Day 6 Friday 20/10/2023 Heyfield to Tarra Valley, sunny 11 – 25

A warm sunny morning and straight into shorts. Yippee! We’re the first to get away as we’re venturing a little further on. We’d like to check out the Tarra Valley for future reference. Heading south this time we stop for a coffee in Rosedale then on towards Yarram. It’s an easy drive on a quiet road through more dairy farms, pine plantations, and bushland. Oh, and the tiny hamlet of Gormandale, and if all that isn’t pleasant enough, when we turn into the Tarra Valley the farms become prettier and we come to a dead stop while two guinea fowls amble across the road.

Climbing up into the hills the road becomes little more than a single lane and winds about crossing and following the Tarra River. Tucked amongst the ferns we pass several holiday bnb’s.

The Tarra Valley Retreat Caravan Park is a hidden gem. A young couple are managing the park and she’s out brush-cutting the riverbank. She strips off her safety gear, puts a cockatoo called Joe Joe onto her shoulder, and leads us into the office. The check-in process involves patting 3 very friendly dogs and scratching Cockie’s head. We’re allocated our choice of sites down by the river that is babbling over the rocks. Across the road, there are 6 tent sites on a spacious river bend lawn dotted with English daisies. There’s a bridge near us and sometimes a car goes by. Up on the hillside, there are 6 rustic cabins with names like platypus and koala. Alongside these are 3 camp kitchens, 2 with river stone fireplaces. I only hope that I can describe what a delight this fern-filled valley is and our excitement at having found two memorable places in as many days.

We make a coffee, put our chairs on the riverbank, and just drink it in. Tall mountain ash reach for the sky, ferns dip in the water, and tree ferns frame the scene. Dotted along the banks are buttercups and forget-me-nots, no doubt escapees from long-lost gardens. There’s a small dark shape moving about on the tent lawn and on closer inspection it’s a young echidna who spends the day aerating the lawn with his long proboscis. We can only hope to see a wild platypus but I don’t like our chances.

After lunch, we drive up to the Tarra Falls in the Tarra Bulga National Park then relax in the serenity while the Toothless and his Missus drive to Yarram to see what’s there.

Our neighbours join us for Happy Hour. They’re from Sydney and are taking long service leave touring Victoria, it’s a chance to see if they’d like this life in retirement.

The boys light the fire, and we eat dinner on our laps. Chops, sausages, asparagus, mushrooms, and jacket potatoes. A kookaburra is feasting on a limb behind us.

Are they cows mooing in the distance?

Accom: $45.00

Fuel: $70.10 (223.9c/l)

Towing Kms: 96Kms