Start:  Bemm River Cutoff

Finish:  Cann River

Distance: 25

Total:  288

Today’s walk was longer than average, and it has warmed up into the 80’s, but I was only carrying water and lunch in my pack so it wasn’t too bad. I’m also still nursing along my gimpy right foot problem. 

I started the day with a bus reservation for 10:05 to take me back out to the Bemm River cutoff where I stopped walking yesterday. After breakfast I decided to try my luck at hitching a ride to get started earlier if I could. Lucky me; nice guy Tony O’Brien from Bairnsdale walked up from the service station parking lot next to where I was standing by the road and offered me a ride. 

The area I’m now walking has become very hilly and thickly forested. The roads have gotten progressively more narrow and I find myself switching from one side of the road to the other due to blind corners with no shoulder. I always try to walk facing traffic, but sometimes that’s not the safest side to be on. 

Tonight I finished by walking into Cann River. It’s a very small town with several National Parks nearby. I haven’t mentioned yet but camping, especially with an RV, is extremely popular in this part of Australia.  I would estimate that almost half the vehicles on the road in this area are either pulling RVs or have camping equipment strapped to them. 

I’ve noticed over the last few days the thick forests I’m walking through have been charred heavily by fires. Back in 2019, this area of Australia was devastated by bushfires. The town I’m in now, Cann River, is so isolated it’s residents got cut off by the fire and all the occupants were evacuated to the local school for shelter. Helicopters airdropped them supplies and if not for a government fire fighting team who happened to be here at the time and also got cut off, people would have been killed in the fire. Most of the trees have recovered with new growth and only the tree trunks show charring. 

That’s all for today from Cann River, Victoria. Thanks for following. JB

Start:  Orbost

Finish:  Bemm River Cutoff

Distance: 24

Total:  263

Today’s walk took some extra planning and a lot of hustle. 

The day started with a 4:15 AM wake-up. This was all necessary because today’s destination was a bus stop 24 miles from my starting place and the only bus for the day got to my pickup point at 1:05 PM. 24 miles would normally take me about eight hours including a brief lunch stop. However, sunrise was 6:00, and I don’t walk in the dark, so I figured if I got off at about dawn, didn’t make any stops, and hustled I might knock out the 24 miles in seven hours and not miss the bus. 

So I got up at 4:15, walked into town to the bakery, which opened at 5:00 AM, for breakfast and get a sandwich for lunch, went back to my motel to pack, and walked out the door at 5:45.  I didn’t mess around; I hustled all morning. With three miles to go, I was on target to get to the  bus stop 15 minutes before the scheduled bus arrival time. At that point I was really tired, and along came a little General Store. I asked myself should I chance stopping to take a break, risking the bus being early or something else happening in my last three miles?  I decided to press on and arrived 15 minutes before my 1:05 bus, which actually was three minutes late arriving. It all worked out but I don’t like having to half kill myself walking that fast and not being able to take a break. 

The road I’m walking is still Prince’s Highway, but the terrain has gotten very hilly and the road is very narrow and crooked. Rarely is there a shoulder on both sides of the road so on some of the sharper curves I cross to the opposite side so vehicles can see me better. 

The bus took me to Cann River which is tomorrow’s destination so I’ll take the bus tomorrow morning back out to Bemm River Cutoff and walk 25 miles here to Cann River. It will be a slack packing day and I won’t be in any rush tomorrow. 

That’s about it for Monday in Australia. To bad the Cowboys didn’t live up to their fans expectations.  What else is new. JB. 

Start:  Nowa Nowa General Store

Finish:  Orbost

Distance:  23

Total:  239

Today was a straightforward trek with a light pack. It was complicated somewhat because I’ve developed a pain in the ball of my right foot. I think it’s only a blister, though I can’t really see a blister. Either that or it’s bruised from overuse. Not to worry; it will get better. 

This morning i needed to backtrack to Nowa Nowa where I finished walking yesterday. I had a bus reservation for 11:00 which meant with a 25 minute ride I would start walking at about 11:30. Faced with a 23 mile walk that would take about 7.5 hours, that meant I would be getting back here to Orbost after the eating establishments, limited as they are, had closed. So this morning I got ready, walked into town, ate breakfast, and headed out on the highway about 8:30 to see if I might get lucky and someone would give me a ride to Nowa Nowa so I could start early. It took about 10 minutes of standing with my thumb in the air and a nice lady gave me a ride. 

The 23 miles were pretty much a grind mostly because my right foot was barking. But I made it into Orbost about 4:30; early enough to go to my motel before walking into town for dinner. 

One side note; Snowy River runs through Orbost, ie. The 1982 movie “The Man From Snowy River” that some of you may be young enough to remember. There is a Snowy River National Park near here also. 

Tomorrow is another 20+ mile day; this one with a full pack. Wish me well. JB. 

