Mo' Serendipity

 We found several occasions in which our latest trip to 505 became very enjoyable by pure chance.  This continued on the drive back to Mallacoota.

A couple of days ago I posted this to my Facebook page (or whatever Zuckerberg calls it):

"We have a problem with our lighting at 505. The electrician needs a couple of parts: they are "out of stock." I wanted to buy a floor lamp of the same model we bought a couple of days ago. Take the tram about 3km: "Out of stock."
I anxiously await some leader of the Australian Business Community getting the Nobel Prize for Economics for documenting their core practice "Just-too-late" stock control."

Then Frances suggested that there may be a Beacon Lighting store in Traralgon so we could call in on the way back to Mallacoota to solve the first issue.  That seemed like an excellent idea so I rang them. They had the lamp in stock so I ordered one.  They were able to confirm which lamp I wanted by accessing the receipt from the St Kilda Store on-line!  They would be open at 10am on Sunday.

We went through our usual routine which meant we were driving out of 505 about 0645 and according to Google Maps (GM) would get to Traralgon about 0835.  So we needed to fill in about 90 minutes waiting for the shop to open in Traralgon. We thought of investigating a wetland we drive past but couldn't find it on GM. We did find Morwell NP which looked interesting so we went there.

En route we went through Churchill which I thought was surprisingly large (and prosperous looking).
I have taken a look at the data for Churchill available from the Census Tablebuilder app. It had a population of just under 5000 at the 2021 Census. In comparison with Victoria it has a higher proportion of children and seniors in the 60-79 range and lower proportion of 30-59 and very old ranges.   

To try to get a handle on the feel of the town I have looked at the industries in the workforce.  Most of the major industry groups in 2021 are service related.  Looking at the detail in key industries Federation Uni shows up with 50 workers in Tertiary Education.  Comparing the data for 2021 for the State Suburb of Churchill  with 2006 data for Postal Area 3842 is the nearest I could find.  Manufacturing is interesting with a sawmill closing but a food processing plant starting up.  It appears the hospital has a major upgrade, going from 44 to 107 workers.  On  the downside Retail has dropped from 288 to 217.  In summary I think the town is doing OK with new industries appearing but I am not sure I'd be buying an investment property there.

We passed on through the town and into the National Park parking area. There is no information available at the parking area apart from a couple of finger boards so we chose the Fosters Gully Nature Trail. (An image online shows an information sign at the parking area: I'm sure that is no longer there! Perhaps there has been a fire more recently than we thought.) This was the serendipity as it was a lovely walk which took up about 45 minutes through very pleasant sclerophyll forest. We wrote down a few birds of which this Bassian thrush was the highlight.

 The eBird tracker app recorded ~2.6km with some uphill.  Here are a coupe of views from near the highpoint.

Once back in the car we had a very pleasant drive out of the range and across Central Gippsland to the shop where had very good service.  On home.



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