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The water of the lakes weren't too far away but we rarely went there. There is one story about my father going to a party on one occasion and getting drunk and ended up with him running his car into the ditch; that was his story. My father supported the area with various services he ran from the store. He delivered to Kalulu and a long way out in different directions. It was important to take fuel and everything. There was a newsagent there run by a fellow named Shan. He had the post office and all the things connected to news agency. He took a truck out and delivered to the postal people. There were three shops in the area then. Ours in Walpa, one in Lindenow and the other was in Lindenow South. We all survived for a number of years quite reasonably. My parents were operating the general store; then my mother decided to leave. She left and left me behind. She took the other children but left me with my father. It wasn't a good decision. I was about thirteen or fourteen years old at the time. I started working when I was fourteen and a half. My mother is English. After leaving us, she went to the country, to the western district, and stayed for quite a while. There she had a few businesses. She settled down and came back into Melbourne when her father died. Providence Ponds There is an old Australian book, Providence Ponds by Stanley D. Porteus, which deals with settlement of the East Gippsland region. The girl in it was part of Mrs. Hebe's family. The story tells of how this girl hides in a cave when Aboriginals are attacking in the vicinity. Frank Hebe had actually taken the author around the area. The book talks about early people making their way across the mountains, etc.; sometimes only getting half a mile in an entire day's journeying.