"No matter where you go, there you are."

SOUTH OF THE BORDER INTO MEXICO

LAKES ENTRANCE TO WONTHAGGI

Sunday 3^rd December:

We entered Mexican territory (Victoria) this morning on our way to Lakes Entrance. It’s a very popular place and it would be very crowded during the holidays. There are at least 30 caravan parks all squeezed onto small blocks of land, just like sardines, yuk! We booked into the Eastern Beach CP run by the council and much better, not so squeezy. Ferg and I took a very long walk in the afternoon into town along the lake then back along the beach. Poor old Twistie was exhausted, not to mention me.

Monday 4^th December:

The Lakes Entrance area is very beautiful, there are three main lakes all converging at the entrance. We took a drive over to Metung, a very pretty and exclusive lake side village. Back at the Entrance we called into the bowls club to put out names down for a game. While there we noticed a very small van park behind the club at the local showground. The van sites were situated on the lakes edge so we decide to make the move. Within an hour we were settled in and watching the swans and pelicans swim by. We spent the afternoon bowling and had a great time. Ferg won the prize for best team and we also both won the two raffles of $10 club vouchers. So we decided to eat out at the bistro in the evening and use up the vouchers. All in all a great day!

Tuesday 5^th December:

We went for an early morning walk along the lake and got some good photos of the pelicans. I walked into town to check out the local shops while Ferg watched the cricket. We decided to play bowls again this afternoon and had another good game. We got back to the van just in time to enjoy the sunset over the lake.

Wednesday 6^th December:

We are on the move again today, further south to Wilson’s Promotory. We checked out both Sandy Point and Waratah Bay but both van parks were a bit run down so we ended up in Foster, just north of the “Prom”. After taking a walk around the town we spent the afternoon chatting to our neighbours in the park.

Thursday 7^th December:

We were going to drive down to Wilson's Promotory National Park this morning but have decided against it. We will try to get back here over the next few weeks while we are staying in Wonthaggi. We arrived in Wonthaggi by noon and found Ferg's sisters house. It was a bit of a struggle getting the van into the back yard as it was a bit narrow but we finally did it. We had a lovely lamb roast dinner with Kim, Phil and Joan (John's Mum) in the evening.

CANBERRA to DALMENY

Tuesday 21^st November:

We went to the National Library today to use their internet connection. It was full of boffins and very hush hush! In the afternoon we did some more sightseeing. We visited the National Gallery and wandered among the Monets, Picassos, McCubbins and Boyds just to name a few. Wow, it was great to see the real thing, specially Monet’s “Water Lillies”. We also wandered around the sculpture gardens which overlooks Lake Burley Griffin. We then moved on to Parliament House which was quite interesting. The main foyer is full of marble and timber paneling. No “Pollies” about just lots of tourists!

Wednesday 22^nd November:

Rest day today, no sightseeing! We visited the Belconnen Food Markets and also the Westfield Shopping Centre. It is very hot today with a gusty hot wind blowing. There is a total fire ban here in the ACT. We spent the afternoon tucked up in our airconditioned van.

Thursday 23^rd November:

We got away early from Canberra and headed east towards Bateman’s Bay. It’s a nice spot but couldn’t find a dog friendly van park so we continued south to Moruya to the Riverbreeze Caravan Park overlooking the river. Once we had settled in we took a drive further south through Bodalla, Dalmeny and Narooma. We found a fantastic council park in Dalmeny overlooking the ocean so we will be moving tomorrow. Narooma is very pretty and the Wagonga Inlet waters are crystal clear. We took a walk along the wharf and spotted an eagle ray right under the jetty.

Friday 24^th November:

Happy Birthday Ferg! We got up early this morning and took a walk in the Mogo State Forest and a drive out to Moruya Heads. We were on the road by 9am heading for Dalmeny. It didn’t take us long before we had our feet up overlooking the ocean. We were treated to a couple of whales passing by. They were breaching out of the water and doing a lot of tail and pectoral flapping. It was fantastic to watch all from the comfort of our deck chairs! We took another drive into Narooma and wandered along the Mill Point Boardwalk which has been built right over the water. We spotted two octopus in the water. Back at camp we joined our neighbours for happy hour and we shouted ourselves pizzas for Ferg’s birthday dinner.

Saturday 25^th November:

We have decided to stay in Dalmeny for a week as it is such a great spot. We woke up to a glorious day, Ferg took a walk along the beach and I sat under the annexe and drank in the view. Later we went fossicking along the rocks on the point. We had a lazy day watching cricket and checking out the surfers riding the waves. We again joined our neighbours for happy hour then cooked up some flathead fillets and chips for dinner.

Sunday 26^th November:

We visited the Narooma Markets today and I bought a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle to keep me busy. It’s rather cold today, we had to drag out the winter woolies. The afternoon was spent playing bowls at the Narooma Bowls Club. We had a great afternoon playing mixed triples.

Monday 27^th November:

The weather has changed again, it is a magnificent day, the sun is shining, the wind has dropped and the whales are passing by our front door. Ferg joined our neighbour down at the beach to go beach worm hunting. Apparently they are the bees knees for bait around here.

Tuesday 28^th November:

We didn’t go anywhere this morning, just stayed around the van and soaked up the sun and the view. I finally finished the jigsaw. Our neighbour gave us some beach worms so we went fishing in the afternoon. We chose a spot on Kianga Beach and did a bit of surf fishing. Both Ferg and I caught a salmon each which we cooked up for dinner.

Wednesday 29^th November:

We did some sightseeing today. We headed south to Central Tilba and arrived in the town at 9am. Unfortunately most of the galleries and shops didn’t open until 10am. We visited the cheese factory and took a walk up to the lookout overlooking the town. The whole town is heritage listed and very pretty. We drove further south to Bermagui, which is another nice coastal town. We didn’t stay long as a very strong southerly had picked up and we had left our annexe out on the van. So it was a quick trip back to Dalmeny to secure the van. After lunch we drove back to Central Tilba and spent an enjoyable hour looking at all the galleries.

Thursday 30^th November:

Ferg got the cleaning bug this morning and gave the car and caravan a bath while I did a load of washing. It was a lot colder today but at least the wind had dropped. We went to bowls in Narooma in the afternoon. Ferg and I teamed up and won both our pairs games. Everyone is very friendly around here, it's a shame we are moving on tomorrow.