Roses, Tea and Our Lady: Lakes Entrance

Sunday 13 February 2011

Lakes Entrance

A couple of weeks ago, we took a holiday to a lovely part of Australia. Lakes Entrance, East Gippsland in Victoria.
We had never been there before, so we decided lets just go and make new memories.
I googled the area, and discovered there was not a lot to do there. Fine. That's good for us. Dermot was in need of a holiday.. It happened to be the week of the scorching temperatures in NSW. We didn't miis those temps though, We had several hot days, but a pool was by our door. We stayed here, out of town slightly.
We hired a boat to take us around the Lakes that lie just inside the channel taking you out to sea. Brid and Dermot & I fished from the boat and it was 43*C. We got home and stayed in our cottage to just cool down in the air conditioning. We got a knock at the door. "There is a fire 18 kms away, we are on alert. ". We asked the questions like "where is the gathering spot and where do we meet.?" I meant just the cottages, but our host said. " Oh we meet down at the waters edge, in town". We were a little off put and immediately put the emergency channel on for updates. At this point , the fire was uncontained and out of control. Our access for getting "home" was cut. ie, the Princes Hway, so we would need to head south for safety anyway.
I scanned the room through the afternoon, seeing how quickly I could pack the essentials into the car. I had several things already in a bag for each of us. We had to wait til the next day, until the warning was lifted and the fire was contained.
I txted my parents "we are safe from the fire, we are OK"- they actually had no idea we were in danger. They knew we would be OK. I deliberately didn't want to alarm Louise, she would only worry, But we then got a message from Louise, "are you near the fire". What could I say. So I tried to allay her fears. After several messages back and forth, she was satisfied we were Ok.

But all this said, This all happened during the Cyclone Yasi crisis, the Egypt Crisis and floods coming down the darling murray basin to Victoria. It was bizarre.

All this didn't stop us enjoying our holiday. We fished, swam, used the spa, saw Buchan Caves, chilaxed, caught fish- Yes Brid caught her very first Fish and then went out another night and caught another.
So here is a few photos of some highlights.