On to Melbourne

 We began the day with a walk suggested by the owners of the cottage.  The target was a small private beach.

As we set off there was no sign of a beach anywhere nearby, but the walk along Jones Rd was very pleasant so we carried on.  Had I looked at a map I would have seen what was going on (and also not have been surprised by the large hill at the gully after about 800m).

There was a nice water view from a lookout above the beach.  Gravity (threat thereof on the return) dissuaded us from actually getting down to the beach.

There is a Musk Lorikeet in this photograph.

Cottage and car.  Frances found the bed very uncomfortable so it is unlikely we will return - a pity as the area is very pleasant. 

The initial part of the route to Melbourne was interesting in terms of the different choices made by Google Maps on my phone (Polly) and that by the in-car system.  The blue line is that suggested by Polly and the red arrows show where we actually went.  I had wondered why Polly avoided the centre of Sale, as it seemed a quiet town.  Having gone through there I suspect the number of traffic lights are the reason: at least 10  sets.

The big industry in the Latrobe Valley is coal mining and electricity production.  The smoke from a power station (possibly Loy Yang) is clear here, as is the inversion layer flattening it out

A few km further down the road another power station (Yallourn?) was also pumping it out.  We only got glimpses of the cooling towers at 110kph so no closer photos were possible.  Climate change is clearly a threat to this area: or to put it another way, this area is a key threat to the climate.

There are many miles of road work speed restriction as the highway is duplicated.  Nothing much seems to have changed in the 2 years or thereabouts we have used this road.

There are also some bizarre speed limits around Bunyip.  Possibly this is due to the punters emerging from Gumbaya World (although we have never seen anyone turn in there)!  

After settling in to the Ibis we met family at Flagstaff Gardens. While the grandchildren played on the swings etc I took a couple of snaps of the surrounds.