We pick up the RTW travel adventures in Bateman’s Bay; after the fun with the kangaroos on Pebbly Beach there  wasn’t a whole lot left to do so I scheduled myself on the next bus down the coast and headed toward Merimbula…unaware that a major storm was brewing up in the north Victoria area (which is where I was headed).

Basing out of Merimbula I enjoyed a quick morning hike around a beach island, Brulee – lovely just about sums up the wander through this untouristed beach area.  Two Israeli brothers had a rental car so we took the morning before the bus to have a quiet and uneventful walk in the solitude around the island.

The Merimbula hostel was pretty cute although I only stayed for a night (no internet!). I adored the fact that wild birds frequently visit the hostel porch to literally eat out of your hands during brekkie – they loved apples and fruit the best…this little guy to the right is a Rainbow Lorikeet and eats out of your palm!

Merimbula was a bit of a bust because of the bad weather sweeping in so I caught the Greyhound bus down down to Lakes Entrance to wait out the storm with my two German friends, Pauline and Linda.  In retrospect, perhaps I should have waited it out in Merimbula, because the three hour bus ride down the road took six because of the massive storm – trees were fallen all over the road.

Lakes Entrance was my hide-out for the bad weather and  Pauline, Linda, and I (thank god I was able to pass the time with friends!) decided the only way to wait out a storm is with plenty of food and some DVDs.   Unfortunately, we didn’t have any of the above so we packed on the layers (that means virtually every article of clothing I have…thanks for the warm scarf Lisandra – it came in handy!) and headed out on the 15 minute walk into town.  The trip was successful and we had all of the fixings for a delicious quiche (which we only slightly burned), some mini pies, and a stack of DVDs.

The perfect backpacker activity for passing time? DVDs! Thankful once again for my laptop, we rented a couple of standbys we had all seen and loved as well as some local movies about Australia.

Rabbit Proof Fence, an Aussie movie  about what is called the “Stolen Generation” – when the European settlers confiscated Aboriginal children who were mixed with European genes and mainstreamed the children into Western culture…all in an effort to weed out the Aboriginal genes in these kids.  The movie was really amazing and helped me understand a bit more about the culture here.  There are a lot of tensions between the indigenous people and everyone else – a lot of Aussies I meet don’t have kind things to say, so this was an interesting perspective and reminds me a lot of how we once treated the Native Americans in the U.S.A. It’s true story to boot, so that only added to the effect.

The movies  worked well to pass the time. We watched Big Fish, Chocolate, and a few others.  24 hours later some of the storm was clearing and we were all able to actually explore the town and head out on a 3.5 kilometer coastal walk of Lakes Entrance.

Exploring Lakes Entrance, Australia

The Lakes Entrance is truly beautiful, the town is situated on the lakeside and then, just a couple hundred meters over the sand dunes, the ocean waves beat at the shore.  The gap in the picture is man-made and allows boats to dock in the quiet waters of the lakes rather than the  rough ocean.

We were awfully glad to see a bit of sunshine, even if it was still overcast most of the day, the storm had passed and were able to enjoy the town.  I just have to add, we did, once again, get a little lost.

The planned walking route  hugged the coast for two kilometers and then cut back into town…we figured we walked for about 5 before we figured out we had gone too far.  We cut up inland onto a golf course and the extra detour turned out all for the best…I got to see a jumping pillow!

This pillow was right in the parks and the German girls indicated that they have these in Germany too.  I reckon they’re not in the US because we’re so lawsuit happy…but they were awesome fun and perhaps made the extra six kilometers worthwhile!