Time to pack up and head away for an autumn holiday. Daylight savings has ended, the days are beginning to get shorter, the leaves are changing colours. And after a busy, somewhat crazy and a little stressful term, we need a change too!
Left home around 10am for the 355 km drive to Orbost in Gippsland. We stopped for a coffee in Yarragon which is where we have stopped most times we have driven this way. This was found in a shop in Yarragon and it pretty much sums it all up...
Next stop was in Bairnsdale where we had some lunch. This is the first trip trying out the new bike roof racks. With both boys help, we can get them up and down from the roof!
We arrived in Orbost about 3pm which was good timing - good timing as we had time to set up, have a cuppa and then go for a wander into town and have a look around.
Of course, J got a photo of me crossing the road near this sign... not for publication... I prefered the gag about me and Google!
There were a couple of nice old pubs in town, churches, some other interesting buildings and the most interesting was the visitor info which is in a slab hut, which would have been similar to the early settlers homes. 
The next morning, our first of two full days in Orbost saw us exploring further afield. We continued a short distance on the highway heading east, then took a narrow dirt track to the top of Mt Raymond. The views were a bit hampered by cloud and mist, but on a clear day you can see the Snowy Flood Plains and the coast. 
After descending Mt Raymond and another short burst on the highway we again took a dirt track that would lead us to the unique Cabbage Palms - a rare tree only found in this small part of Gippsland, the nearest relatives being near Bega in NSW. We also saw Cabbage Palms in Central Australia. There were lots of unphotogenic wallabies as we took this drive. So you won't see any here! There was a lovely loop walk that we took to see these impressive trees. 
Continuing along the track we found our way out to the Cape Conran road. Stopped at East Cape and East Beach where we went on a short walk along the beach and explored some rock pools. The fires over summer literally burnt down to the edge of the sand. 
Also stopped at West Cape where we had some lunch while sitting on some rocks. Surprisingly a coffee van appeared so we could enjoy a coffee in this somewhat remote location! 
We drove west and ended up at Marlo. Just before heading into the town we went for a short walk along the estuary. Lovely views and plenty of bird life. This is where the famous Snowy River enters into the ocean. 
Once in Marlo itself, we had a look down at the jetty area and were greeted by some pelicans and a circling bird of prey.
The trip back to Orbost followed the Snowy River, we stopped to take it in before heading home for dinner. 
Our second full day in Orbost we had the bikes out and rode some of the rail trail that goes between Orbost and Bairnsdale. The girls did a 28 km return trip, the boys went a little further making their round trip 35 kms. The old trestle bridges across the flood plains were impressive - around 900 metres in length. Unfortunately they have seen better days and are not part of the rail trail. Locals want them restored and saved... I can imagine that would be a very costly exercise. 
Relaxing rest of the afternoon... next blog post will be from Mallacoota.
This is crossing the Snowy on the way back:
Cheese and bikkies was quite a civilised way to end the ride back at the caravan and as we had worked hard we also walked up into town for icecreams!
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