Golden Beach
The rib wreckage of the iron clad "Trinculo".
Sale Common Nature Conservation Reserve
The boardwalk
Sunday, March 6th.
I talked to my mom
and dad in the morning via Skype and then I checked Google maps to
decide where I might go today. I knew it was going to be a hot day so
I decided I wanted to go to a beach somewhere but I didn't want to go to
one I had already visited. I found a beach area called Gippsland
Lakes Coastal Park. So I packed up the car, including the bicycle,
and away I went.
The drive there was
mostly along the M1 highway and pretty straightforward. The scenery
was nice and mostly flat land with lots of cattle farms. I arrived at
the town of Sale and then found the road to Golden Beach. When I got
to that small town I walked over the dune to the beach and found a
beautiful long beach of golden sand. I knew there was shipwreck
buried in the sand just south of there so I drove to along the coast
checking a few entrance ways until I found it. Because of the
shifting sands of the beach moved around by storms, not much of the
wreck could be seen. This ship was driven ashore by a gale in 1871
and has lain here rusting ever since. I was the only person on this
section of the 90 mile beach. I hung out here for a couple of hours,
getting in and out of the surf and enjoying the sun, water, solitude and the
views.
Then I headed back
to the town of Golden Beach where I stopped at a small store/dinner
for lunch. Their specialty was fish and chips but I decided to have
a burger instead. Mine came with bacon (more like peameal than
regular bacon), cheese, a fried egg, fried onions, lettuce and slices
of beetroot! It was messy but delicious.
After that I drove
to another beach area called Paradise Beach. I stayed there for a bit
and then decided I'd better head back. En route I stopped at a
wetland area called Sale Common Nature Conservation Reserve. There
was a couple of paths through the area and along a boardwalk. I
decided to ride them. I got the bike out and set out on a 12 kilometre
trail that followed a meandering river and through some marshy areas.
I was the only person there and I found a number of different kinds
of water birds. This must be the dry season though, because lots of
the area was dried, cracked mud. I went up a small hill called the
lookout. From there I first noticed the smell and then the sight of
about 10 dead fish laying on the dried mud. They were about a metre
long and looked eel like. They must have been stranded by the
retreating water. As I was riding I scared a large hawk that was
dangling something from its claws, which must have been one of these
type of fish.
When I got back to
the car, I put the bike away and headed back towards Chelsea. After
230 kms I arrived home at 9:30. I stopped at Woolies to get my weekly
supplies and then headed home to make the salad and head to bed. 490
kilometres today.
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