After spending the night with a pair of savage possums beating our door down to get into our cosy van (maybe because it was raining), we started our long trip straight to Melbourne for some van maintenance, then on to Wilsons Promontory. Thankfully the weather had changed from the 40 degree heat we had experienced up to now, to being much cooler and actually raining! "See you've brought the rain with you", drawled the man leaning against the exit gate, "Are you gunna make it stay?"
The bulk of the day was filled with fun fun freeway driving all the way to Melb, we are an ambitious pair. The rain kept us company.
Moving south from Melbourne and away from sharing roads with traffic-blocking trams & meandering drivers, we headed South-East towards Wilsons Promontory. Driver fatigue highlighted our over-ambitiousness, and we stopped for the night at Leongatha. The next morning discovery of a FREE (yes free!) internet facility in the local community centre made it all worthwhile. Tea & biscuits were plied upon us by the friendly locals, who sat around gossiping while we updated our blog. After about 2 hrs surfing the net on their one & only internet computer, we thought we might be overstaying our welcome, so we thanked them & hit the road south to Wilsons Promontory.
The one & only road into the Promontory National Park is very scenic, winding its way through the bushland & coastal scrub and cresting numerous hills that offered tantalising glimpses of the rugged coastline & bright blue sea with white sandy bays that we were heading towards. The wildlife on the way was plentiful, we almost ran over a meandering wombat, and escorted an echidna crossing the road until it had safely hidden itself in the bush.
When we finally arrived at Tidal River, the furthest south the road goes, it seemed like the entire population of Melbourne had come here to camp. Far from the isolated & pristene wilderness we had expected it to be, the campsite at the end of the promontory road was a sprawling tent city with little room to swing a cat. The nearby beach (Norman Bay) was also very busy - suprisingly so considering the fact it was overcast, windy and intermittently raining.
Outside of the vast camping area, the penninsula is a very beautiful wilderness area, with lots of bushwalks to do - up mountains (well large hills really) with impressive views, or onwards to the southernmost coastline battered by the sea in the wild Bass Strait.
We explored a number of the very pretty beaches, our favourite being 'Squeaky beach' with it's fine white sand, and took lots of photos. All in all, very well worth the trip, but the campsites will be crowded if you go in summer school holiday time!
Driving along, we spotted an Echidna slowly waddling across the road in front of us & swerved to avoid it. We pulled over and watched it finish crossing the road, keeping an eye out for other cars that might come hurtling along. It made it safely and disappeared into the scrub. Unfortunately I didn't get a good photo. Cute little critters.
Next we are off to Phillip Island to see the Fairy Penguin Parade!
Click here to see a google map of Wilsons Promontory
