dazjet 'n family: Highs and Lows

Another couple of great days exploring which took us both high and low.

After a very colourful sunrise and breakfast we drove the 45 minute journey north to Buchan. We bought tickets for the 10am tour of Fairy Cave.

The caves were 'discovered' over 100 years ago by Frank Moon and have been popular with tourists ever since. European line the valley, which at this time of year are quite colourful. There is a big wooden entrance way and signage that is reminiscent of an American national park. A lot of that stems from it's development a hundred years ago. It is said that Frank Moon 'felt a breeze coming from between two rocks'... so what did he do? He immediately got himself some dynamite and detonated it... that is how he discovered Fairy Cave! The cave was named because of the sparkly nature of many of its stalactites which look like a fairy world.

We enjoyed the 45 minute tour led by a bearded Andrew! He told us all about Mr Moon and his daughter, Fairy Moon... yes, Fairy Moon. Fairy Moon got married in Fairy cave.

After the cave tour we looked around the park area, including climbing up the Moon Hill walk. We enjoyed lunch at a picnic table under the autumnal trees. After looking in the visitors centre we left Buchan.

Driving through Nowa Nowa we took a detour to drive to the top of Mt Nowa Nowa. A steep dirt track led us to the top which had both an old fire observation tour used up until the 1960s and a modern equivalent complete with satellite dishes and mobile phone transmitters. The view north was over rugged mountains extending to the Snowy Mountains. They were a shade of dark blue.

This marked the literal 'high' point of the day, after the 'lows' of the caving this morning! After a nice cuppa' back at the caravan we decided we could handle some more action for the day, so we set out on the 4.8 km return walk across the footbridge and along to 'The Entrance'. It's a man made entrance cut between the Gippsland Lakes, through the Ninety Mile Beach to allow boats to access the ocean beyond. Because it's man made, nature likes to intervene and it is constantly being filled again with sand, so dredging is a full time job to keep the entrance viable. One of the crewmen on 'Pam' the other afternoons said that the money spent on dredging could have lined the entrance with gold!

It was a pleasant walk, which took in sandy tracks, coastal views,lots of bird life, some old cottages that are still privately owned, before depositing us at the entrance.

The ocean was very rough, with plenty of white foam. The water churned in the entrance area. Out on the stone / concrete barrier that is one side of the entrance we saw up to four seals frolicking in the water! It became a photo op again, like the dolphins, trying to predict when and where the creatures would appear back at the surface!