Start:  Lakes Entrance

Finish:  Nowa Nowa

Distance:  14

Total:  216

Today got off to a surprising start. Last night when I went to bed, the forecast was no chance of rain.  At 6:00 this morning I was awoken by big claps of thunder. I looked at the radar and a huge thunderstorm was about to hit Lakes Entrance.  I jumped up, got packed up and covered up with my rain gear and beat-feet to a bakery before it started flooding. I figured at least I could get breakfast over with and assess the situation while I ate. I made it to the bakery without getting too wet or hit by lightning and waited out the downpour. It looked like it might clear out after the storm, but of course I would have the road spray to deal with until the roads dried up. This was all complicated by the fact that I couldn’t wait too long because I needed to get to my destination of Nowa Nowa by 12:59 to catch the bus to my motel town on down the road. 

Finally the rain stopped and I calculated I could walk my 14 miles with about 30 minutes to spare. The route has become much more hilly, just like the locals had been telling me it would. There are huge eucalyptus trees here and they shed their bark and branches all over the roads. I’m keeping my eyes pealed for koalas. I know they’re out there but I haven’t seen one yet. 

I got to Nowa Nowa in time to grab a quick lunch at the General Store, which by the way is all there is in Nowa Nowa, then took the 30 minute bus ride ahead on my route to Orbost where I’ll spend the next two nights. 

While sitting outside my room at the motel I met Jack and Lyn Morrell from Melbourne. They are on a beach holiday and stopped in Orbost for the night. They invited me to join them for dinner at the Orbost Club Hotel.  We had a great meal and some even better conversation.  

Tomorrow the Morrell’s have offered to drop me off back in Nowa Nowa on their way home to Melbourne. I’ll have a full day’s walk back here to Orbost.  At least I’ll be slack-packing. 

Have a great weekend everyone!  GO COWBOYS!  JB

Start:  Lakes Entrance

Finish:  Lakes Entrance

Distance:  0

Total:  202

Today I enjoyed my first day off since leaving Melbourne on New Year’s Eve. Like most day’s off, there are still things to get done. 

I slept in until 8:00 which means I’m finally acclimated to being halfway around the world. I had a list of things I wanted/needed to do so I walked down the street for breakfast, then went about another mile down the road to the pedestrian bridge that goes from the mainland across the lake to Ninety Mile Beach. It’s a beautiful, sunny day and there were a few people out on the beach even though it was only 10:30 in the morning. The body of water to the south and east of Australia is the Tasman Sea. There were kids splashing around in the water but it is only in the 70s here and never got out of the 60s yesterday so I don’t doubt that water was a little chilly. 

After visiting the beach I had some shopping stops to make. First, K-Mart in Australia only has household stuff, kinda like Bath & Body Works back home. I found that out on my first stop. Then Woolworth’s here is just a grocery store. I found that out on my second stop. If you want to get professional assistance in a pharmacy, don’t ask for a pharmacist; ask for the chemist. I learned that on stop three. Between all that, I got everything I needed. 

Final official duty for the day, as it is EVERYDAY; do laundry. Laundry has to be done every day because I only carry two days worth of clothes with me. When I’m lucky, like here, my motel has a guest laundry. Occasionally, the motel operator will actually do it for me if I look desperate enough at check-in. If all else fails, the lavatory in my room will have to serve as the washer and the hairdryer makes for a good clothes dryer.  

Tomorrow is a 15 mile day.  After that I have five consecutive 20+ mile days including one of 29 miles.  That stretch will be a real test. That’s all from the south coast of Australia. Have a great day mate. JB

Start:  Bairnsdale

Finish:  Lakes Entrance

Distance:  23

Total:  202

Today was a real grind for some reason. Some days your feet and legs just don’t have it and this was one of those. Lucky for me, after 12 days without a break, it’s my first day off tomorrow. 

I got out the door at 7:30 this morning but by the time I stopped for breakfast and went to Subway to buy lunch, it was 8:15 before I really got started down the road. Or in this case, the trail. About a mile outside Bairnsdale I picked up the East Gippsland Rail Trail. Like many towns, Bairnsdale and some other towns to their east have converted the old train right-of-way into an exercise trail. This particular one runs about 59 miles. Unfortunately it doesn’t go where I need to go but I enjoyed walking on it for about five miles. 

The road has narrowed to mostly two lanes with an occasional passing lane and the shoulder is not as wide as it was either. However, drivers are still sharing the road and I’m watching my step. I got offered two rides today by random strangers but of course I declined. 

By 3:30 I was on the edge of my destination, Lake’s Entrance; named that because it sits at the opening between the Tasman Sea and a series of large lakes along the coast. It is also the access point to Ninety Mile Beach which runs along this stretch of the Australian coast. The town itself is a tourist destination with lots of small motels along its Main Street. As I got within about a mile of town my route was actually about 300 feet above the coastline and town. I walked down a walkway beside the road following a series of switchbacks to get down to the town. 

