Around Australia with the Ralphs 1990 - Lakes Entrance to Melbourne 23rd-31st January 1990

At the time of writing Jacqui has returned from the laundry at 9:45 PM and told me the manager has just told her off for washing after 9:00 PM. The games room with noisy kids and blaring TV is open until 10:30 PM! We both agree we must leave here tomorrow.

The pool provided entertainment this morning-Lachlan was soon able to discard his floaty and at the end of the morning was able to swim, dog paddle style half, the length of the 20m pool.

Before boarding the MV Thunderbird for our tour of the Gippsland Lakes Jacqui bought herself a new hat with a large brim that wouldn’t be out of place at Flemington on Cup day. A backpack bag was also purchased to carry video cameras and other sundry day trip items. As an aside we looked at the new pair of thongs for Rohan having accused him of losing his thongs (or, as we often claimed throughout this trip, that they were "stolen")and found him guilty as charged! Just as well we couldn’t find the right size as the thongs turned up later that day.

The cruise was comfortable, fast and we saw many aspects of the Gippsland Lakes from the sterile and distant interior of the Thunderbird. Cruising at 20 knots and looking down from the upper deck on the natives including fishermen, yachtsman, bird life and local residents, felt like watching TV.

The Thunderbird's captain reminded me at one glance of George Cochrane [a farmer friend] and at another like Virgil from the TV series Thunderbirds. I'll give him one thing he kept his commentary to a minimum and what he did say was interesting and informative.

The bridge was laid out appropriately for such a vessel with steering by push button, one for port and the other for starboard. There were 4 radios, only 2 of which were in operation. The captain used the 27 Meg set as we were return to harbour where a 6m fishing boat was moored smack bang in the middle of the channel. As the Thunderbird bore down on them the captain pointed out over the radio that at 5Kn steering this big cat was difficult. That got the moored vessel – dad hauled in the anchor and mum stoked up the big Evinrude outboard smoking them out of the way in 10 seconds flat.

Docking the Thunderbird was a back and fill job. Once he had started the craft moving backwards the captain nonchalantly walked out on the bridge and headed to the stern, hands in pockets. I thought another crew member must be controlling the vessel from below. Not so, as we veered towards a moored pleasure cruiser, the Captain opened a stainless steel box to reveal another set of controls and we were skilfully moored before you could say “all systems go Virgil.”

Dinner was an excess of abalone and red mowong, grilled, accompanied by roast potato and corn. The corn was yummy purchased from the farm on the Snowy River near Buchan.

With plenty of daylight I took the kids over a footbridge to 90 Mile beach.

Wednesday 24th January 1990

Everyone around us kept telling us how hot it was going to be today as we packed up the van to leave the Lakes Entrance Water’s Edge caravan park. They were 100% accurate in their forecast.

Leaving Lakes Entrance, headed towards Gavin and Lynette's Inverloch holiday home, we had a fantastic view of part of the Gippsland Lake System and its entrance from a few kilometres west of town on the crest of a scarp.

From there to Bairnsdale and Sale it got progressively hotter - the kids were pouring water over themselves to keep cool.

We heard on the radio after leaving Sale that the temperature was in the high 30s. By the time we reached Yarram both Jacqui and I were feeling strange. We found a shopping complex, similar to Warriewood Square, where we sat for the next 2 hours, grocery shopping, buying Lachlan a new pair of running shoes and me a pair of thongs.

Someone stole my $20 Kmart Akubra look-alike hat that I left on a seat. I suppose the best part of this was that we were able to spend an extra hour in the cool of the shopping centre as we searched. At around 4:00 o'clock we went out into the 40-degree blast furnace, stopping at the police station. The policeman was amused and admitted no one had ever handed in a hat.

Just as I got back into the car the weather changed. It stayed windy, perhaps even more windy than it had been, but more importantly the wind now came from the south west instead of the north and the temperature plunged by at least 10 to 15 degrees C.

The rest of the trip to Inverloch was much more comfortable and we arrived at 7 Lavington St just after 5:00 PM. No one was home so reluctant to set up without asking permission, we went into town where hamburgers chips etc. fed the kids.

When we returned Lynette was home. Gavin, Damien, and Jordan had gone to Melbourne on a bus. We set the van up in the drive and Lynette fed us salad with wine making us feel very welcome even though we had arrived unannounced 3-4 days early than expected.

