ROAD TO MALLACOOTA

After spending some days in Buchan and the area around the Snowy River National Park, I wanted to leave the mountains and travel down the Gippsland coast. My goal was to drive from Buchan towards Mallacoota before travelling down towards Wilsons Promontory NP and the Mornington Peninsula.
The 220 km drive from Buchan to Mallacoota is, after reaching the A1 highway after 30 km, a bit boring. Therefore I decided against the quickest road towards the A1 via Nowa Nowa. The route I took is more scenic but much slower, both ways are around 30-40 km, but the Buchan to Orbost Road is much curvier. Nevertheless, I didn´t reach Mallacoota. As I reached Orbost, the signs on the side of the street said that the A1 towards the NSW border was under construction and that the junction to Mallacoota is closed. With this information, I changed my plans and decided to skip the northern coast altogether and make my way straight to Lake Entrance.
On the way, I stopped a couple of times at different locations, as I suddenly had much more time with one less stop on my travel itinerary. The Gippsland Lake district shows to have a lot of interesting small stops along the roads. Shortly after Nowa Nowa, I stopped at the Stoney Creek Trestle Bridge. As it is located a bit further away from the main road, it was a perfect spot for lunch. The bridge is part of the old East Gippsland Rail line and nowadays of the East Gippsland Rail track, a long-distance cycle track.
I must admit it is a nice resting spot, but besides that, it does not offer much. It is interesting how there were ones a train line connecting all the east coast towns, where today there is only the Prince Hwy (A1). I am a big fan of the old train travel style. Might be because I never owned a car and here in Germany I go everywhere by train.

NOTHERN GIPPSLAND REGION

Lakes Entrance

I spend a good day in Lakes Entrance, the town to the time I stayed, was sleepy and not a lot of people or other travellers were around. The Highway / Main Street goes one time along the waterfront before climbing up into the hills behind Lake Entrance. Thereby the waterfront is not directed towards the open sea but at the name-giving lake. Between the lake and the ocean is around 50 m (badly guessed by me) thick sandbank, which can be seen in the above picture. From the main street, a long wooden peer leads onto the sandbank.

You can walk for miles along the beach without meeting a person, at least when you come outside the holiday season. In my case, the beach was empty and the sun was out, even a strong wind was going. Therefore, most people stayed in the city to not get sandblasted. Besides the way along the beach, you can walk through the bushes and trees on the inside and learn something about the area and city through some information boards.

I think during the holiday season the city gets crowded with tourists, kite surfers, and outdoor enthusiasts. Most shops along the main road are surf shops, fishing shops with some nice looking restaurants (they were all closed when I visited). As most things were closed throughout the town, I stocked up my supplies, before leaving and sleeping at a free campsite outside of town.

Raymond Island

Raymond Island is a small island in the Gippsland lake, where a colony of koalas is domiciled. The island is located around 60 km from Lakes Entrance on the other side of the lake. I would actually not call it a real island. Yes, it is a real island inside the lake, but it is only around 50 m away from the shore directly at Paynesville. They could just build a bridge to connect it to the town, but they decided to install a ferry which takes ridiculously 2 min to the other site. (you have to pay if you want to take a car on the island; it´s free by foot) There is no reason to take a car with you onto the island. There are only a couple of streets, which are all residential. Additionally, there are quite a lot of free parking spots around the marina.

The island is a natural reserve to around 3/4 with some residential streets at the dock of the ferry. From the dock, a couple of signposted walking tours start.
Admittingly, I seem to be blind. When I walked around the island I could not find any koalas, before a couple of residences showed them to me in the trees. In the same trees, I 20 seconds before looked into. Once, you know what to look for, you suddenly see koalas everywhere. I really wondered if I was blind or stupid before. One thing you can not expect is action. Nearly all of the koalas where sleepy chilling on a branch. I found one who was a bit more active, eating and scratching his chin. As you can see in the pictures the weather was not that great. Therefore I was not in the mood for any big hikes or any other major events. After the walk around the “koala trail” on the island, I sat down in a Café in Paynesville and planned my further trip. Before driving 130 km to Paradise Beach to camp along the 90-mile beach.

Agnes Fall and Port Albert

The area around Seaspray and Golden Beach along the 90-mile beach have a ton of free camping spots close to the waterfront. Most of them are only separated through a large sand dune from the beach. I just pulled into one and was the only one staying there that night. One thing you have to remember is, that as the camping spots are free, sadly some people just dump their waste anywhere. I found the spots through the app “Wikicamps Australia” and some of the other reviews of this spot also mentioned the dirt and a million sandflies. I must admit I did not have a problem with any sandflies, but in the summer maybe be curious about them.

