Mar 5 - Mar 9: Three Nights at The Prom

End of Day 13 - Mar 5: Wow!  I have never been to this stunning part of the world. It reminds me a little bit of the Galapagos, a little bit of New Zealand. The area covered by the national park is huge and there is no way that 3 days here will be sufficient.  But I'm sure we will enjoy what we can in the short time we have here.

After setting up camp we wandered the river, beach and nearby rocks in the late afternoon/evening, seeing wombat, wood ducks (him and her) and kelp gulls to whet our appetite.  The wombat has blue on it because it has been treated for mange.

Day 14 - Mar 6: We woke up to a perfect day weather-wise, much to Pete's delight because today we our plan was to climb up Mount Oberon for the views. We started off reasonably early before the day had a chance to warm up too much.  Fortunately, the walk doesn't start at beach level, but starts at a midway saddle then goes gradually up for 4 kms. The walk was remarkably quiet, with little bird sounds.  We did see a Bassian Thrush and a feral cat (looked only young and not very afraid so I suspect it has been released here recently by some idiot). I later informed the rangers as I think this one is definitely trappable.

The steepest climb seems to be left to the last 500 m, just when you get a glimpse of two communication towers (we do like to be kept in touch).  There are not at the top of the mountain.

By the time you've reached the actual top you've had a good workout and are rewarded with wonderful views and a cool breeze, which I definitely needed.

We called in at the Information Centre on our return from Mt Oberon and learned why we had no chance of staying any longer at 'The Prom'.  It is a long weekend in Victoria - their Labour Day long weekend - and all of Melbourne is coming to the Prom! I did find a Facebook group where I attempted to cajole someone into letting us camp longer, but only one person was forthcoming (for one night) and sadly, I couldn't get in touch with her.

In the afternoon we walked up Tidal River beach. It was actually warm enough for a swim at the end.  The rocks at the end of the beach, all barnacle, worm and mussel encrusted were fascinating. No collecting is allowed so they are free to grow.  It is so lovely to see. Also saw some sea anemones.

The views up the hillside and the colour of the water were also beautiful.

There were a number of these juvenile Tern Gulls up and down the beach.

Some were a little older.

We also found a couple of sea stars. First I thought they might be the Northern Pacific Sea Star which is a real pest in Victoria because it is highly invasive and will destroy the native marine environment. But on visiting the information centre here, I think this one is more likely to be the Ocellate Sea Star - a local goodie.

Another beach find is apparently known as a Sea Potato, a type of sea urchin.

The only bad things about here at the moment are biting flies.  They are not as big as march flies and easier to kill but they are very annoying!

Later in the afternoon we went for a walk along tidal river where Vic Parks have built a board walk. Very pleasant. The evening was so pleasant the clouds were even reflected in the river.

There was a patch where Boobialla were flowering beautifully.

We were also treated to a family of ducks swimming by.  Later we saw them at camp, learning how to scrounge scraps from the tourists.  Not good.

Unfortunately, they are not the only birds that do so.  Crimson Rosellas and Red Wattlebirds visit us regularly, hoping for scraps.  They are game but they get nothing from us.

I continued walking up the other side of Tidal River enjoying exploring a little more.  Among the native plants there are plenty of introduced species including Forget-me-nots which are actually very pretty at the moment when there is little native flora blossoming.

However, there were some native flowers including, one of the native Correas (Correa reflexa) and a Geebung.

On the return journey back to camp, I happened very suddenly upon a swamp wallaby.  I don't know which of us was more surprised!

I disturbed yet more critters, this time crabs, as I crossed the river back to camp.  There were hundreds of these feeding in the riverside sand.

Day 15 - Mar 7: Today we walked the Three Bay We walked from Tidal River ...

 to  Pillar Point with its wonderful outlook ...

to Squeaky Beach where the dry sand squeaks perhaps more loudly than I've ever heard sand squeak and I have heard lots (I learned that the more eroded and thus rounded the sand, the more it squeaks) ...

passed by Lavender Bay, which unfortunately you can get to only by boat (I did try) ...

to Picnic Bay, where for a moment we had the entire beach to ourselves and where I watched oysterbirds eating mussels ... 

and then finally to Whisky Bay. 

We spent quite a while at Whisky Bay, sharing it with surfers (the surf wasn't bad) and a few other souls.

For the first time, I saw juvenile seagulls actually being fed fish from the gullet of their parent. Look closely at the juvenile in the rear of this photo and you can see part of the food it received still hanging out of its bill.

I spent quite a bit of time watching this trio. Some amusing antics by the youngsters and seeming indifference by the parent.

