Lakes Entrance – Gippsland Lakes – Flemington

It’s now my birth month and what a special way to celebrate!

We now have made it to Victoria! First short stop is Lakes Entrance and it was stunning. The view from ‘Jemmys Point Lookout’ is amazing as you can see the lakes coming together with the ocean. We are grateful for the amazing weather we have had recently, the water has been so clear and blue. Lakes Entrance was an easy detour on our way to camp at the Gippsland lakes.

Wow we have never seen so many FREE camps all in one place, Gippsland lakes area really takes the crown with providing plenty of free camps. We stayed along a stretch of the coast called 90 mile beach, and that’s what it is known for, 94 miles (to be precise)of stunning white sandy beaches with a massive amount of free camps, how cool! The camping areas were scattered along the beach just sheltered behind the sand dunes.

We spent our second day at 90 mile beach getting the troopy ready to be self sufficient without the caravan.  We have added a fold down sink with added storage in the door, flyscreens over the rear windows for when it gets hot and a place to store the fishing rods (future blog to come about our sweet Troopy setup).

Current Camp Location:  C7 Ninety mile beach (see wiki camps for location)

Cost = FREE 

Travelled From: Eden

Distance Travelled:  377 kilometres

Next Stop: Wilsons Promontory

On our way to Melbourne we HAD to check out Wilson Promontory, it came highly recommended by so many travellers that we couldn’t miss it. ‘Wilsons Prom’ is a peninsula that forms the southernmost point of mainland Australia. We were warned that it was expensive to stay around the National Park but trusty Wiki camps showed us a cheap $15/night camp called Shallow Inlet, in a suburb called Yanakie. This is only about 35 minutes from the action so we dropped off the van and headed to Wilsons Promontory National Park for our day trip (entry to the National Park is FREE for day visits). We went straight to the Tidal River Information Centre and grabbed a map and had the key attractions pointed out to us. First we chilled in Norman bay for a quick dip then off to walk up to the Oberon Summit walk/lookout which was stunning, another lookout where you feel on top of the world . Only a quick stop at Wilsons but one to remember.

Current Camp Location:  Shallow Inlet, Yanakie (see wiki camps for location)

Cost = $15/night

Travelled From: Gippsland lakes/Ninety mile beach

Distance Travelled:  155 kilometres

Next Stop: Melbourne

Getting closer to my birthday we realised it is on a Saturday, we worked out that we would be around Melbourne and I was excited about the opportunity to get dressed up and head to Flemington for the races!  After Wilsons Prom we dropped off the caravan just outside of Melbourne for a couple of weeks until we return from Tasmania (too expensive to take both the van & troopy across Bass Straight on the Spirit of Tasmania). So now we are living out of the Troopy and stayed across from the races at Footscray Park. I was a bit unsure about sleeping in a carpark to start with, but like everything on the trip so far it works out great! Zac cooked me a lovely BBQ the night before my birthday and a morning breaky overlooking the river along Footscray park before we began to get ready for the races. We managed to sneak into the Victoria Uni looking like students to use their hot showers and from there we were just a short walk over the bridge to the race course. Flemington Racecourse is massive and very cool. The flowers and different areas to explore made our day, and to top it off the Melbourne Food and Wine fest was on and joined up with this race day to offer wine tasting and cooking classes. A great day, a great birthday and a great weekend in Melbourne.

Current Camp Location:  Footscray Park (Ssshhh)

Cost = FREE 

Travelled From: Wilsons Prom

Distance Travelled:  196 kilometres

Next Stop: The Grampians

We have now travelled to the Grampians which is around two and a half hours west of Melbourne and stopped in at an awesome free camp called Plantation Campground, not far at all from the Grampians, heaps of space, clean toilets and even a shower, BONUS!  Keep an eye out for our next blog on the Grampians.

Holly xx

 

Current Camp Location:  Plantation Campground (see wiki camps for location)

Cost = FREE 

Travelled From: Footscray Park, Melbourne

Distance Travelled: 254 kilometres

Total Distance Traveled:  988 kilometres

Next Stop: Brisbane (flying back for a few days)