As I arrived after dark, I just parked in one corner of the area, ate something and went to sleep with the sound of the ocean on the other side of the dune. In the morning I took my breakfast, walked over the dune and sat down in the sand for a relaxing breakfast at the ocean with a slowly rising sun. In both directions, I could not see a single soul, it was just me, my breakfast and the ocean. It could be the reason that I visited during the wintertime again, but most of the reviews of the other campgrounds indicated that you can expect to be alone along the 90-mile beach most of the time.

Around 11 am, I packed my stuff and prepared to leave towards Wilsons Promontory, with a couple of stops along the way. Somehow I managed to drive my van in the pitch-black night (one of the headlights did not work) into this sandy camping spot, but now at daylight, I was unable to find the exit again, soundly there were quite a lot of possible crossings between the narrow tress and I nearly got stuck in the soft sand 2-3 times. It took me longer then I want to admit getting out of the camping site and back on the main road again.

My plan was to drive along the coast towards Wilsons Promontory, visiting Port Albert, an old fishing town, on the way. I tried again to avoid highways and took small country roads to see as much of the countryside as possible. I knew I would miss some of the inland attractions such as the old gold mining town of Walhalla.
Port Albert is a small fishing town, it has the oldest port in Victoria and a long history with fishing and as an old transport hub in the region. Therefore it is not astonishing that it reminded me of a small English seaside town. It’s sleepy and old fashioned in style. There are many cute small shops along the main street and the waterfront. Also, it seems to be a haven for boating enthusiasts, with very quiet waters around the bay, as a result of the many small islands. At the end of the road, perfectly located at the waterfront and dock, are two small restaurants. The ”Wharf fish and chips” and the “Port Albert Hotel” with a small pub and sweet looking rooms. I can warmly recommend the fish and chips restaurant, as it had one of the best and freshest fish around. It is a nice not to long detour from the route towards Wilsons Promontory, Philip island or Melbourne from the upper Gippsland region. Nevertheless, it is not an action-packed location, more the sleepy small town you come to visit to spend some time at the water with family and friends to get away from your busy life.

Along the way from Port Albert towards Wilsons Promontory, I discovered Agnes Fall. The waterfall is settled in a small natural reserve area with only a small sign indicating it at the main road. So it was pure luck for me finding this beautiful space. The reserve is quite small and besides the parking area with toilets some seating area and a small park, there are only 2 walking trails, one along the upper river and one towards the lookout at the waterfall. Therefore, I find it perfect as a small stop during a long drive to relax and eat. The fall itself looks beautiful, somehow the slight brown colour of the water made a bit of the charm of them.

From Agnes Fall it is not that far anymore to the entrance of the Wilsons Promontory National Park.

WILSONS PROMONTORY NATIONAL PARK

Getting closer towards Melbourne the number of weekend tourists increases noticeably. Wilsons Promontory is one of the most loved weekend destinations for all the city dwellers in Melbourne. The National Park is huge, from the entrance (9$ per car) close to the beginning of the peninsula to the visitor centre and the major hub of the park, it is still a 30 km drive. On the way, there are already some great walks, like the Millers Landing or Prom Wildlife Walk. The Wildlife Walk was one of my favourites, it is a short completely flat walk through some dense shrubs with a couple of grass plains in between. You can find emus, wombats and small kangaroos during the walk, as well as an abundance of native birds. A dream for any bird or wildlife spotter.

I booked myself a powered campsite for two nights at Tidal River, to have the perfect starting point for his as well as to recharge the batteries of my camera, my phone and laptop. From the three days, I stayed at Tidal River, I only had one day without rain or heavy winds. Nevertheless, the area is beautiful and some walks deeper inland in the forest are actually great with a little bit of rain. At least in my opinion. During my stay, I did the Lilly Pilly Gully, Mt Bishop, Squeaky Beach, Picnic Bay, and Oberon Bay walks. Expect for Oberon Bay all walks have their own parking space, or you can start the hike out of Tidal River, which adds some 1-3 km extra to the walks for the way to the start and back. As the walks are all quite close to the campsite, I can only recommend to leave the car or camper there and explore the park on foot. Naturally, families with small children might drive to the start, as the hike out of Tidal River is on both sites quite steep. The park also offers some multi-day hikes, which on paper all looked great, but as I had no tent with me and am quite inexperienced with multi-day hikes, I found it safer to only try the one-day ones. Which in fact are also all great.