[2020 note: Lynette and Gavin camped with us at Cape Conran. Their 2 boys, Jordan and Damon had a lot of fun playing with our kids and we became friends. They invited us to stay with them for a few days at their Inverloch holiday home. Our bad experience at the lakes Entrance Caravan park and the very hot weather prompted us to arrive in Inverloch several days earlier than they expected. Without their telephone numbers we were unable to call in advance.]

Thursday 25th January 1990

This morning we had breakfast in the house, a pleasant change from the usual fare around the fold-up table under the annex. Not that I mind eating outside, it was just a pleasant change.

After watching Play School and Sesame Street, Jacqui, Lynette, Anja, and Rohan went into town to the doctors to have Rohan vaccinated and Lynnette's ears looked at. While they were gone Lachlan and I walked to the beach where we built a sandcastle. The wind was strong, and the temperature cold compared to yesterday.

After lunch Lynette took us to Eagles Nest, 6 kilometres east of Inverloch. A prominent headland at least as high as Long Reef at its highest point with a 20-metre-high monolith on the rock platform. We walked down a set of primitive stairs onto the platform where we strolled around the monolith.

Returning to the doctors Jacqui was put through the rope for some reason, and Rohan is still not vaccinated. We would have to wait until next Tuesday, but we won't be in Inverloch then!

Friday 26 January 1990

Australia day was typically Australian for us. The weather was hot, although not as hot as it could be, and we enjoyed a typical Australian day by going to the beach.

The morning was consumed by nothing much. Jacqui did a little washing, buy hand as Gavin and Lynette don't have a functional washing machine, while the rest of us slothed around.

Having discovered that Rohan cannot be vaccinated Jacqui returned to the surgery to ask for a refund - we had paid for a service which we had not received. The receptionist would only refund the part we had paid which could not be recovered for Medicare, claiming that the service would consequently not cost us anything. My feeling is that we should enclose a note with our Medicare claim stating that this doctor was claiming for a service that he or she did not render.

After lunch we all packed into Gavin’s brown light ace van and drove the 30 or so kilometres to the surf beach at Venus Bay.

A northerly wind was working against a 2m surf rolling in from Bass Strait, with spray streaming back from the breakers just before they crashed into the shallow sandbank. Without a channel and with 200 metres of shallow water before the breaking wave even young kids could enjoy the bracing waters without being punished by the pounding surf.
Throughout the afternoon the wind veered to sou-easter and the surf became chopped and irregular. The kids all enjoyed digging in the moist fine-grained sand except Rohan - he went to sleep in Jacqui's arms wrapped like a baby in swaddling to protect him from wind and sun.

That evening I cooked pizza and we enjoyed a bottle of Gavin's red wine before delicious fruit salad.

Lynette had been unwell in the morning suffering the effects of an ear infection but was obviously her old self by late afternoon judging by the good natural nature jibes that passed around the kitchen as we prepared the pizza.

Just before dark at around 9:15 PM we went for a walk and ended up at a putt putt course where Gavin generously shouted all the kids an 18-hole round. All had a great time, even Rohan. Until the ball was not returned from the hole and he cried uncontrollably: “I want my ball.” He cried like this during the entire walk back to the house. Holiday makers and residents along the one-kilometre walk must have believed we were child molesters.

Comfortably seated around the square, smoke glass, coffee table the grownups enjoyed a stimulating discussion until around midnight. The stimulation came mainly from the well-aimed, barbed comments made by wives and fired at husbands. Gavin and I suffered in silence. Jackie notes "BULLSHIT!"

Saturday 27th January 1990

Our most relaxed departure so far.

Jacqui took Anja and went to buy thank you presents for Lynette and Gavin then they went with Lynette and Jordan to a craft market in Inverloch.

While they were gone, I packed the van and by the time lunch was on the table everything was packed and ready to go. We left at 3:00 PM heading for Dandenong via Cape Paterson.

The majority of the traffic was heading towards the country, out of Melbourne, for a long weekend. On a bridge crossing a small Creek a few kilometres West of Lang Lang one holiday had ended in grief. Traffic was banked up for several kilometres on the outbound side of the dual carriage way. They converged into one lane to cross the 15 metre wide grass strip separating the roads then crossing the bridge on the wrong side. In situations such as this the CB radio would prove its use. People talked about the cause of the problem, it's extent and alternative routes.

