October to Melbourne

 After a drenching for Mallacoota on the 2nd of October the BoM forecast for our drive to Melbourne on the 4th was quite reasonable.  The radar map also looked quite clear.

Thus it was a bit of a surprise to meet fairly steady rain as we went over Mt Drummer.  This continued all the way to about Bruthen (about 120km in a straight line).  The paddocks along the way looked rather waterlogged, and the guy at the servo in Barnsdale said they had heavy rain all night (according to BoM it had effectively stopped at 0630).

There was a lot of water beside the road and in the paddocks as we went towards Stratford.  I supect this was about 15 km from Bairnsdale.

We had thought of stopping to fill up with diesel at the Billabong Roadhouse, and to check out the adjacent Nature Reserve.  But diesel was cheaper in Bairnsdale and I hadn't got permission to enter the Nature Reserve so we passed by.  I had heard from the author of an eBird check list that the birds he had listed were on the Northern side of the road, and there was a nice pond forming there, reminding me of the situation when we first started coming to Melbourne about 6 years ago.  We shall call in here to check it out on the way back.

Getting in to Stratford there was the first election sign we have seen.  Ms Rendell is hoping to succeed Tim Bull and has been dong a bit to get some name recognition. 

 (Further West - around Fulham there were more of her signs and others for Danny O'Brien, the member for South Gippsland, who also serves as the Leader of the Victorian Nationals.  As we got to the outskirts of Traralgon a large and cheap looking motel was decorated with a large sign for <1 Notion - photo to come on way back.)

On the Western side of Stratford the Avon River had a good flow - much more water than has been the case for a few years.  By this time there was a Minor Flood warning for the river here (since lifted) and major flood warning - at that time - for the headwaters of the Thomson River upstream from Sale.

Here is a Facebook post about the situation to the North of the M1.

A huge herd of dairy cattle were grazing as we got to the Sale-Heyfield Rd.

Our experience of the stretch from this point to Traralgon is that the name 'Rosedale' comes from some language or another and translates as "Place of Many Potholes". Despite the road here being finished only very recently it has many holes and an enormous number of patches where other holes have been more or less filled in.

The only other excitement was Sheila, our Google Maps satnav advising of a collision on the Monash Freeway.  It turned out to be on the other carriageway and had that jammed up for a couple of kilometers, but without a rubberneck jam on our side(possibly because the speed limit had been dropped to 80, thus giving enough time for a passing gawp).