Gippsland: After the Prom...and now what?

From Wilsons Promontory, we march onto what is known as 'Gippsland' territory.

The Gippsland is known for it flora and fauna (like most other regions of Australia, I guess) but they do seem to have quite a lot of Nature Reserves...almost every other kilometre is some Reserve.

The Gippsland has a lot of lakes and rivers as well as estuaries (where river meets sea). A lot of the rivers and lakes in Gippsland are salt water lakes, which is something different from the clear water lakes of Switzerland. Luckily, there are no alligators or crocodiles in Victoria. Not too sure about New South Wales. :)

Upon leaving Wilsons, we drove about 250km. Think this was probably one of the longest direct stretch of driving we've done in our Spaceship so far.

We drove from: Wilsons - Foster - Toora - Yarram - Sale - Bairnsdale - Metung (to view the ninety mile beach) - Lakes Entrance.

Our long drive from Wilsons (bottom of pic) until Lakes Entrance. Poor Pasci was pooped when we got to the Entrance / Eine lange Fahrt vom Wilsons Nationalpark (unterer Rand des Bildes) nach Lakes Entrance. Armer Pasci war Hundemüde nach der Fahrt...

Driving down Lakes Entrance main road was like being in some 60's movies...there were hotels, motels and caravan parks every other block. This was clearly tourist town. Lakes Entrance, as you may have guessed, is where the lake meets the sea.

Luckily, we chose the right caravan park - it turned out to be the best park we stayed at by far. So good we decided to stay 2 night here to recover. Mainly because they had free wi-fi. :-)

Ahhh.....What a welcoming sign after 6 hours of driving... / Ahhh....Was für ein Willkommensgruss nach 6 Stunden Fahrt...

Hard work writing our Blog - until late (midnight)! / Harte Arbeit bis spät in der Nacht, Mishell am Blog schreiben!

The next day, we went in search of fresh seafood at the wharf, which our Lonely Planet guide informs will be sign-posted by the fishermen boats. Et voila - we spotted one that said 'Prawns & Bugs'. We bought 400gms of fresh prawns and 1 Calamari for AUD$5.50. Amazing! We decided NOT to go for something called 'bugs'.

We also learnt that Calamari is a more superior specie to the common squid, which is apparently not to be confused with calamari.

Long queue for the Prawns and Bugs....must be a good sign! :) / Lange Schlange um frische Crevetten und Fisch zu kaufen....muss ein gutes Zeichen sein! :)

AUD $5.50 for prawns AND calamari - what a bargain! / AUD 5.50$ für Crevetten und Calamari - was für ein Schnäppchen!

After a relaxing day of walking around (it was too windy to go canoeing), a yummy dinner spaghetti ala gambetti è calamari and sipping our Tawny whilst watching a dvd rented from the local video store.

Walk around Metung - a small fishing town around the corner from Lakes Entrance. / Spaziergang in Metung - eine kleines Fischerdorf in der nähe von Lakes Entrance.

'Bombers' in the sky...Pelicans somehow look like bombers in the sky, and then land very clumsily on the water...almost like skiing onto the water. / 'Bomber' in der Luft...Pelikane schauen wie Flugzeugbomber aus, und sie landen etwas unsicher im Wasser...ein bisschen wie Wasser-Ski.

Black Swans on Metung Lake - which is a salt water lake / Schwarze Schwäne auf Metung See - welches ein Salzwasser See ist

Our lunch - homemade cheeseburger with coleslaw. That satisfied Pasci's constant demands for burger for a while! / Unser Mittagessen - Hausgemachter Cheesburger mit Kabissalat. Das hat Pasci's Hunger nach Burger gestillt!

The fancy Lakes Entrance caravan park - all brand new renovated. The colourful thing is a 'jumping pillow', i.e. kiddies' corner (for us to stay far away from) / Der schöne Lakes Entrance Caravan Park - alles neu renoviert. Das farbige Ding ist ein 'Hüpfkissen'

The well equipped kitchen that Mishell approves of. :) / Die gut ausgerüstete Küche hat Mishell gefallen

One guy 'caught' about 2 kgs of prawns that day (for free!!)...Apparently, all he had to do was shine the torchlight in the water and have a net ready to scoop the prawns. Mishell couldnt believe he just threw the stock away! / Jemand hat ca. 2kg Crevetten gefangen (gratis!!!)..Angeblich musste er nur mit der Taschenlampe leuchten und dann mit dem Netz die Crevetten rausfischen. Mishell konnte nicht glauben dass er den Sud einfach ausgoss!

Our dinner with fresh prawns and calamari - just simply cooked with some garlic, shallots and fresh chili & stock. Yum! / Unser Abendessen mit frischen Crevetten und Calamari - einfach gekocht mit Knoblauch, Scharlotten und frischen Chilli! Yum!

Rested, we drove on northbound, leaving Gippsland and towards the Sapphire Coast, leaving Victoria and entering New South Wales.