The Twin Bridges caravan park proved to be acceptable to Jacqui, so we set up van and annex on concrete slabs before cooking dinner on the communal barbecue not far away.
Dandenong station provided a timetable for train services so we could visit Sue [friends of Basil and Judy’s] by train tomorrow; the supermarket provided ice creams and a drive in bottle shop grog before we returned to the caravan park for showers and bed.

Our camping site in Dandenong

One of the locals advised me to lock up the bikes, which I have done by putting Lachlan’s and my bikes on a bike rack, which in turn is locked to the safety chain of the van.

Sunday 28th January 1990

An almost unprecedented 7:00 AM wake up so we could be on the 8:50 AM train from Dandenong to South Yarra. The kids enjoyed the train ride on a comfortable V line train as it spread through the almost deserted suburbs sleeping behind graffiti scrawled fences and walls.

Out South Yarra we changed and caught a train back to Balaclava where an inquiry from a newspaper shop proprietor led us the three blocks to Patrick’s (Pat) and Sue Mahoney’s house.

We had a great time with them and their friends from nearby houses. Pat’s easy charm and good conversation, along with Sue's brilliant suggestion to hire 3 videos for the kids, made the day pass quickly. Even the weather, which had threatened rain early in the day, behaved itself so we were able to sit on Sue’s elegant dining room chairs outside in the small brick paved backyard while Pat did the honours with sausages and chops on the Barbie. Much wine was consumed, and many good jokes had us in rolls of laughter.

By about 3:00 PM the kids were a bit toey, so it was off to Saint Kilda’s Botanic Gardens where the kids gave the adventure playground a thorough workout. But for Anja’s sore throat and general malaise we would have stayed for dinner, but it was clear that home and bed were needed. Patrick drove us to Caulfield station from where the 8:02 speed us to Dandenong by its scheduled 8:31 PM arrival time.

Being Sunday, we made our usual phone calls and Jacqui found that the reason the iron wasn't at Sue’s was that Basil wouldn't tell Nicky Sue's address. This caused jacqui much angst and she was furious with her father’s apparently misplaced concern for Sue and Patrick’s privacy. Subsequently Elaine and George sent the iron to the General Post Office in Melbourne.

Monday 29th January 1990

A late rise and basically a very quiet day as Anja is suffering from a very sore throat and only feels OK after a dose of panadol.

At around 2:30 PM we piled into the car, filled up with Solo petrol at 61.5cpL and navigated by memory (I looked at a map in the caretaker’s office) to the Dandenong Ranges, about 40 minutes from our caravan park in the suburb of Dandenong.

The kids went to sleep on the way there and Rohan and Jacqui stayed with the car while Anja, Lachlan and I walked amongst incredibly tall, straight gums and tree ferns.

We cruised around the Dandenongs admiring the trees, ferns houses, craft shops etc.,etc. etc.until in desperation I asked for directions to the lookout. Today was relatively clear and the CBD of Melbourne rose compactly from the very flat expanse of suburban Melbourne.

The trip home was punctuated by a visit to the VIP 24-hour bulk billing medical centre where a doctor checked out Anja (she has the ‘flu) and gave Rohan his for injection of triple antigen. To amuse us the surgery they had a huge projection television screen, with the Commonwealth games showing. We saw Australia’s women's 400x100m medley relay team win a gold medal. Also, next to the television, for reasons obscure, was a white Hyundai baby grand piano. Lachlan was fascinated to see the hammers strike the keys and Rohan thought it was just as well he was at a medical centre when he pulled down the piano’s cover onto his fingers.

Finally we spent 45 minutes driving around the centre of Dandenong looking for fruit and veggies with no luck as all shops were closed.

Tuesday 30th January 1990

When a North wind blows across Melbourne in January you can should be sure of one thing: it's going to be hot! Hot it was too - about 38 deg C.

Hot days are best escaped and this is what we did, we spent 90% of the day inside air-conditioned shops. Now, rarely, would I suggest a day shopping with 3 kids, but we needed to buy certain things and today just happened to be the day we had set aside to buy them. A happy coincidence.

We bought all those things which had we obvioulsy needed needed as we went along. Or things we said "wouldn't it be good if we had…." Items included a jack for levelling the van, a grill and integrated fry pan with fold-up legs to go over campfires, cleats to tie off the awning lines so they can’t move when putting it up the awning, zippers, food etc.

Returning to the van at around 6:30 PM we had a strange meal of beer, biscuits, dip, tomato sandwiches, beer, fruit, and beer. The same for the kids but without the beer.

