Sale – Our Last Night on This Trip

Tonight, we are in the city of Sale and this is our last night before arriving home tomorrow. Today, we had a pleasant and unrushed travel day with plenty of time to see some of the places that we encountered on our drive from Eden.

For the first part of our drive, we travelled through forested country on a good road. Not long after leaving Eden, we crossed the Victoria border.

As we continued towards Orbost, we came across the damage from the bush fires of 2019 which affected much of Victoria. There were still many dead trees visible in the forest. We still remember that at the isolated community of Malacoota (which was completely destroyed by the fires) that residents had to be evacuated off the beach by the navy.

At Cann River, we were interested, but not surprised, to see that the town has a number of closed business. There were once three timber mills operating in this area but the Victorian Government has banned timber cutting from native forests. There is still the large hotel at the roundabout but the supermarket has closed, one motel is not operating and some shops are vacant. The town bakery, however, is still producing wonderful pies and pastries.

Cann River sits on the banks of the Cann River which has its origins high in the mountains of the Great Dividing Range. Today, the river looked relaxed and peaceful but it can have a very different appearance after heavy rain.

At Cabbage Tree Creek, we saw that the little general store and cafe has closed and is up for sale. We have stopped there a few times and stayed in a B&B just around the corner. The B&B was in an area of splendid bird life. Bell Birds were constantly making their ‘ding’ sound and there were many mountain parrots and even satin bower birds. It’s sad that this little store is no longer operating and I hope that someone will buy it and get it operating again.

This settlement is named after a small area in which Cabbage Tree Palms grow – the only area of their natural habitat in the state.

The largest town in this area in this far western region of Victoria is Orbost. Its most significant building is the enormous Commonwealth Hotel which was built at the turn of the 19th Century when Orbost was experiencing a boom.

The town war memorial had a notice saying that yesterday there was a comemoration service for Vietnam Veterans Day. At the bottom of the main street was a ‘slab hut’ that now houses the information centre. It shows how simple and tough life was for the early pioneers who exploited timber fom this area.

We continued along the Princes Highway finding that towns were now becoming more frequent. Near Waygara, a side road took us to the remains of a railway trestle bridge that was once on the Bairnsdale to Omeo railway line. That line closed many years ago and only about half of the bridge remains.

Another side road took us to Lake Tyers Beach where low tide leaves the lake as a maze of sand bars.

We continued through Lakes Entrance and Bairnsdale. We spent the first night of our honeymoon trip in 1972 at Lakes Entrance and found nothing open for dinner on that Sunday night other than a fish and chip / hamburger shop. How things have changed over 53 years!

Just before reaching our overnight destination at Sale, we travelled through the tiny village of Stratford (on the Avon River) and did a double-take when we saw their RSL Building. They have done thenselves proud with an outstanding piece of decoration that illustrates the Anzac tradition superbly.

Our dinner tonight was in a nice Irish themed restaurant. Before we leave for home tomorrow, we plan to check out an exhibition at the local art gallery, visit the war memorial and check out the Poirt of Sale.