Wilsons Promontory
Rocky ocean cliffs, no introduced fish, penguins, kangaroos, wallabies . . .
The Prom is one of the few natural areas I had heard about before coming to Australia the first time.Two visits later I finally arrived.
I arrived in Melbourne last Friday afternoon and stayed with the Millers for the weekend.I met their daughter and grand-daughter last winter at Red Mountain Ski area in British Columbia.The Millers knew my great uncle who may have stayed at their home, perhaps in Fiji, many years before.Sometimes the world is just a little smaller then we realize.
It was sprinkling a little as I ventured off the ferry.I could taste and see the air.I already missed the clean air from Tassy.
Now it’s Monday.After using their internet to make a few postings and upload some photographs (www.webshots.com/user/stealthranger) I managed to make the 200 kilometre drive to the Promontory Monday afternoon.
What I had recently learned was this is one of the best places to see Wombats.Hoping to find a wombat before it took its daytime slumber I arrived early.There were several road kill but nothing alive.Eastern grey kangaroos and swamp wallabies were plentiful.I managed a photograph of a pair of crescent honeyeaters singing at the top of their lungs and even found a wombat burrow in the middle of a side road.
I stopped at Darby River for breakfast then walked down to the beach.On the way back out I was startled by a brown snake and delighted to see a whipbird.Emus were grazing in an open field.
Next stop was Picnic Beach – much nicer then my previous stop.The beach was sandy rather then rocky.What really fascinated me were the rocks at the beach’s end.I initially thought it was a conglomerate with very large blocks suspended in a sedimentary rock.Instead it was granite with very large blocks of an even harder rock entombed in the crystalline matrix.
Slowly I made my way towards Tidal River.Rumor was that wombats were easy to see around the picnic area.Being continually distracted by the landscape and sights I arrived at Tidal River in the early evening.I found myself wandering across the lawn and onto a boardwalk.Its twisted path worked through a woodland then out into the saltwater marsh.My plans changed – I would stay at Tidal River for the night.Once checking on Whale Rock I found my way back to the vehicle then located a campsite.A few minutes later a Wombat waddled into camp while snipping fresh sprouts along the way.Suddenly there was a fit of growling and hissing from the other side of the bush.A second wombat had already claimed the spot.The intruder quickly galloped off.The resident wombat walked over to the back bumper for a backrub or was it to mark territory.
I went to bed a happy camper.
Wilson’s Promontory deserves another visit.Only a small portion of the park is accessible to vehicles.The rest is a bushwalker’s paradise.Trails in the south are open to bicycle riding.Places like Sealers Cove, Waterloo Bay and of course the lighthouse continue to tantalize me.Cape Barren geese apparently use the park and were one reason I visited.So far the Cape Barren geese in Victoria and Tasmania have eluded my attempts to find them.Another visit is already in the making.
