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| Me and my trusty steed for the day |
Thursday 20th June
What a lovely way to spend a day at Lakes Entrance. The area is really very flat and there are many bike/pedestrian paths - more than I could manage yesterday on foot, so hire a bike it would be!
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| My ride! |
The day was sunny, although not very warm.
It had been 10 years or more since I last went for a bike ride. After yesterdays 13+km walk, I was unsure about how my knees would hold out, but an agreement that I could come back to the shop and pay for an upgrade to an e-bike set my mind at rest. I did have to suss out the meanings of the different types of bikes - what is a cruiser bike? I needed to ask. It turns out is that style that I ended up with - just your classic bike where you sit upright, handlebars are in a sensible place and everything is much as it was several decades ago.
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| Gippsland lakes from a lookout on the road out of town |
I was terribly wobbly to start with, but it didn't help that I did my little test run on the relatively uneven grassy area beside the shop. I gained confidence with time and even, by the end of my 4 hour hire period, managed to go through all 7 gears and get the confidence to go around corners.... don't laugh!
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| the mouth of the North Arm |
I ended up doing 23+km! And was fairly tired afterwards.
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| mouth of the North Arm, from Bullock Island |
Before all of that, I had started with a trip out to the Aboriginal Art Gallery at Forestec, just 10 minutes drive away. I admired some of the artworks and was sobered by some of the historical photos and pertinent information. There was one framed print I particularly liked - a little reminiscent of Escher's Lizards, if I am to be honest, but it already had a red dot sticker on it. There was an absolutely magnificent possum skin cloak (no photos permitted in the art gallery) with all the decorations on it which represent the owner's 'story' or life history. It is a garment that grows as the person grows - more skins are added from babyhood through to adulthood.
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North Arm from the bridge to Bullock Island
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Disappointingly the indigenous food cafe was closed.
Back to the bike ride: I headed out to the bridge west of Lakes Entrance and across to the Kalimna Jetty track which was quite enjoyable though not a paved walk/ride. I then followed a side track down to a beach which took me to the mouth of the North Arm; from there I saw a fishing boat going through Lakes Entrance so I hoped I'd be able to procure fresh fish the following day. |
| mouth of the North Arm, from Bullock Island |
I crossed to Bullock island and did a little circuit of that, stopping to admire the pelicans yet again, and look at a rather brightly coloured fishing boat (with pelicans).
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| Fishing boat on Bullock Island |
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| Boats for Hire at North Arm |
I also checked out the fish shop, which had a nice selection so I would return the next morning to purchase.
I returned to the 'mainland' and proceeded to ride along North Arm with its plethora of tiny boats available for hire, and again watched more water birds. Observing the pelicans, I think there are a little bit opportunistic - a couple zoomed in to land on the water beside a hire boat which was just drawing up to the jetty - a bit like seagulls around people eating fish and chips!
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| Lake Bunga from the 'beach' |
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| East Beach |
I took the route to Lake Bunga Beach for which, after a while of being on shared bike/walking paths, I had to ride on the road and then on a rougher bushy track and I felt quite intrepid. Lake Bunga Beach is quite pretty - although there was not much beach there!
And then a little diversion to East Beach.
After returning my bike, I decided it was time to take the car to a car wash - every time I go near it, the dirt leaps onto my clothes. I won't call the final product 'clean' - that will need much longer and more application of elbow grease, but I can get in and out without getting my clothes filthy.
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