The one-day hikes are all more or less half-day hikes, as I did 2 or three in one day. Like Mt. Bishop and Lilly Pilly Gully, as they share the same start and endpoint. Also, the Beach and Bay walks can be connected to one large way, which is possible in one day, but quite hard. In early spring the weather was okay, with two of three days rain and temperatures around 15 degrees. The rain was a bit annoying, but the temperatures were perfect, not too warm not too cold. The nights were a different thing, with temperatures around 0 degrees and no insulation in the van, I had to use multiple blankets to stay warm.
In general, the campground and Tidal River itself for that matter, are just the Visitor Centre, a couple of bungalows you can rent, a general store, post office, and a restaurant. The campground itself has some BBQ areas and showers.

PHILLIP ISLAND AND MORNINGTON PENINSULA

Phillip Island and The Nobbies

From Wilsons Promontory it is around a 2-hour drive towards Phillip Island along the coast. You can stop by in Newhaven just behind the bridge leading onto the island at the visitor centre to get all the latest info what’s going on on the island at the moment. Similar to Wilsons Promontory it is a popular destination for weekend trips from Melbourne. There are a lot of popular activities, such as surfing, wine tours, wildlife cruises to the largest fur seal colony in Australia and the famous penguin parade.
I wanted to visit Phillip Island to see the penguins, sadly during my stay, the area was under renovation or construction in general and therefore closed. As it is a large tourist attraction, you can not really miss it with all the signs, also you know that you arrived when the road suddenly turns into a giant parking lot. Also, they have different tickets starting from around 30$ for the penguin viewing, so be prepared to spend a considerable amount of money. Something I did not know existed before I visited Phillip Island was The Nobbies. The Nobbies is a kind of information/conservation centre as a joint project of the WWF and Phillip Island Nature Parks. It is a permanent eduction centre to educate people about the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic, with nice interactive tours throughout the exhibition. With a ticket price of 16$ for an adult, the price is okay in my opinion. Besides the centre itself, the surrounding area is worth a trip anyway. There are a couple of boardwalks (accessible for wheelchairs as well) along the rough cliffs of the westernmost tip of Phillip Island. Around 1 km offshore the largest fur seal colony of Australia is home on seal rock, sadly you can not see them from the boardwalk with the native eye. Nevertheless, there are beautiful views to admire along the walk, as well as an abundance of nesting sea birds and a large natural blowhole. Just be careful with a bit of a breeze the track around the blowhole gets covered in a fine saltwater mist. I was really drenched after the walk, but the views and nature are totally worth it. Especially the sign of the huge waves crashing into the cliffs. I was wondering why the waves in this region of the coast are so huge when 2-hours away on Wilsons Promontory the waves even during the stormy days never exceeded 1m.

Mornington Peninsula

Travelling further west, I reached the Mornington Peninsula. I was really looking forward to this part of the trip, as I wanted to treat myself to some luxury and booked 2 nights at a beautiful Airbnb accommodation. The host Ross was brilliant, nice and super friendly. I enjoyed the talks with him, as he also travelled a lot during his life. The small bungalow is located in his backyard just a couple of hundred meters from the beach (actually the beach is directly behind the bungalow and a large dune, which you can not cross at the garden), but if you do not to be disturbed he will leave you alone. Great for me, what I did not know before, was that he supplied a small breakfast.
The Mornington Peninsula again has a lot to offer, from wine tasting, over surfing to relaxing spas there is something for everybody. I used my time to visit the Mornington Peninsula National Park, at the tip of the peninsula. (There is somewhat a pattern here, all the NP are located at the tip of a peninsula) The park includes the remains of the WWII defence facilities of Melbourne as well as the quarantine station for new arrivals to Melbourne in the 1850s. The historic quarantine buildings are interesting to tour, especially with the current situation, even that I had no idea that something like this will happen in 2018. But the best part for me was that you could rent electric mountain bikes at the visitor centre with which you could explore the rest of the NP and reach the historic ruins at the other end of the park. I must admit, it is a hell of fun cruising along the dirt tracks. Surprisingly, it is relatively cheap (for Australian standards) with just around 20$ for the whole day. I definitely encourage everybody to explore the park, as the mixture of history and e-bike action really nice.
After half a day cruising through the park, I went to the Peninsula Hot Springs. It´s not a traditional hot spring like the Onsens in Japan, but really nicely made with a lot of different baths and saunas. The baths are all located in a vast park with one actually being on a small hill overlooking the peninsula (naturally it was full and there was a line when I wanted to use it). You have to book a time slot in advanced to enter the hot springs, but there is no time limit how long you can stay. I would recommend coming in the evening when there are a little bit fewer people, as when I arrived around 3 pm it was quite crowded, with most of the people leaving around 6 pm.

