Lake Eildon

After 3½ later, we finally arrived at Lake Eildon. The first place we looked for is Eildon Shopping Centre, looking for food to feed our ravaging hungry stomach. The shopping centre is small with a supermarket, butcher, bakery, a café, a hardware shop, a chemist, a post office, men & ladies clothing and a hair salon. There was not much choice for food. It is either fish & chip or pasteries. We opt for meat pies and cappuccino since it won a bronze medal for its pies.

Lake Eildon and the National Park is in the northern foothills of Victoria's Central Highlands, 150 km north-east of Melbourne. The National Park is situated on the shores of Lake Eildon. The park protects 27,750 ha of rugged hills with open woodlands through to dense forest. It is very scenic, and offers the opportunity to experience an array of wildlife, natural and historic features and a wide range of recreational activities.

The lake are for all types of water activities including boating, skiing and fishing, as well as protected areas for swimming. In summer, camping is popular. There are walking tracks and trail for mountain bikes, trail bike and 4 wheel driving.

After lunch, we dropped into the information centre. Surprisingly it was opened since the town was quiet with a handful of tourists. The gentleman manning the centre was most helpful and gave us some map and pointed some area of interest we should not miss. He also showed us the quick way to get home.

As we drove around, we can see remains of gold mining activities and reminder of European Settlement. In the time of drought, Merlo Homestead, an original homestead submerged under the lake is visible.

Since we arrive late, we droved around and have a quick look around like tourists, trying to cramp in as much as possible. Definitely we will be back again, this time much more prepared. The drive home took us 2 hours with little traffic.