Day 6 Tuesday 14/2/2023 Nicholson, sunny 21˚

It was a cool night and good for sleeping. Woody cooks his favourite breakfast, kidneys in gravy, for himself only. Thank goodness. We have a lazy breakfast in the sun. ‘A’ is winning over the little dogs’ Nic and Pearl, with doggie treats. The fisherfolk are getting their rods ready for a day out. ‘Repeat’ surprises wife C with a 48^th anniversary cooked breakfast and bubbles. Everyone who walks past stops to partake in the celebrations. At this point, I should mention that C is still in her pyjamas and things are starting to resemble some kind of bush sleepover. The fisherfolk have been lured into the bubbles and VeeWee is muttering “Have they checked the tides?”. They eventually get away at 11:30 and rather than visit the fine fishing spots about 10k’s away they’re heading off to Lake Tyers about 40k’s away. We reckon they’re probably going to end up in the pub, after yesterday’s slip-ups the Fun Guy is pretty well legless anyway.

With Double or Nuthin’, Shirley Temple and VeeWee on board we drive out to the Mitchell River silt jetties. The silt jetties created by the Mitchell River are the longest in the world. Just south of Bairnsdale on the Paynesville road we have Toothless, his Missus and H behind us in the Landcruiser. We are all having a bit of a giggle as this is not Toothless’ kind of place, there’s not a lot to see it’s more about marvelling at nature. The old fishing shacks that were once here have been replaced with several desirable homes. Because of the spit, the road is narrow and corrugated and a lot of fishermen seem to be coming the other way. There are however fine views of Lake King from this finger of land which isn’t wide enough for a 2 lane road.

The Gippsland Lakes are Australia’s largest lake system and quite frankly underrated. I’m surprised at how many of our group are ex yachties and the lakes are excellent for sailing, so we all have cherished memories from when we were younger and fitter. There are a lot of similarities between sailing and caravanning, living in small spaces, one eye on the weather, and mishaps that are later looked on fondly as adventures.

We continue on down to Paynesville, and the boys bail out on the pretence of looking at the boats. We know they’ll end up reminiscing in the pub. VeeWee, Shirley and I catch the car ferry across to Raymond Island. Raymond Island is swimming distance from Paynesville and yet I’ve never set foot on it. Over the years we’ve sailed through McMillan’s Strait countless times cursing the ferry as it always seemed to be crossing when we were having a good sail and we had to give way to it. The ferry takes only a few minutes to deposit us on the island. We have a good look around and as VeeWee used to work with the koalas here she takes us on a walk and quickly spots 3 sleepy heads in the trees. We’re just about to get back into the car when VeeWee latches onto a bunch of French tourists and she’s off with them … no doubt explaining the grunting and screaming sex life of koalas in Franglais. The island is a delightful place with the feel of a sleepy Victorian coastal town, grey sandy tracks, ti tree, and gums overhang interesting timber cottages. Closer to the water the houses get larger with views across the waterway to Paynesville. We catch the ferry back and pick up the boys from the pub. Toothless and his Missus and H have long gone as we’re guessing, “there’s not much to see here”.

Driving back to camp we have to slow down to a crawl as an echidna plods across the road and into the scrub. Four more of our crew arrive and the fisherfolk return empty-handed from their day out.

Everyone looks tired from all the exploration until JT lights the fire. With dinner on our laps, Repeat conducts a trivia quiz which has us rolling about laughing, not at the answers but his delivery of the questions and that he deems H as too good and must only answer every 5^th question.

Accom: $20.00

Footnote: After the van repairs of a few days ago, when PB and PT were crawling about under the caravan a couple of new nicknames have emerged…Pete the Plumber and Repeat. And if H isn’t careful she might be the Trivia Queen.