VICTORIAN HIGH COUNTRY

Black Spur

After my relaxing days at the bungalow on the Mornington Peninsula, I started my drive back to my friends in the Tallangata Valley through the Victorian Highcountry. From Rye on the peninsula, I drove towards Healesville, the start of the Black Spur Drive. The Black Spur is a stretch of road through a dense forest, consisting of large ferns and huge mountain ash trees from the coastal region around Melbourne into the High Country and King Valley. Admittingly there is nothing special about this route, just the combination of the street with the slow turns and the surrounding nature make an absolute gorgeous combination, you just have to enjoy to drive. I think the best time would be around sunrise or sunset when the sun shines through the treetops.

This night I did not reach the camping spot I wanted. Instead, I was lucky to find a “free” camp spot on the side of the road. Actually, it was just a wider part of a forest trail a couple of hundred meters in from the main road (it was declared a camping spot at the Wikicamps app). The spot was by no means something special, but it led to me discovering the Cathedral Range State Park. As always on this trip, I had no plan what exactly awaits me. Most of the time a had a general idea what awaits me in the region, but my actual activities I always decided on the day.

That morning after packing my stuff, I got back on the road and only a couple of km further found this small state park. That morning I was alone in the park and hiked up one of the trails straight up to the ridge from farmyard camping/parking lot. With the camper van, I rented I had troubles getting deeper into the park. The dirt road was quite bumpy and muddy, so the trip should better be done with a 4x4 or on dry days. From all the hikes I did, this one was by far the hardest. I know I am not the fittest person, and by far not sporty, but I thought I can do that easily. No, absolutely not, on the way up I nearly turned back a couple of times, the way is not that well prepared and 90% of the time it just went straight uphill. Then on the way back I realized, I should have had turned back. My knees and my legs went so weak that I could hardly walk. I actually had more trouble getting down in this condition than getting up. By the time I reached the van I had to rest for like 2 hours before I felt able to drive further.

MANSFIELD AND SHEEPYARD FLAT

From the state park, I followed the country roads further up towards Eildon and around the Lake Eildon towards Mansfield, where I wanted to go mountain biking. On the way, I stopped at Snobs Fall, a nice small cascade not far from the main country road. I always stop for waterfalls!
The off-season caught up to me again. All the bike rental shops were already closed for the season. In the main season, Mansfield for sure is the action capital of the region, there are watersport shops, mountain biking, as well as camping and general outdoor gear shops. For the more relaxed people, Mansfield offers a quite nice selection of galleries and restaurants/cafes. As a snowboard addicted I then wanted to reach Mt. Buller and the snowfields. Sadly, there was so much snow at the end of September that I would need snow chains to be allowed on the road to Mt. Buller, which I naturally did not have. Some nice people in a cafe, therefore, recommended driving to the sheepyard flat camping spot and spending some days there.
The campsite is quite a bit off the beaten track, there are some nice 4x4 tracks in the surrounding but besides that, it is just a flat grassy area nestled between two mountain ridges alongside a river.

KELLY COUNTRY AND KING VALLEY WINE REGION

The last leg of my journey led me through the country of Ned Kelly, the maybe most famous criminal of Australia. He was a bushranger and gang leader in this part of rural Victoria. You can find different films about him which are all quite entertaining but maybe not completely historically accurate. Nevertheless, the lush green forests and plains in the Highcountry are great for wine production. From the Kelly viewpoint (powers Lookout) above Whitfield, you can already see the first vines.
Also in this area, Paradise Falls is a nice small waterfall away from it all, the drive up is a bit sketchy, but that nearly guarantees that there are only a few people with you. However, it is not as impressive as the others I saw on this trip.

A couple of wineries I can recommend from personal extensive testing are Sam Miranda Winery, King River Estate and the Brown Brothers Winery. I spend around 2 days in the region, eating and drinking all the great things. At Sam Miranda, I can recommend the noodles and some of the lighter red wines, while the Brown Brothers Winery offers fresh homemade pizza with a great choice of different wines. At all three locations, you can taste really good wines in quite an abundance, so maybe do not book accommodation too far away.

From here I only made a quick stop in Beechworth, to visit this old gold mining town, which now has quite an active beer and cider brewing scene, before arriving at my friends’ property, where I spend 2 more days.
After returning the van in Melbourne and 3 more days with friends of my family in Melbourne, my 4 week trip to Australia ended.

Australia and especially Victoria, are my all-time favorite travel destinations. I hope I can show and describe a bit of the beauty of this area here in my reports, even that they are a bit older. Please feel free to comment or contact me if you have any insider tips for a second Victoria or Australien road trip. When you have comments into my writing style, please also tell me, as it is one of my first posts, and I´m still trying to figure out the best technique to write.

More pictures of Australia can be found in my galleries! I have traveled to this diverse country a lot in the last 10 years and have some stories and memories of nearly every state. While Victoria is closest to my heart, with most of my friends living there.

My personal best ones you can find in my portfolio.