Heyfield to Drouin East via some elusive routes

On the Heyfield Wetlands walk

As I sit, drinking my first cup of coffee, I compare the morning to yesterday. It's an almost balmy seven degrees outside. not three. I'm wearing three layers not five. The view is very pretty in a rural sort of way there is mist rising from the creek and I have an invitation to go kayaking on the creek, which I probably won't take up. Not being a kayaker, I think my preference is for warm weather, in case I tip myself in.

I am glad I am not camping; it rained last night and with the mist, there'd be no way of drying my awning before packing up.

I also reflected on the noticeable change in the time it gets light and gets dark as I travel west. It is later and I did notice the reverse as I was traveling east three weeks ago. That little change in longitude over a few hundred kilometres does make a difference.

Morning mist from my window at Abington Farm

And now for the decision about what to do today, where to stay tonight, and how to manage the next couple of days before I present myself for the ferry sometime on Sunday afternoon.

I decide on the Grand Ridge Road after visiting the Heyfield wetlands. I cooked myself a most enormous breakfast from the eggs, bacon, toast, spreads, cereal, juice, etc and then felt as if I didn't need to eat for a week.  I was packed and ready to go by 11 and had a quick chat with Bernie's co-host, who tells me about her camels and how she acquired a camel that had been put in her paddock. When he seemed to think he was human, she acquired a mate for him and is hoping in due course for a baby camel.

On the way to the  the Heyfield wetlands, a couple of what looks like a pelicans flew overhead - a rather special sight.

A damp and misty morning

I finally found the Wetlands information centre, no thanks to Maps which seemed not to know left from right, and tried to get some information. The chap there didn't know where the maps of the wetland walks might be and didn't know anything about the Grand Ridge Road. He was fiddling about unsuccessfully trying to be helpful while I was trying to get away and do the walk.

The piece of advice that he gave me that he thought I might find useful was for me to remember, when walking, that I would still have to come back. I never would have worked that out on my own.

An interpretation sign told me I might see a royal spoonbill. I got a little excited about that, but it didn't seem that I was to see one of those in the wild.

It finally cleared

Then it was time to head for the Grand Ridge Road. I had found a very basic line map online and had worked out a route to there. I remember having seen signs to the Grand Ridge Road on my journey east. When followed my planned route in Maps, it wanted me to turn off nowhere near a sign to the Grand Ridge Road, so I kept going instead. I turned off about Traralgon and initially my route was through flat rural countryside. I really did start to wonder if I was going to get any altitude. Eventually the road started to give me a little bit of imperceptible elevation and finally about an hour and a half after leaving the wetlands I got to a junction that had a sign saying Grand Ridge Road! That was a bit exciting. When I got to Mirboo North, I stopped for a comfort stop but I was rather concerned that my car engine did not ease the revs once I thought it ought to be idling. I was amused by an old gentleman who stopped to ask, as I was staring under the bonnet.  There did not appear to be any nasty smell and when I moved properly into the parking spot the engine wasn't racing again. The aforementioned gent directs me towards the public amenities and chatted a while, telling me that his experience was such that he could write a poem about his car but certainly could not do anything to fix it.  That did rather amuse me.

Hakea - at a park in Heyfield

I was about to leave Mirboo North, when I spotted an information sign, so I went in. The first person I asked had no idea, he was just a worker in the hotel in the foyer of which was the information rack; another chap who he called over scanned through and found me the most fabulous brochure on the Grand Ridge Road, with an excellent map inside. It would have been useful to have had this when I left Heyfield, because there's very easy access to the Eastern end of the road from Rosedale, the little town where I rejoined the Princess Highway. As it was I missed half the Grand Ridge Road, at least

I had read that the landscape was a mixture but most of what I saw was rolling hills rural landscape and it wasn't until I was approaching the Mount Worth State Park that the road started to get very winding and was very much in lovely bush. Mount Worth State Park consists of some natural forest as well as regenerated bush.

Rolling hills - on the Grand Ridge Drive

At one point on the road there was a sign that said 'road closed due to landslide - local traffic only'. I proceeded, assuming that there would be a detour shown. I was wrong; there were two points where part of the road had started to descend down the hillside but that was safely barriered and control of traffic was by mobile traffic lights, so I got through that okay. I have no idea where and how I might have otherwise detoured.

I had sent an accommodation inquiry to one place at Mirboo North and I received a message back from them but it was about two o'clock and I was already in Mirboo North and I wanted to keep driving for a while. Once 4pm came, I was down on the flat from the Mount Worth area and I stopped to have a look at my options between there and the Princess Highway. The first place I looked at really didn't have a kitchen for me to prepare my dinner, but the second, in Drouin East, did so I put in an accommodation request and headed towards there without having had my accommodation request confirmed, but keeping my fingers crossed

That place was only 20 minutes or so drive and halfway there I received a phone call from the host asking what my estimated arrival time would be. I told her imminently and I was quite satisfied with the place when I arrived.