Day 4. Tostaree to Lakes Entrance via Nowa Nowa
What a relaxing stay. breakfast consumed, we were on the road again bound for Lakes Entrance.
There are a number of small hills between Tostaree and Nowa Nowa which have long gradients but on the good side, once you have reached the top you then have the pleasure of gliding down the other side. These steep ascents and decents are usually associated with beautiful old wooden trestle bridges, a great subject for the photographers and historians among the group.
Nowa Nowa is an aboriginal word translating to "Mingling Waters" and is a very small village with a population of around 200. There is an hotel (serving counter meals 7 days), general store, cafes, camping and picnic facilities with toilets. Fishing, canoeing and kayaking are all catered for in this adventurous little town.
Photographing natural patterns is a passion of mine and just outside of Nowa Nowa we came across Boggy creek which had some very engaging patterns formed on the surface of the water. As you can see below these patterns make an interesting photograph.
We ventured off the rail trail at Seaton track, just south of Colquhoun and settled in for a ride through Colquhoun State Forrest, on The Gippsland Lakes Discovery Trail.
Along the trail we passed two ladies with a huge sense of adventure, trail blazing with their horses and buggies and I gather from talking to them that they were blazing a trail for a future tourism venture. Imagine riding as a tourist in one of these contraptions from Bairnsdale to Orbost, camping rough in the bush, waking to the laugh of kookaburras, the raucus calls of cockatoos, dew on the tent flaps and eating damper and drinking billy tea at the crack of dawn and that's not taking in sighting an errant wombat crossing the trail or the odd snake or goanna........what a brilliant idea and I wish them the very best of luck with their venture.
A worthwhile diversion was the Quarry at the bottom of Quarry Road where granite blocks were carved out of the rock face and transported by rail to form the entrance to the Gippsland Lakes. The track down to the bottom of the quarry is more suited to experienced riders and preferbly on mountain bikes. However, our group of peddling for pleasure cyclists, were up to the feat and made the descent and subsequent ascent without casuality.
As can be seen in the bottom left image, a more modern application of the granite was found.
The last part of our ride through the forrest was on a well maintained fire trail and we made good time to Lakes Cottages, some 2 km further on from where the Discovery Trail finished (the intersection of Scriveners Road and Lakes Colquhoun Road.
We found the Lakes Cottages to be modern, clean and well appointed, set in beautiful gardens with an abundance of colourful native birds.
The day wasn't over yet, our organiser Liz had booked a cruise on the lakes with wine tasting followed by dinner at the Wyanga Park Winery and Restaurant.
Having been picked up at 4.30 pm by mini bus, we had an hour to take a look at Lakes Entrance and then we boarded our boat for a cruise on the lakes to Wyanga Park Winery.
The pavlova in the image below was the largest single serve pavlova I'd ever seen and the consensus of those who ate it was that it was delicious.
This story is being told over 6 separate posts. The next post will be Lakes Entrance to Swan Reach.
Tour was organised by Snowy River Cycling www.snowyrivercycling.com.au
Cheers
Jimmy Bee
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