Day 2 – Borradaile Plains    

 All up I think I only got 3-4 hours sleep and by 0300 I was feeling a little  sea sick or maybe it was the stuffy room we were stored in but I needed fresh air.  I went up on deck and wondered around for a while, there were people everywhere trying to sleep spread across every flat surface they could find.  I was not the only one having trouble sleeping in those chairs.  All I can say is that I was glad to see the sun rise, and hear the announcement “good morning passengers” because I new it would all be over soon.  

We got the call to get the car, it was exciting to know that our trip was starting.  Customs seemed quicker this time around, maybe it had something to do with where we were placed aboard the boat.  The big vehicles seemed to go on the out side lanes and they were first to come off the boat, so there are benefits to driving around in a truck!

We got some fruit and veggies as well as breakfast at Devonport and then we were on our way, we stopped at a small town called Sheffield to have our breakfast.  It’s a town that has murals spread over every bare wall available, some of them pretty interesting and others only an artist would understand.  From Sheffield we went on to our first bit of 4WDriving which was a track through Borradaile Plains, it’s a bit like the Melbourne high country plains with lots of scrub bush which can survive the harsh climate changes, and as you continue along it turned into nice forests with ferns and river streams.

We stopped for a short walk into the forest to have a look at a water fall.  The walk was a little rough and steep in places but well worth the effort.  The trees were covered with moss and there were ferns every where like walking through a little rain forest, at the end we were walking along a gully with steep sides, we climbed over some rocks and there was the waterfall, only small but very beautiful in its surroundings.

So we continued on our way, the track we were on turned into Lorinna track, which went to the town of Lorinna wherepeople still live the old fashion way, they are not connected to mains power even though a power station is right next to them on the main lake which is a big part of their town.  

That’s where we spent our first night at Lake Cethana.  It is a really pretty place, a man made lake, made for the power station.  It had old dead trees all along the shore line and is very peaceful.  John was a bit more pessimistic and complained it wasn’t all that pretty and there was too much clay which made his new boots dirty!  The area where we stayed was like being on a little island though it was joined to the mainland by a narrow little road, we felt like we were the only ones around for miles.