Well, the season has really changed here. We’ve gone from the cloudy days, chilly evenings and plentiful rain of the Australian spring to the 30+ degree days, humid nights and the sights and sounds of Christmas that mark the beginning of summer. Yep, all the Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year signs are up and little Santas and reindeer adorn the sun parched lawns. That is just SO WRONG.
Victoria
We continued down the Great Ocean Road to Port Fairy where we spent a couple of days including an evening walk out to Griffith Island to see a bird colony. While we missed the birds, the lighthouse looked great.
We also saw an assortment of wallabies (shown later).
We toured a bit more of the coast and some of the inland salt lakes. While most of the lakes were a light lime green, we did come across this pink lake. The colour is caused by some algae that release beta carotene into the water.
We then headed inland to visit The Grampians. These are a small range of mountains in central Victoria with some great day hikes. We spent three days there and did several walks. Here are a few pictures, starting with just a section of trail to give a feel for it.
When we got out on top, it was mostly interesting rock formations.
We saw this rock on our way out to a viewpoint and ended up having lunch underneath it as it was the only shade in the area. The picture doesn’t really capture the size of it – suffice to say it covered both of us very comfortably.
The McKenzie falls are, in some sense, the showpiece of the Grampians. They are reached by a steep staircase that could be a bit trying in high heat but was quite manageable on our trip.
I also liked these smaller falls, called SilverBand, for what isn’t present.
There is no pool of water at the bottom or river continuing on. The water hits the pile of rocks and is immediately channeled underground.
We drove back down for a couple more days on the coast before heading to eastern Victoria on our way to the border with New South Wales. We needed a quick stop in Melbourne to get a minor repair done on the camper and then it was off to Phillip Island, a small vacation area east of Melbourne. I think we went there for the Chocolate Factory but we also took a walk through a wetland bird sanctuary at Churchill Island.
From Phillip Island, we headed south to Wilson’s Promontory – a national park on the south coast. More great beach views and some good walking. Unfortunately this was our first really hot day and we both ended up with minor heat issues that caused us to abort one walk and take it easy for a day or two. We are now spending a few days in the town of Lakes Entrance where we’ll do a couple of local day cruises (“Five passengers set sail that day, for a three hour tour, a three hour tour…”) and probably treat ourselves to an evening out.
Wildlife
I haven’t written much about the wildlife here since leaving Cairns. One of the great things about hiking in Australia is the incredible number and colours of birds. While they are impressive to see, the sounds while hiking are even more surprising. You have a constant background of screeches, laughter (Kookaburra), and music around you.
These red and blue parrots, Crimson Rosellas, are very common but for quite a while all we saw were flashes of colour through the trees that disappeared as soon as I grabbed a camera. Liane thought it very funny. Anyway, we saw this one on a walk in Hall’s Gap, Grampians. Once I got the first picture, we saw them everywhere.
On Phillip Island, we saw hundreds of these Cape Barren geese with lime green bills.
Even the Australian Magpie, the local scavanger equivalent of our crow, is interesting to look at and has a much more pleasant call than its north american counterpart. The picture is from Port Fairy, but the birds are everywhere.
The native Australian swan looks very similar to what we see in Canada, except it is black. This picture is from Lakes Entrance. The “lakes” at Lakes Entrance are at least part tidal lagoon and the swans like the mixed waters for feeding. The region where salt and fresh water mix churns up the sea grasses and the swans crowd the area.
While on the topic of birds, I’d also like to throw in these pictures of pelicans and a heron from earlier in the trip.
In addition to the birds, we are seeing plenty of kangaroos and wallabies. The wallaby picture was taken in Port Fairy. The kangaroos were seen on the same walk as the parrot picture above in the Grampians.
I should mention that I think the second is a kangaroo not a wallaby. The differences can be a bit subtle and properly distinguishing them seems to involve dentistry. Unfortunately, I still haven’t seen a koala in the wild. Still a couple of months to go.
One final wildlife shot before I go.
