Driving home....

We woke up to another glorious morning and sad as we were to be saying goodbye to Eden we had to pack up and hit the road for our journey home.  We stopped a a cute cafe in town for coffee and a final look at the Mary Mckillop Hall where Sister Mary, Australia's first saint canonized in 2010, established a school using the old church building.  She did this in appreciation for the care provided to her by the people of Eden when her mother drowned in the tragic shipwreck of the Ly-ee-moon in 1886.  Perched high above Twofold Bay this little old church building is just lovely.

Our next stop was off the beaten track with a drive through Ben Boyd National Park for a look at the little community of Wonboyn.  This is tucked 13 or so kms off the highway and is a tiny little beach just off Disaster Bay where there are a number of private jetties for the local fisher folk.  Amazing what you find when you leave the main road.

We drove on crossing back into Victoria stopping at Cann River for lunch and a look at this delightful little Church before continuing the drive on to Orbost.  Yes you guessed it, back to the bakery to pick up something for dinner.  No apricot pies this time so Bill had to make do with Apple and Blueberry but it was very yummy as well.

Back on the road we continued on to Stratford where we found a lovely little park right on the Avon River and yes it's name was Stratford on Avon - original, I know, and it was here we settled in for a quiet night after our big day on the road.  The weather had turned, no more blue sky and the rain was threatening.  We had company here with two of the friendliest magpies I have ever seen.  Each time the door opened they were there saying hello.  Obviously very used to people and being fed I suppose.  We chatted to them but did not feed then but they still stayed and played.

The next morning it was packing up time for real.  The threatening rain did not eventuate making it an easier job so with everything cleaned and mopped it was the final pack down for this trip.  Not happy Jan, we could happily travel for a while longer yet.  But we did both have to get back to work next week so it was home for us this time.  We stopped at our favourite little cafe in Stratford, Wa de lock, for a coffee before we started on the long drive back home.  As usual great coffee and the home made cake was good too.

We drove through to Sale and then decided to take the tourist route home via the South Gippsland Hwy but before we had gone very far we found a sign to the wetlands so we followed it and found Sale Common.  What an amazing area this is and we are going back to spend a weekend there so we can explore properly.  Today we just spent an hour in one small area and were blown away by the scope of the place.  We stopped at the Tourist office for some more info about the area and can't wait to check it out properly next time we visit.

Back on the road we followed the highway to Yarram where we had lunch before deciding that we really didn't want to see anymore this week and headed for home.  The drive home along the South Gippsland highway was very scenic and I look forward to doing it another day when I think we will appreciate it more.  For now we just wanted to be home and once we stored the camper we were soon back in the big smoke.

We had spent a wonderful week away discovering some really lovely little places along the way, many we would like to return to one day and spend more time.  But first we had to settle back in for a week at home.  The washing waited until the next week and we both took it very easy that night.

We were staying home for the next couple of weeks so stay tuned to see how we amused ourselves there.

until next time......