And then there were the rocks!  Big beautiful granite boulders of all shapes and sizes, just waiting to be explored.  Some (the islands) were completely out of reach.

I needed to investigate the creatures and seaweeds on the rocks too of course.

It eventually came time to leave and leaving involved walking back the way we had come (without Pillar Point). The day was gloriously fine but with quite a cool breeze, so the walk was very pleasant, even towards the end of the day. Only at one point did we feel the need for a swim and then we were nowhere near water!

On the way back, I took a closer look at some of the local flora. This Epacris impressa (or Common Heath) comes in so many colour variations.

I was lucky enough to see some sundews (Drosera species) too.

I think Forked Sundew (Drosera binata) even though it was much smaller than we get in Yuraygi NP

Pygmy Sundew (Drosera pygmaea) - super tiny. The whole plant might be 2 cm across.

Two other flowering plants I saw were White Correa (Correa alba) and the Common Everlasting (Chrysocephalum apiculatum).

We had a lovely day today.  I don't want to have to leave tomorrow.

Day 16 - Mar 8: Yesterday we saw (or rather heard) these strange looking amphibious creatures going down to the beach and set out to investigate.  

It turns out there is a daily cruise around the coast and some of the islands. It sounded tempting as an option for today, but the weather was looking dicey and I'm not a great one for boat travel.  However, after not booking it yesterday and finding the day clear enough if a little windy and foggy, we went over to the office to investigate.  There were still seats available and they assured us that the winds were in the trip's favour (making it quite smooth near the shore) and so we decided to risk it. 

After dosing up on anything available (all they had were ginger tablets and all I had was Phenergan), I overcame my nerves and set out for the trip. We looked very pretty in our red capes.

This is how we started.

The part fog, part sunshine of the day made for a rather beautiful view of "The Prom" as it is affectionately known by Victorians.

There is only one more beach south of Tidal River on the western side of The Prom and then the landscape gives way to step cliffs, granite boulders and the occasional limestone.  It is beautiful and rugged.

At some stage we reached South Point, the southernmost part of the Australian mainland.

We rounded that point and just for a minute got a taste of how nasty the water might get.  All of a sudden we were more exposed and while it was not nasty - it was a whole lot rougher than what we had experienced. No thanks!

You'll notice that we are up the front of the boat.  I have found that my seasickness is less when I am outside and very exposed to the wind (anywhere on this boat was that) and when the ups and downs of the boat are really obvious to the eyes as well as the ears.  What I can't stand is when I'm near the motor,  the boat just lolls up and down, or when a boat appears to be still but my ears don't think it is.

We were lucky enough to spot a fair of White-bellied Sea-eagles, the first time I have ever seen a pair together. We also saw what is apparently a 50-year old White-bellied Sea-eagle nest - metres across.

There were many other birds around but not photographable by me. There were Sooty Shearwaters (our Muttonbirds), other terns of various kinds and we also sighted two albatrosses - apparently they are the only pair of albatrosses known to nest on Australian soil (somewhere to the south of Tasmania I think the guide said). A Wedgetail Eagle was patrolling around one of the islands.

We sauntered past a huge seal colony and yes, the white on the rocks is years' worth of seal shit.

One of the highlights of this cruise is Skull Rock.  It is impressive enough from afar.

Then you round the rock to the other side.

The upper cave is about 130 metres wide and 60 metres tall.  Inside we saw a pair of Cape Barren Geese.

I have put together a very rubbishy video to give you a little feel of what it was like on the boat.  I have zero editing skills.

At the end of the cruise it was fun to watch the other boat come into land, dropping its wheels and turning into a land vehicle again. 

After lunch we determined to make the most of our short time here, deciding to kayak with paddles (not knowing how shallow/deep the river was) up Tidal River as far as we could.  Ww reached about 30m before it goes under the main road that leads to the campground.  It was worth doing - so peaceful.

We really were sorry to leave.  So much left to do.  We will be back.

The late afternoon was spent driving, driving to Boolarra where we managed to find a camp, even on the long weekend, at the Boolarra Community Hotel.  We enjoyed dinner there (I had grilled whiting and Pete had a chicken schnitzel) but had a little trouble interpreting the menu.

Did the mains come with nothing but the protein?  $10 seemed a lot extra to pay for salad or veges.  In the end we discovered that the mains came with a choice of either chips, vegetables or salad.  If you had two of those, it cost $2 extra.  We had no idea what the 'parma' next to the pizzas meant. Later we learned that Victorians have pizza toppings on their chicken parmas ...

Nevertheless, we enjoyed our meal and had a lovely little spot out the back of the pub overlooking paddocks and rolling hills.