with people, so we decided they must be a good feed – they didn’t disappoint.
Steady drizzle overnight and forecast all the next day, we chose to explore the area by car today (Tuesday 9/7), the first location was Bruthen which was very small and didn’t warrant getting out of the car. From there, we drove out to view the old hop kiln in Mossiface, which is a remnant of hop growing in the 1880’s. Unfortunately, it’s not open to the public, but I managed to get a few shots from the fence.
Next, it was off to Bairnsdale to view the spectacular St Mary’s Church which Jules had found and read about on WikiCamps. The original church was built in 1883 but was rebuilt between 1913 and 1936. What made the church significant (to us) was the amazing painting inside. In 1928, Francesco Floreani was a migrant Italian from Udine, who had studied painting at Udine College and then at the Academy of Arts in Turin. After arriving in Melbourne in 1928, he worked briefly as a house painter but during the depression, he became an itinerant farm worker in Bairnsdale. In 1931 he approached Father Cremin for work, and after completing some minor commissions he set about a comprehensive decorative scheme for the church. His art legacy is a testament to his skill and hard work and is well worth a visit.
I also had my very first “Curry Scallop Pie” at the bakery in Bairnsdale. The bakery lady promised me it was “yummy (her favourite) as long as you like seafood”. She wasn’t wrong, the pie was chocka full of scallops in a mild curry sauce. Very nice, but I’m not sure it made my top 10 of all-time pie flavours, but when faced with a Curry Scallop Pie in a bakery I figured I just had to go with it.
Wending our way home, we visited Metung and did the 100 Steps down and back up to the small beach, before visiting the jetty. Then drove along the coast, visiting the various ports, jetties and lakes until we arrived back at Lake Tyers. Then, rather than sit in the van to work on my photos from the day, I grabbed the lappie and my camera and walked the 50m down to the Lake Tyers pub, where I enjoyed a couple of beers, enjoyed the view and finished my blog updates..
“Mizzle” (definition – shitty, cold, wet, miserable kinda rain. Not heavy enough to be called ‘rain’, but wet and cold enough to make your hair go frizzy and keep everything damp).
48hrs of mizzle… The mizzle continued throughout the night and until lunchtime today (Wed 10/7). This made packing up a bit miserable, but we got it done and left Lake Tyers at 9-ish. On route, we took in Orbost, then Marlo and Cape Conran, which is where we parted ways again with BJ as he headed further north to catch up with his mates in a few weeks in Qld, whilst Jules and I continued our meander through Gippsland.
After parting with BJ, Jules and I walked the lovely McKenzie River Rainforest Walk, before grabbing a bite to eat at the Cann River bakery. Then it was off to our stop for the next few nights at the Shady Gully Caravan Park, just outside Mallacoota. After a quick setup, we did a quick drive into town to grab some supplies for dinner and get the lay of the land. Tomorrow we’re planning on exploring the area by e-bike – weather permitting.
Our highlight of the day, however, came unexpectedly. On arrival back at camp, we heard what we were pretty sure was a Lyrebird calling. Looking out of the van, we first noticed some wallabies encroaching on our camp space, but we shooed them away and walked no more than 30m from the van before Jules spotted our very first Lyrebird, who proceeded to scratch around in the leaf litter looking for his dinner. Wildlife bucket list animal ticked, although I’m hoping to see him again to try and get a better photo.
With better weather today, Jules and I jumped on the e-bikes and pedalled a 32km round trip, first heading down the coastal walk to Secret Beach, then through town, where we managed to sneak in a quick pint at the pub, finally riding along the foreshore and back to camp. There are lots of beautiful views along the way and plenty of birds to photograph, plus a bonus couple of koalas.
With the last day of our Gippsland leg and the final day for this blog post, Jules and I did some Olivia Newton-John and got ‘physical’ (get your minds out of the gutters). We did a short drive back out to the Princes Hwy and then hiked the Genoa Peak, a 3.5km round trip hike, the first half of which was steep uphill, then the reverse on the return. A strenuous, but nice hike, topped off by a steep caged ladder climb up the sheer sides of the granite boulders atop the peak. From up here it was clear the devastation the catastrophic bushfires had in December 2019.
Following the peak hike, we then hiked the much shorter and easier Genoa Falls.
Rounding out our day, we drove back to camp via Gipsy Point, where we ate our lunch and took in the serenity of the waterway.
Well, that wraps up this post and the Gippsland leg of our trip. We’re heading off into NSW tomorrow, spending some time on the South Coast.