Surging Southeast

Today's map.

Because I'm an engineer and Trav's an engineer and, sometimes, we get aroused by giant things that can kill you, we opted to start the day with a tour of Loy Yang power station. It's a big sucker, fuelled by brown coal, producing about 40% of Victoria's baseload around the clock.

After a tedious safety induction, we were walking across the main forecourt to the station when I spotted three small, white crosses by the path in one of the gardens. Uneasily, I felt that maybe I should have listened to the safety briefing more closely, until Trav explained who they were for.

"Bantams," he said unhelpfully.

"What?!"

"Bantam roosters. They were dumped here a while ago; four of them. We called them George, John, Paul and Ringo because they used to walk across the pedestrian crossing in a line, just like on Abbey Road. A fox got three of them, but Paul is still out there in the bushes somewhere."

"Right. Working on a solo album?"

"Shut up."

Not long after, we were sweltering in our safety gear and ready to head into the guts of the power station.

It was loud and hot amongst the roaring intake fans, dangling pipework and vibrating walkways. Trav was kind enough to open up one of the operating boilers so that I could look inside. It was incredible; a multi-storey incendiary maelstrom only a metre inside the viewing hatch. If you subscribe to the Christian concept of hell, you may well have gotten on your knees at the sight and sound of this thing in action.

We made several other stops over the course of an hour, looking at the steam tubes, the turbine hall and the view of the Latrobe Valley from level 19.

Lunch was sneaking up on us, so we took a quick stop in Traralgon for a bite to eat, then we were off again.

We both agreed that avoiding the highway was the go, so we looped through lots of dairy country on our way to Maffra - home of the Hermaffradites, according to Trav. It's a very pretty place.

The roads swept gracefully along as Trav got acquainted with the FZ and I worked on my riding skills. Poplar trees lined the road whereever there was plentiful water. It was fun kicking up their fallen yellow leaves with the bikes as we zoomed along.

At first sight of the lakes, we stopped for a breather in the afternoon sun.

After some discussion, we decided to check out Eagle Point for a place to stay. Just before dusk, we pulled into the Council caravan park and put the tents up under a young eucalypt. This was to prove a mistake later on.

I knocked out some indian food and rice in the camp kitchen and we spent the best part of the evening there, drinking a $5 bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and watching stupid videos on Trav's (dearly beloved) iPhone. I edited photos and blogged while Trav played his current favourite game: Jelly Car. With each glass of wine, his snorts and shrieks of delight and dismay got more exuberant as his jelly car squished itself around the challenges.

After beautiful warm showers, it was time to hit the sleeping mats and see what our first night in tents would bring.