The cool change arrived at about 10:30 PM bringing a strong smell of sulphur from the industry to the south west. Kids didn't settle down until about this time, but the clothes Jacqui washed did dry in about 1 hour flat!

Wednesday 31st January 1990

Jacqui packed up while I took my bike, bike rack and the bike seat to the station. We had decided to send the above to Chatswood station from Dandenong at a cost $59 because they were not being used and were simply added weight and something that needed to be packed and unpacked at each stop.

By 11:30 AM we were heading up the Mulgrave and South East Freeway towards Melbourne for our date with the Abel Tasman. We were not treated well by the drivers in Melbourne. They were reluctant to let us merge and never showed any courtesy towards us.

As is my want we arrived at the terminal well before it was necessary. Jacqui notes in the diary that “this is an understatement. We were about four hours early and they told us to go away!” - leaving us lots of time to kill.

After lunch at the end of Station Pier, where we watched Harbour Trust employees spend a an hour removing seaweed from a small beach, we headed into town to pick up parcels at the GPO....with caravan in tow.

The city loomed before us quickly enough, but we soon slowed to a fast walk once enmeshed in the traffic. At least I didn't have trams to worry about as there was a tram drivers’ strike. The trams were a source of amusement for the kids as they sat “sulking” nose to tail in the centre of the busy city streets.

Parking the car and van in Melbourne’s CBD was a task not even contemplated, so I dropped Jacqui in front of the GPO and began driving around the block - three times before Jacqui emerged! Even though I got to know the route well enough I could feel the muscles noting in my neck. All in all, it was an experience to be missed. To top it all off the packages were expecting from George and Elaine - our iron and periodicals - were not at the GPO!

Both of us were in a foul temper as we fought the Spencer St traffic and headed back to the ferry terminal at port Melbourne.

Having finally cracked Jacqui decided a new iron was an absolute necessity equally as important as water and oxygen. We found a shopping centre and as usual parking proved interesting. I pulled into a small parking area off the main street and took up four spaces. I have to say that the prospect of getting out was something which remained at a high level in my consciousness. While Jacqui purchased an iron and other sundry items, I amused the kids in a nearby park.

As is so often the case getting the van out of the car park wasn't quite as difficult as I had imagined. Backing was the only way it could be done, and it only took three goes to get it out onto the street, holding up some prospective parkers in the meantime. One holier-than-thou gentlemen in a white Range Rover looked down on us and pronounced “you shouldn't go in there”, just as we escaped. Jacqui, already flustered by our trip into the city for nought, called out “Melbourne hick” at the top of her voice! I drove off as fast and anonymously as is possible. Jacqui notes in the diary the bloke in the Range Rover said: “If you can't reverse that trailer you shouldn't be driving it” after we kept him waiting 2 minutes while we reversed out of the car park. [2020 note – fair enough!]

At 4:00 PM we joined the already 100 metre long queue for the ship. Wey began to move 45 minutes later only to be shunted into a queue for “strange” vehicles where we sat for a further 20 minutes going nowhere fast. At long last we were directed into the bowels of the Trans Tasman line vessel, the Abel Tasman.

$1230 return on the ferry between Melbourne and Devonport in Tasmania - that was a lot of money, then and it is a lot of money now!

After extracting pre-packaged clothes and bedding, for Rohan's cot, we made our way up several flights of stairs to the purser’s office. There was a queue for the keys, but 20 minutes later we entered cabin C 644. The kids were pleased to be on board with Rohan repeating “We going on this ship? This our ship?” as he pointed all around with eyes wide.

Again, we ascended the steep red carpeted stairs to the observation deck to watch as the Abel Tasman slipped its mooring lines and began its trip for Tasmania through port Phillip Bay. Port Phillip Bay is huge! We spent until well after sunset, which we could not see as it was overcast, before we finally entered the open sea conditions of bass Strait - probably at around 9:30 PM. Up until this time the covered observation deck immediately above the bridge was a good place to be: out of the cool wind yet giving a clear view.

Once the ship started pitching Jacqui started to feel unwell so we retired to our cabin. I showered and dressed the kids and Jacqui was flat on her back asleep having taken travel sickness pills.

Before I went to bed I ventured onto the stern observation deck, just aft of the smoke stack. We were headed into an apparent wind which felt like 80 Km/h on a bike. To walk meant to hunch over into the wind to keep balance. As the night progressed the seas got larger and at times we were launched into freefall above our beds. The kids and Jacqui slept through it all and have no recollection of this part of our trip.