We thought we had finished with the mountains, but we still had another to negotiate! Looking at the map it looks like it may have been the Alfred National Park just before Cann River.  By then we had crossed the border into Victoria and our morning tea stop ended up being in a 'Powernap Bay' in the National Park.  We did intend to stop at a rest area a little further back, but some idiot towing a van thought he needed to get around us right when we would have been turning in!  Some people have no patience at all and put lives at risk.  Glad my hubby was on the ball!Travelling on the Princes Highway has not been all that exciting at times.  The highway travels through many National or State Forests, so there isn't anything but trees to see!  So I decided on Monday to take photos of the roadside signs.  Once we were in Victoria there were many, advising you to take one of those 'Powernaps'!  Maybe it is because of the monotony! We arrived in Lakes Entrance by lunchtime after by-passing Orbost, the town which the Snowy Mountain River comes through on its way to the ocean.   There was a lookout that was a tourist attraction, but unfortunately we came upon it before we realised (as you seem to do more often than not) and there was no way Peter was turning around!  I thought Kevin may have taken up the challenge of getting the big rig up there, but he kept heading west as well!  Someone told us to "Beware heading the vehicle towards home"!  I started to think there was some truth in it!Anyway after settling into our park beside the water at Lakes Entrance we decided that we needed to recharge the batteries and stick with our orginal plan of three nights here.  We had only paid for two but had originally booked for three!  There had been periods of silence in our vehicle and Peter was at the stage of informing us gals "That if we thought they could stop anywhere, then we had better learn to drive the rigs"!  It was definitely time for some 'Time Out'!  It was also time to sit down and work out how long we were going to stay in the Melbourne area and make some bookings.  And. .....we hadn't counted on how difficult it may be because of Easter.  But all is organised now.Way back in 1870 Lakes Entrance  was called Cunninghame and in 1915 the name changed.  An artificial managed entrance connects the Gippsland Lakes to Bass Strait.  I wonder if that was part of the reason for the name change.  There is a dredge near the entrance, so obviously it does have to be regularly dredged.  Industry is predominantly fishing and tourism and as a Victorian said to Peter this morning  "This town is as good as it gets in Victoria for a holiday location with a reasonably mild climate".  And we have been enjoying it as a holiday location!  A walk each morning along the walkway, over the footbridge for a look at the surf and then further down the boardwalk, to check out the fishing harbour and the many fishing and pleasure boats.  There are lots of safe places to go fishing with the kids and safe kayaking on the lake. The new footbridge which was completed in 2009 at a cost of $3 million, is a real asset to the holiday town.   Service vehicles to the Surf Livesaving Club on the other side are also able to use the footbridge.On the foreshore of Lakes Entrance there are a number of unique carved statues in the stumps of cypress trees.  They stand as a memorial to World War 1 Soldiers.  The trees were planted in 1924 and to preserve the aging butts, local chainsaw artist John Brady was commissioned to sculpt these amazing memorial figures.  At the western end of Lakes Entrance is the lookout 'Jemmys Point Reserve'.  This provides expansive views of the Gippsland Lakes and it is said on a clear day you can see the oil drilling platforms in Bass Strait.  It wasn't quite clear enough for us to see that far.  Good views over the town though, the Entrance and Bullock Island Wharf.  There are some quite large ships at the wharf and they are surely connected with the drilling industry in Bass Strait.I can't finish this blog without recording the debacle in the park on our second day.  A big rig pulled in alongside us, the same day as our arrival.   They had a pretty big Bushtracker van and a Ford 450 to tow it.  The guy wasn't happy because the first bay they were given wasn't big enough, so he moved in next to us.  We couldn't help commenting on the Engel fridges we could see from our kitchen window.  When they were pulled out, they dropped down to table height.  Three fridges in the back of his vehicle - guess it was a fridge, a freezer and a drinks fridge - well who knows!  Anyway Peter tried to have a chat, but he wasn't very talkative!  His wife was more chatty in the morning and she told Peter that they had friends in WA who they were meeting up with soon, after they had gone up the middle etc!  As we do!   The chatting I mean.  They left reasonably early and about half an hour later Peter went for a walk and here was the big rig trying to get out of the park, on a road that he should never have taken!  He had taken out a section of the pool fence and there were 'Some not so happy chappies around'.  Including the owner of the park!  I decided later it was time to take Wally to check out the damage and the owner came by at the same time!  Probably thought I was a nut case, putting Wally down and taking a photo!  Peter wasn't there just as well, or he would have agreed with him!  Anyway the 'Big Rig' story gets bigger!  The owner was obviously a bit amused at what I was doing, but still not happy about the earlier fiasco!  He told me that they not only had the big ute and caravan, the wife had a big four wheel drive and she was towing the boat!  Why he didn't go out the back gate is still a mystery to us!  It was our entertainment for the day and a reason to get Wal out!  Clara and Wally have been very good really, apart from a bit of sulking!   They have been in the picnic basket for weeks!  They think we've forgotten that they are travelling with us.So I have decided they can come into the caravan for a bit!  Peter complains about having to move the cushion when he goes to bed and he is always in trouble for not smoothing out the doona.  Wonder what he will think about these two coming inside and sitting on the bed? 

Time will tell!  14 photos