Roads less travelled and places less visited - perhaps for good reason

Sunrise on Boydtown Beach

 Tuesday 18th June 

I rose relatively early. The clock in my bedroom was fast, sunrise after my shower was a bonus for a photo from my veranda through the trees on the sand dunes and another from the beach; it was rather delightful to have a couple of hooded plovers cross my path as I walked down to the beach. 

While I am more familiar with these lovely little birds from Tasmania, they are critically endangered in NSW, and the pair I saw are only 1 of 15 pairs nesting on the NSW far south coast. 

Sunrise from my veranda

After breakfast and packing the car, I went for a walk along to the end of the beach, it was most enjoyable as the sun was really warm although the breeze was still quite icy. The beach walk would have been even lovelier if I hadn't been harassed by a couple of off-lead dogs. I don't know what people don't get about it not being OK for their wretched dogs to rush up to random stranger. Their comments ‘oh, they won’t hurt you’ are irrelevant and totally entitled in my view – I don’t want them racing at me and invading my personal space. 

These dogs racing all over the beach is even more a concern given the status of the pair of tiny, endangered hooded plovers. 

Invasive climbing asparagus on the Bundian Way

Boydtown Beach, as did Cuttagee Beach yesterday, has a lot of wood debris and evidence of charcoal – all presumably the result of bushfires and washed down in the to be returned to the shore by storms. 

The lady in the caravan park office knew nothing about my planned Maxwell's Rainforest Walk destination for this morning so it looked as if I was heading off on roads less travelled. 

 I returned to Eden and walked to a short section of the Bundian Way, an Aboriginal story trail which stretches for about 27 kilometres along the coast, but the billed tourist section was suggested as 1.8 kilometres, but I clearly hadn’t read the information closely enough to know that was one way to Quarantine Bay. Given I had a number of other things I wanted to do that day, I turned back before Quarantine Bay. 

Twinfold Bay from the Bundian Way

I was quite amused by one storyboard ‘maybe the white people couldn’t remember the stories of the old people, and the law of the country, so they wrote it down.’ It made me reflect on what is valued in different cultures and how cultures that don’t rely on writing have the most excellent oral history and storytellers. 

I noticed a plant I hadn't seen before and took a photograph; it seemed quite localized so I consulted I-naturalist and I'm rather sad that it was another nasty invasive from South Africa – climbing asparagus. 

There were a few nice native plants to admire, along with scenery, along the way.

Hakea

From there onwards to Maxwells Forest Walk which appears to no longer exists. There is one water tank and tap and a concrete slab where presumably there was a picnic table and maybe a shelter but apart from that, there's very little evidence of anything, so I suspect it was destroyed in the fires. Certainly, the trees show evidence of very intense fire and the new growth is unbelievably thick. I found what might be the beginning of a track but wasn’t prepared to investigate given the jungle like thickness of the new growth. 

Pimella

I found the Mallacoota lookout, it actually sported a sign! I walked up the muddy track to the lookout area and there was still picnic tables and evidence of recent other visitors, but the view was a little underwhelming, perhaps due to the weather conditions. 

As I returned towards the Princess Highway, a phone call from Jade at Dive Eden informed me that while the forecast was possible for a dive tomorrow the water looked a bit like a chocolate milkshake which certainly is not appealing and I chose not to talk her into taking me for a dive. 

Just one of the few fungi on the Bundian Way

I stopped in Genoa, thinking the campsite might be an option for the night, and Google having told me it was a notable historic town; the main features of Genoa seemed to be that you can drive to interesting places from there. 

I explored the by donation campground which was terribly windy, and the section I did of the short historic walk was underwhelming. The Genoa Hotel offered accommodation, but its appearance from the exterior was not inviting. 

From the Mallacoota Lookout - nothing exciting

I continued travelling west, and considered Cann River with its limited accommodation options. At 3pm it was certainly not a buzzing metropolis and the visitor centre was closed – I looked at the caravan park/campsite and while it is a pleasant enough location, and some repeat visitors (in their big rigs) assured me it was safe, I was uninspired. It was damp underfoot and the amenities block was basic – though it did feature (cold) showers. I was a complete wimp and decided to continue, thinking it would be easy enough to find a caravan park with amenities a little further along the road. 

All that's left of the Maxwells Rainforest Walk
Picnic Site

I googled options at Orbost and came up with something at Marlo, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go there, so when I reached the turnoff at Orbost and consulted Google again – it suggested the Snowy River Lodge Motel (with kitchenette rooms) just 5 km down the road, so I proceeded. The exterior looked grim but I found reception, which was no different. My request to view a room before booking was refused. I left. 

I was subsequently a little disappointed that I had not investigated a private Caravan Park at Nowa Nowa - perhaps because it did not appear on my map of East Gippsland.  However subsequent checking of it showed that it had some booking terms and conditions that I related to! I could have enjoyed staying there!

The river at Genoa

So Lakes Entrance it was to be. I phoned ahead and secured a booking for a one bedroom apartment and arrived a little later than anticipated due to their website street address not being related to their actual entrance – just a minor problem! So, travelled further (and in the dark) than intended, but could then relax!

It's not the height of luxury, but I can only imagine it's better than the motel room with the incredibly grim exterior outside Orbust!