Lakes Entrance, Victoria

Double click to enlarge image. I took this photo on 22nd December at 11am, the temperature was 31C

Arrived at Lakes Entrance, Victoria, we’ll be here for two weeks which takes in Christmas and New Year.

The Victorians really love this place, there must be over 20 caravan parks here and almost all the private homes have been turned into flats. It’s expensive - $45 a night in the caravan park, but it is peak season and we are limited to parks that allow dogs. Pip is a French Bulldog and she doesn’t bark at all so she’s no trouble to anyone, she sleeps outside in the day and comes inside at night.

Dennis is very keen to free camp and wanted to check out a place called Paradise Beach which is in the Camps 4 book about a 220kms return trip from here, so off we went to check it out.

There were some very strange looking people camped at this Paradise beach, and it looked a long way from paradise. There were a couple of old battered caravans that looked ready for the scrap yard and some wild looking yobbos with beards sitting on empty oil drums around a campfire in front of a make-shift tarpaulin shelter. There was also an ancient old bus turned into a camper which looks like it wouldn’t make it up the next hill plus a couple of VW Kombis covered in graffiti.

Then I had to use the toilet and it was my favourite type, the dreaded self composting long drop toilet, just a deep hole in he ground. When I lift the lid, I try not to look down into the abyss and when I sit on the seat I can’t help imagining that I’ve just disturbed a sleeping python down there who’s decided to come up and see what’s happening.

Paradise Beach free camp is definitely not for me.

Malacoota, Victoria

Arrived at Malacoota, just over the New South Wales border and into Victoria, a beautiful spot where the lakes join the sea. It’s a small town and rather isolated, being 25 miles from the highway and a long way from the next major town. With a population of only 1000, at Easter and Christmas, the population rises to around 8,000.

Like most seaside country towns, it's deserted in the winter months and I noticed that most businesses were for sale - the bakery, newsagent, coffee lounge, grocery store but not the pub, we had a meal there one night and the place was jumping.

We got talking to a young couple who have been living here in their caravan at the Caravan Park for 5 months, the wife is working in the village coffee shop and her husband is an electrician putting solar panels in a primary school across the bay. They have applied for a Government job in an Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory and have received an interview date. If accepted they will be trained and then they will manage a general store in a small community. Just as well they are not big drinkers because it’s a grog free area, strictly no alcohol allowed. They are already experienced travelers and have been all around the country and enjoy the gypsy life but have their own home to go home to should the need arise.

Next stop, Lakes Entrance, Victoria