Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance

Since a public holiday was coming up on a Monday, we decided to take a trip somewhere over the long weekend! The nice thing about Australia is that it's easy to go on road trips anytime. You can just load up your car, and drive wherever. There are plenty of information centres along the way to help you plan your trip, and part of the drive usually has beautiful scenery. 

It's different from living in Singapore where the nearby places are more affordable. At those place you can eat and shop for half or a quarter of the price needed in Singapore. But still, all's good and fun.

^ So off we went! Pardon our dirty window but – I loved this part of the drive. Not main roads, and tall trees lining the way and providing shade. It reminds me of one of the roads around Upper Thomson Road in Singapore where trees line the way like this as well, just that the trees are shorter and thicker. ^

^ Some of the trees had orange leaves. I'm not sure if it's because it was autumn (but probably not because it's only the beginning of autumn), or fires. Some trunks were very dark, looking like they were recovering from a possible fire. ^

I'm learning how common it is to have bush fires here in summer. Not always big, but it's so important to not take things for granted and think it will never happen to you. There are signs all around telling people about fire bans in certain areas. The other day there was one about 5kms from our house that burnt down a few houses. We could see the smoke from our place. 

^ Attempted a walk to Mitchell River but we were in jeans and it was so hot that I decided we should give up ha ha. ^

^ After about 4 hours of driving, we arrived at Bairnsdale! Checked into Comfort Inn Mitchell on Main. Nice, clean, cosy place with friendly staff. Our room had a spa, yay! There was also complimentary basic breakfast (cereal, toast, coffee, juice). I recommend it. It was way less pricey than some other options we saw. ^

^ Bullant Brewery at Bullant – known for their beer, but we shared a cider so I could try some (I can't finish one myself). We were there in time for the warm sunset view. It's a good view because there's lots of space around it – not blocked off. ^

^ We visited Paynesville Market. It's fun going to markets just to see what people sell. We bought a mint plant to start off our garden! ^

 ^ Fun in balls! You climb in through that coloured hole, then roll all around.  ^

 ^ We had this awesome entree at The Grand Terminus. Smoked salmon with garlic sour cream on sour dough. SO yum. The mains were not bad, but not amazing – probably because we expected more after that yummy entree. After the meal, Ian said, if we ever come again, I'm just going to order three of those salmons. And I went, hey! I thought the same thing too! But just that I would order two. Haha. ^

We spent an afternoon at Lakes Entrance which is a 20-30 minute drive from Bairnsdale. Had lunch at Vibez Cafe which was pretty alright. Friendly service and the food was pretty tasty. 

I don't know what was wrong with my pronunciation that weekend; I kept saying things weird. Like, I kept telling Ian, Let's go to Vy-bez cafe... vy-bez. And when we got there, he saw the signboard and said, oh, Vibez. Oh. Right. Vibes with a "z".

Anyway. Thank God for great beach weather! Sunny, with some wind. 

 ^ We went for a spin on these paddle boats! Very fun, safe, easy and relaxing.  ^

And then we decided to walk along a nearby beach shoreline. We asked a local how long it would take. He said, half an hour there and half an hour back. Well... I guess our shorter legs and lack of a lifetime of outback adventures led us to take twice the amount of time. 

But also, we were busy picking shells. There were loads. At first it was my thing to do. Then Ian got into it and we ended up bringing home something like 30 shells?!

^ Spotted quite a few dead jelly fish on one way of the walk. At first we saw just blubs of translucent material in a slug shape and were trying to guess what they were. It was after seeing so many of those and some whole jellyfish, that we realised they were probably jellyfish tentacles. ^

^ Finally made it to the end (or well, halfway mark)! Such blue skies :) Ian had a stick because a sign told us to beware of snakes. Part of the walk was near bushy area where they might lurk. ^

^ And then, we had to walk a seemingly endless way back on the other side of the beach zzz. But the view was beautiful because it was sea all the way out. ^

^ On our way back, we visited Nicholson River Winery where we had antipasto looking at this lovely view. Worth a visit! 

Ian did some wine tasting. The boss was knowledgable and friendly. He said wine is meant to be eaten, not drunk. So instead of pushing it down your throat, you're supposed to kind of taste it with your lips and tongue, like how you would a dish. He said that's what good wine is like. The not-so-good wines are not meant for tasting – but that's because many people don't know how to drink wine properly. ^

^ While we ate, there was another family around. This little boy kept going back to that spot, it was so funny. He would just sit there and do nothing. Then later, he told his Mum, Mum, this is my lovely spot. It is so lovely. Do you want to sit with me at my lovely spot? His mum tried to get him to move to the shade but he didn't want to. Awhile later while they were eating, he went to his Dad and said, Dad, Dad, would you like to see my lovely spot? It's just there, over there. Dad, come see my lovely spot. Haha. Cute. ^

^ The drive back home. Cows, horses and sheep were part of the view. Drives back always seem faster. ^

Yay for a good, restful weekend :)