Lunch at the pie shop in Braybridge ( nice pies)

There are still dark clouds, that occasionally burst with torrential rain.

Tonight  

Surrounded by burnt eucalypts that have been burnt to the core, but the understory regrowth is dense.

Wild camp No 14

Camped at Pikes Saddle.

Today : 180 Kms

Total : 2182 Kms

Altitude : 1241 m

Tuesday 1st February 2022

We thought the ground was moving such was the number of sheep in the paddock.

At Nimmitabel there is an old hand built windmill.

Geldmacher’s Mill

Built of local basalt by John Geldmacher in the late 1860’s . Built to grind wheat when finished after 5 years of construction he was denied operation by the council as the mill was too close to the road the noise would frighted the passing horses. he then converted it to horse power, first for flour then timber.

The original settlers hut in Delegate. That town name derived from the Aboriginal name for “One Big Hill’

Robert Campbell settled and built here in 1827.

The buildings were restored in 1988 as part of the Bi-centennial celebrations

 The ‘original lock’ up at Bendoc

Wild camp No 15

Delegate River Camp

Today : 206 Kms

Total : 2383 Kms

Altitude : 899 m

Wednesday 2nd February 2022

Our morning walk is a 5km walk through the Errinunda Old Growth Forest walk.

In  an area that has never been logged., these trees  - Errinunda Shining Gum Trees - are up to 600 years old.

In Victoria any tree over 4 metres in diameter are now permanently protected, be it is Parks, Reserves or State Forest

I Love you !

I want you !

I want your BLOOD...

76 of the little suckers tried to attack us on the 2.5 hour walk.

At 60m with a base of over 19m these giants are huge and are listed on the National Trust database

The remains of a boiler at an old saw mill at  Goongerah

Wild camp No 16

Pettmans Beach Camp - East of Lakes Entrance

Today : 143Kms

Total : 2531 Kms

Altitude : 0 m

The actual camp area is very flooded so as this is the end of the track and not a sole in sight.

The road is good for us.

After nearly 3 weeks of mountains it is nice to see the ocean again.

Thursday 3rd February 2022

Just outside Orbost the Stoney Creek Trestle Bridge.

Built in 1916 using local Red Ironbark and Grey Box timbers, it extended the railway from Bairnsdale to Orbost.

At 246m long and 20m high it is the largest standing bridge of its kind in  Victoria.

This is a great example of early engineering skills and manpower that made do with the resources and materials found locally.

Do the skills exist today ?

perhaps using different materials.

The master question ...

Would the manpower, sorry person power, complete such a task ???

The Lock Ness monster appears to now live in the Gippsland Lakes costal lakes.

The rough waters of the Gippsland coast has captured a few ships.

This is the remains of the iron sailing barque ‘Trinculo’ that was blown ashore in a gale in 1879.

Wild camp No 17

Just south of the above on 90Mile Beach.

Today : 272 Kms

Total : 2804 Kms

Altitude : 10 m

 Thursday 4th February 2022

No so Wild Camp No 18

The Tidal River National parks Camp site in the Wilsons Promontory - Hundreds of vans, tents, campers and people !!!

Today : 203 Kms

Total : 3007 Kms

Altitude : 10 m

 

Tomorrow the final leg into Melbourne

Our final Camp in the back streets of Albert Park/Melbourne, 5 mins from the Princess of Tasmania RoRo loading.

To Quote Gx20

“ Home is where you park it”

For those interested in doing such a trip, here is the Pocket Earth and GPX Files

Just the road trip:

[2022-02-03 20h59m02s]Brisbane to Melbourne by Dirt.pocketearth_archive

[2022-02-03 21h14m33s]Brisbane to Melbourne by Dirt.gpx

The above including POI’s and camp sites

[2022-02-03 21h15m36s]Brisbane - Melbourne + POIs.pocketearth_archive

[2022-02-03 21h15m47s]Brisbane - Melmourne + POIs.gpx

Enjoy...