We left Melbourne Saturday morning, October 22nd, and drove down to Phillip Island. Though it was overcast when we left, by late morning the sky had cleared. We took a few short walks at Rhyll inlet where the smell of the sea birds was a most noticeable aspect of their presence. We then took a stroll though the koala reserve, which was utterly devoid of koalas, but was a nice place for lunch and also we found a busy bee nest in a tree and took some nice video footage of the bees coming and going.
In the afternoon we headed past the town of Cowes (I think rather comically named after Cowes of the Isle of Wight, which sits in the Solent, off the south coast of Britain, in much the same way that Phillip Island sits south of mainland Victoria) and down to the south-west tip to sea the fur sea colony that lazes on the rock outcrops known as ‘The Nobbies’. The seals were eclipsed by the hundreds of baby seagulls nestled among the spring flowers being fed by their loud, red-beaked parents and attempting to fledge their fluffy little wings. Peeking beneath the boardwalks and in burrows along the coast revealed Phillip Islands star attractions, the little or fairy penguins. I took the photo opportunity since cameras are forbidden at the viewing centre.
At sunset the penguins make their way in large quantities from the ocean to the land where they mate, preen and rest until sunrise when they go back to fishing. The penguin visitors centre has viewing platforms on the beach and raised walkways on the shallow cliffs so that the path of the penguins are not disturbed and they go about their business, seemingly oblivious of the crowds of tourists. After the ‘show’ we left the island and stopped for dinner at San Remo and then drove to Inverloch to camp. Early in the morning, after the infamously abrupt camp owner had been paid we continued to Wilson’s Prom.
Lucy, who served us at Tidal River visitors centre was a little reluctant to let us try the 52.5 km circuit with only two night of camping (11.9 the first day, 24 the second day, 16.6 the last day) and urged us to add the third night but, after reassurances that we were fit and experienced, we set off south on that trip-plan. We passed though much land recovering from the fire. It was nice to see so much new growth and so many spring flowers. Even compared to our visit in May, things looked much less scorched. Most spectacular was the thousands of white irises and flower spikes of Xanthorrhoea. We lunched at halfway hut after Lucy sped passed us in a four-wheel drive smiling at our toil and made the camp on the banks of Roaring Meg early enough to walk down to South point, 3.5km further south. The wind was loud, and roared far more than Meg, who barely meeped! The next morning we set off along the path to the lighthouse and found land that the fire had not reached. We saw a lovely long tiger snake sunning itself on the path before it clouded over and thunder and lightening lit up the sky. Luckily not much rain fell, except at Waterloo bay where we had a wet snack. We reached Refuge Cove early enough to cook in the light although we were weary from 24km of undulating hills. The last day was fine and we lazed on the beaches at Refuge and Sealers Coves on the way back to Tidal River. After a hot shower we left and headed east.
We dined on flatheads in beer batter and chips at Port Welshpool and then drove until we were tired. We turned the car onto a dirt road looking for a space to pitch our tent for the night. The road split and became ‘bombing range road’… it sounded foreboding but we pulled in anyway; although we shifted along a little after realizing we were in front of a gate with a sign that read ‘wild bird reserve, private land, shooting prohibited’. The last bit cheered me and we slept soundly.
After breakfast, during which clouds of mosquitoes descended upon us, we continued east, crossing the Snowy River and stopping for groceries (and bite-soothing cream!!). We reached Wingan Inletin the Croajingolong National Park in time to snorkel for abalone… well Ross snorkled and I filmed! That night was a great feast of abalone with lemon and sherry, followed by lamb rogan josh and cabernet, followed by pfeffernusse and, rather oddly so far from its origin, warm Norfolk punch. Entertainment came from discouraging the very pesky possums with water and large sticks. The next day, finding the area totally deserted, we collected mussels and ate oysters, read on the beach and watched the eagles and sea lions. The mussels made a fine red-coconut curry that night and more oysters made great ‘appies’!The following morning we headed west to Cape Conran. After pitching our tent we set out with our meager fishing equipment (a hand line) and searched for a ‘likely spot’. We had a few failed attempts with a mussel, getting sprayed by the surf on a rock outcrop before venturing around the point to Salmon rocks. After conceding the only jetty to two guys who spent more time at the back of their truck than with their lines, we tried our luck with a limpet (as bait), casting from a flat rock into a surf washed deep pool, and succeeded in landing… a starfish. We pried the pesky creature from our bait and recast and pulled out a small but perfect little fish. Another starfish and I landed another lovely, large fish. Since neither fish swallowed the bait, both fish and both starfish were caught with the same little limpet!
With our proud catch we returned to camp, finding some lovely orchids by the path. We gathered wood and lit a fire on which we grilled the fish and ate them with a mushroom risotto. The next day, our last full day, we thought we’d try the lucky line again. We set out to the Yeerung river, which is the colour of milkless black tea, and is separated at its mouth from the blue ocean by a narrow sand bar except at high tide. Beside the river were some fine boulders, which I climbed until it was too warm. We gathered worms and some ugly little maggoty creatures and fished for hours but to no avail. The fishing may have been pointless, but I got inspriration for a beatiful painting :) Finally we gave up and swam in the clear brown water and took a walk to the Yeerung river gorge instead. The camp that night was much busier and it was the Saturday of Melbourne Cup long weekend. Sunday morning we left after breakfast and drove west. We stopped at Buchan Caves and took a tour of the beautiful royal caves.
After the caves it was time to make the long drive back. We stopped at Lakes Entrance for lunch and also to buy scallops to take as an offering to David, whose house we stopped at for Gwen’s birthday dinner. We needed to shower before we were fit for the dinner table, which was piled with yummy roast lamb followed by an array of desserts and birthday cake.