With tomorrow being a day off, I won’t do very much except rest. I might make the walk to the pedestrian causeway that accesses the beach. It’s about a three mile round trip. It depends on how energetic I feel. For now, it’s feet up; lights out. JB. 

Start:  Lindenow Cutoff Bus Stop

Finish:  Bairnsdale

Distance:  12

Total:  179

Today was an easy 12 mile stroll straight down Prince’s Highway into Bairnsdale. The weather was good and I had no issues. 

The day got started with motel owner Danielle’s friend Jess picking me up as planned in front of my motel at 7:50. I had gone to the bakery earlier and gotten myself some breakfast and the cappuccino I had promised to get for Jess. We had a nice talk during the 20 minute drive to the drop off point where I stopped walking yesterday. 

I made it into Bairnsdale around noon and went straight to my motel, the Colonial Motor Inn. It’s a family-run place that is really nice. After dropping off my pack, I decided to hop on the bus and take a 30 minute ride down the road to tomorrow’s destination, Lake’s Entrance, and drop off my tent, sleeping bag and pad, and a few other things I won’t need tonight. This will make tomorrow’s 23 mile walk a little easier not carrying that weight. I was gone about two hours running that errand. 

After returning back to my motel in Bairnsdale, I noticed a couple sitting outside their room reading and talking. That’s when I met nice couple Kevin and Gayle Haberman from Melbourne. They’re traveling around on holiday (vacation) playing golf. We talked about my walk, golf, and politics. If you want to have a conversation on a topic that is almost impossible to explain to people outside the U.S., try talking about American politics with them.  If you’re like me, you’ll just throw your hand up and admit you can’t make any sense out of it either. 

Tomorrow will be a long day. My pack will be lighter, but I noticed on the bus ride down to Lake’s Entrance that the road is almost exclusively two lane and the shoulder has gotten more narrow. However, my reward is when I get there, I’ll be on the coast for the first time and have a day off the next day. 

That’s it for Day 11. Thanks for reading. JB

Start:  Stratford

Finish:  Lindenow Cutoff Bus Stop

Distance:  20

Total:  167

Today went just as planned; except not exactly. I’ll explain. 

I woke up about 6:00 and as I always do first thing, I got on my phone and checked the weather. It said 10% chance of rain and cloudy all day. Perfect!  I laid around a little longer because I needed to step off walking after eating some breakfast at 8:00. Based on my normal walking pace, that would get me to the Landenow Cutoff bus stop, which was 20 miles away,  30 minutes before the bus was scheduled to be there at 3:30. Then I’d catch the bus back to Stratford to spend another night at the Avon River Inn where I stayed last night.  So about 6:45 I decided to crawl out of bed. I went over and peeked out the window. I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was so foggy I couldn’t see past the end of my nose. And the drizzle was heavy too. I knew right then it was going to be one of those days. 

Luckily today was a slack packing day since I was coming back for another night in Stratford so my pack was super light. I went across the road to the local bakery for breakfast and as planned, walked out of town at 8:00. With the drizzle and fog the roads were very wet so I had my poncho on to stay dry. The road spray wasn’t too bad from cars but the truck traffic was pretty heavy and I’d occasionally get the cattle truck 18-wheeler come by. You haven’t lived until you’ve been soaked with road spray from an 18-wheeler cattle truck. 

By late morning the drizzle and fog had lifted and the cloudy day forecast turned out to be accurate. I was making good time and stopped at a roadside park to eat the sandwich I brought with me from the bakery. As I left the park I calculated my ETA to my destination bus stop and I’d knocked 30 minutes off my walking time. Add that to the 30 minutes I already planned to be early meant I was arriving an hour before the scheduled bus time. And who knows if the bus would be on time. So I was looking at standing on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere for at least an hour waiting on the bus. So when I got to the bus stop I decided to implement Plan B. This is the plan my wife, Wyn, doesn’t like me to use.  Plan B consists of hitching a ride with the first trustworthy looking person who offers me a ride. So that’s what I did.  

Louise Spensley is a true trail angel.  She saw me standing by the road, leaning on my walking staff, and offered me a ride into Stratford. And it’s because she’s been in my position herself. Originally from the U.K., she’s backpacked around Europe, including Spain’s famous El Camino de Santiago. She pulled over and we had the most amazing 30 minute conversation about hiking, work, and life. She works for a nonprofit here in Victoria called EcoLands Collective who  are committed to private land conservation. She was wonderful to talk to and was a bright spot to the end of my long walking day. 

