We had spent the previous night at a caravan park just outside Sale - it wasn't very special & seemed rather tired & run-down. However, we had left our arrangements a bit late & decided that it would have to do. It was cheap ($25) & we slept very well, so didn't feel that we had suffered unduly.
Sale seemed more like mid-west America than Australia. There were a lot of motor bikers about & we noticed a shop, next to the Baptist Church, advertising "Fire Arms"!
The sky was overcast as we drove towards "Stratford on the River Avon", sounding very English but looking very Australian with its wide main street & trees down the centre. It had some lovely homes, one in particular with a picturesque rose-filled garden.
The bikers sped past us as we travelled towards Bairnsdale, where we stopped to re-fuel, & a number of white cockatoos flew overhead (we had already been serenaded by a kookaburra before leaving the caravan park).
At Lakes Entrance, we stopped for a couple of hours & had a walk round, looking at the shops, boats, pelicans, etc. This was our second visit & we vaguely remembered some of it, particularly the steep drive down into the town.
We moved on into fairly densely wooded country, which was still hilly & provided grazing land wherever it had been cleared. We stopped at a Rest Area to have our lunch & listened to the loud noise of cicadas as we ate.
Eventually, we passed a sign welcoming us to "Snowy River Country" & crossed the wide Snowy itself (something else that I remembered marking on a map in my far off school days). It was an area of fertile plains & green fields, where lucky cattle grazed on the lush grass. The route continued up & down, becoming steep & very winding.
The forest of tall gums became thicker &, occasionally, tree ferns appeared at the lower level. A sign warned that kangaroos could appear over the next 20km & I sincerely hoped that none would jump out in front of us. However, we did see a very large dead wombat - such a shame!
We finally stopped in Merimbula, where the hills were ultra-steep, but the caravan park looked very inviting.
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