29.01.2023 from Toorongo Nature Reserve to Yarram

Where the hell is Yarram? Right in "the middle of everywere", this is how the area in southern Gippsland promotes itself today (by the way, it was not named after gypsum, which is mined here as limestone, but after a British royal administrator of yesteryear).

Unfortunately, the haze of intoxication did not dissipate last night, no wind and too many fires immersed the little valley in a haze of smoke and sausage scent.

We move on and visit a relic from the past, a railway bridge from around 1900, of course made of wood, three stories high and in operation until the major forest fire in 1912/13, used by narrow trains, a modern way to transport people, goods and livestock.

We drive through an open landscape and mountainous regions and arrive in Yarram, 70 km from Foster's (beer), and occupy the free Camp Ground as the only guests, while everyone else is back in their hometowns, having stood in long queues on the highway with their wheels in their cars.

We drive through another national park, the Tarra Bulga NP, once again seeing dense eucalyptus forests and being warned about kangaroos, koalas and wombats. But apart from three smaller black kangaroos, no animals cross our path today. It is logical that these areas are protected, as a nearby privately owned forest area has been completely cleared after a forest fire. The owner may not have wanted to wait for nature to regenerate.

In Yarram, we visit the town, where 1,700 people live, serving as a center for the surrounding agricultural enterprises. Therefore, there is a cooperative with a gas station, a medical center, and in the past, there was a court and a hotel with a pub. Our destination today is 2 km there and 2 km back to the parking lot. There is laughter, playing pool, betting, and like everywhere in the world, people show each other YouTube videos. It's easier to laugh together. On the TV, hits from the 80s are playing, including Nena's 99 Luftballons.

On the way back, we have fish and chips, without chips today, and we take pieces of shark with us to our sleeping and feeding place.

As I said, we are alone in the parking lot, but that doesn't matter, we are used to it by now, and the fire is also burning, because of the flies and everything else.