Tomorrow I’ll finish my 12 miles from the Lindenow Cutoff bus stop into Bairnsdale. The plan was to catch the bus from the Stratford Train/Bus Depot out to that bus stop at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon. However, the wonderful owner of The Avon River Inn where I’m staying, Danielle, insisted on finding me a better way to get there. She put an All Points Bulletin out on her Facebook account asking if anyone was going that way tomorrow morning. An hour later I was informed her friend Jess would be giving me a ride at 7:50 AM. Jess drives to work in Bairnsdale where she is a nurse. It will only cost me one Cappuccino which I will pick up at the bakery before she arrives in the morning. 

Life’s been pretty good in Australia so far. There are so many nice people in this world. Turn off your cable news channel. It gives you the wrong impression. JB. 

Start:  Sale

Finish:  Stratford

Distance:  11

Total:  147

Today was a short 11 mile walk straight along Prince’s Highway as planned. And it’s a good thing it was only 11 miles because as forecast, it rained most of the way and the man-eating flies were out in full force. 

I got away from The Matador in Sale about 8:00 after a hearty breakfast. It had rained all night and it was still drizzling when I left so I covered my pack and wore my parka too.  With it being Monday all the trucks were out on the roads and they were dousing me good with road spray all morning. I never stopped and got to my destination of Stratford at 11:30. 

Stratford is a nice little town. Because it’s located on Prince’s Highway it gets a lot of tourist traffic and despite its small population of about 2900, it has several cafes, coffee shops, a pub, and other places tourists like to stop.  Interestingly, this Stratford is located on the Avon River, just like Stratford-upon-Avon in England which is William Shakespeare’s birthplace. 

Once I got to Stratford and checked into the Avon River Inn, which is very nice by the way, I quickly walked over to the train depot which is also the local bus stop.  I wanted to try to get some first hand information about the bus route between here and my next town, Bairnsdale. That’s because it’s too far to walk from here to Bairnsdale in one day and although I could use my tent and camp along the road, I would rather not. However, there is a bus stop between Stratford and Bairnsdale that I can walk to, catch the bus back to Stratford, then catch the bus back to the bus stop the next morning and finish my walk to Bairnsdale. So I wanted to confirm there really was a bus stop on my route, do I need a reservation or does the bus just stop if I’m standing there, can I buy a ticket from the bus driver, etc. 

So while I was waiting on the bus at the unmanned train/bus depot I met Patrick. He was there waiting on the bus too. His kids were traveling back to Stratford and he was there to meet them. We had a few minutes to talk about all kinds of things because the bus was late. Finally the bus pulls up and I got all the info I needed to be confident my plan will work and I will not be stranded beside the road tomorrow. That’s good because I’m leaving my tent and sleeping bag behind at this motel so I can take a break from their added weight. 

So that’s it from Stratford, Victoria on Day 9 of my little walking adventure. Everyone is super nice here in Aussie Land. I wish you could all be here to join in the fun. JB. 

Start:  Rosedale

Finish:  Sale

Distance:  17

Total:  136

After a decent nights rest at the Coach Lamp Motel in Rosedale, I woke up about 6:00 and glanced at the weather forecast for today’s route. Unlike last night when it said no chance of rain, now it said a 90% chance of rain at my destination by 11:00 AM. There was no way I was going to walk 17 miles by 11:00. But I jumped up and got out the door pronto. 

First stop; The Rosedale Bakery for some breakfast and a sandwich to go. I got out of there at 7:15 and headed down the four lane again. The traffic was light, I guess because it was 7:15 on a Sunday morning. However, that brings me to my next point. I can only remember seeing one church so far in eight days; a Catholic Church.  Although I haven’t really been looking, let’s agree, you don’t have to look very hard to see churches where I come from. 

By 11:00 it sure didn’t look very rainy. In fact, it didn’t look rainy at all. I stopped and took a rest and ate my sandwich on a guard rail about five miles from my destination and made it into Sale at 12:45. Still no rain. My first stop, across the street from my motel, was a cafe to buy an $8 milk shake. That sounds expensive but it’s only $5.40 U.S..  And it was well worth it. 

I’m staying at The Matador Motel. When I was checking in I noticed the wifi password was the same as two nights ago in Traralgon at The Black Bull Motel. Then it hit me. The Matador and The Black Bull. Michael at the front desk confirmed that yes, they are sister motels. And The Matador is just as nice as The Black Bull. Awesome bed, great wifi, free breakfast, and because the guest laundry is inop, they’re doing my laundry in the motel washer. These Aussies are really nice, especially if you stagger around like you’re half crippled and about to collapse at any minute. 

Tomorrow it really is suppose to rain. 100% chance all day and I only walk 11 miles up the road to the very small town of Stratford. I can do 11 miles in about 3.5 hours so I’ll either look for a break in the weather or get wet for 3.5 hours.  

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. JB