As we pulled into our campsite in Wilson's Promontory that evening, it was past dark and the campsite was huge and there were very few lights--making finding a campsite slightly difficult. We managed to find a spot beneath a tree and close to the bathrooms, and hopped out to prepare dinner for the evening. I was struck by how warm the night was--not enough to forego a jacket, mind you, but considering we were in the southernmost point of continental Australia (not including Tassie), it actually wasn't super cold--which was a nice surprise. The other nice surprise we discovered as we walk around with a flashlight around the campsite--wombats! Heaps of wombats! They all came out at night to sniff out any extra food lying around, or otherwise just munched on the grass all over the place. There were so many of them and they didn't seem that bothered by humans--probably used to getting fed well even though there were signs everywhere telling people not to. Either way, it was one more animal John and I could tick off our list of ones we've seen in the wild. We had an easy meal that night--no moules mariniere, and headed to bed so we could get some nice walks done the next day.
As we woke the next day it was sunny, though there were some clouds around and you could never be sure what the weather would do in Victoria so it was best to be prepared. However, as I was getting dressed for the walks I realized my nice periwinkle blue raincoat was missing! I looked everywhere and even reported it to the lost and found at the office, but alas--it was gone. John thinks I dropped it--though I know I didn't. Nicked while I was in the shower/bathroom, I suspect, or the van ate it. Flipping Australians. Either way, it was gone :( Which was most unfortunate as I got it super on sale at the clearance rack at REI and it had been my handy dandy raincoat ever since NZ. Now I had nothing else waterproof. Bummer.
We still went on our walks, though I was not in the greatest mood, and made our way down to the beach. It turned out to be a nice, sunny day--which was fortunate for me. As we walked along the beach John stumbled upon a washed-up puffer fish and was so excited about it he had to take a picture:
After the beach we decided to ascend up to a nice lookout that gave some great views over our camping area, the beach, and the surrounding area.
Besides the wombats we didn't encounter too much wildlife in this particular area, but it still provided some nice views.
Our last two walks of the day were though a boardwalk rainforest area (that was actually really nice but didn't take any photos) and of a popular spot called Squeaky Beach. It's a small beach area of pure quartz sand and so when you shuffle your feet along the beach it makes a squeak noise--hence the name. There was a large area of rock formations along one side of the beach that John and I found most interesting, and we DID take some photos of those:
It was one more night's stay at Wilson's Promontory, to give ourselves the whole day to do some walks. The next morning we were up and out of there for our final stop in our great Melbourne-region tour---the Dandenongs!
Now, normally this is the part where I cut to a new blog to tell you all about it, but we really only spent a couple of hours in the Dandenongs and didn't take any pictures. It was a decent drive from Wilson's Promontory--a little over three hours--so we arrived with half the day to spend. Now the Dandenong region is actually several little mountain villages spread out over the ranges and they are rather picturesque and quaint. Little houses, inns, shops, and restaurants all had a bit of a whimsical quality to them. Unfortunately, the day was quite overcast as the sun would have really leant a hand to the prettiness of the place, but at least it was rather scenic as we wound along the curvy and steep roads.
Our first stop was suggested to me by one of my tramcar colleagues who said I just HAD to visit Sky High Dandenong--which is where we headed first. We arrived and had to pay a 5-dollar entry fee, but I had read there were walks leaving from the place and thought there was an information center as well. Nope--Sky High was a big bust. It was just a large building housing a cafe and restaurant where they were putting on an expensive buffet that day. It gave you a view over the Melbourne region all the way back to the city--but looking out over suburbs isn't that remarkable. The supposed "walks" were just loop tracks around the area and the one we took wasn't meant to be open anymore as they had done some deforestation! So yeah, bad choice and we didn't stay there long. We headed back down the mountain to a small town where there WAS an information center about the walks. The one we chose to do--the 1,000 steps--was apparently the one that every single person in the area chose to do that day as well. Apparently it had rained all weekend so this was the first day (Sunday) where people could get out. The 1,000 steps was actually more like 700, and it was pretty much uphill all the way. It wouldn't have been too bad except for the fact that A) The path was barely wide enough for 2 people to fit though, but alas the place was packed that day with swarms of people in both directions 2) Some people found it appropriate to run up and down--several times--said steps as their own personal work out--pushing past people and dripping their nasty sweat all over the place and 3)There was no lookout at the top! It was just an information panel in a small clearing in a wooded area. Lame.
The other walk of the day we decided to do was toward a waterfall. However, the recent rain had left the track very muddy and there were families and kids running around--John was most upset because the noise would be sure to scare away all the wildlife and whatnot. Once we reached the actual waterfall it was really no more than a running creek with a small drop off of about 5 feet. Another bust.
So while the Dandenongs was quaint, it wasn't really our cup of tea that day so we headed out early to get to our caravan park for the night where I would start planning the next leg of our trip up the East Coast!
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