Day 13: Sunday, February 17, 2002
Wilson's Promontory

Ellen enjoying breakfast spread

Today we planned to explore Wilson's Promontory, a park in the southeast that is the southern-most part of the country aside from Tasmania. First we had breakfast in our room (cereal with milk we'd bought at the supermarket). We made one stop in town to try to call New Zealand to make some reservations. It's not that straightforward in another country. First, I had to figure out what was a dial tone and what was a ringing tone. I tried calling the 800 number, but that didn't work. Then I tried calling an operator to find out how to make a credit card call but 0 didn't work and the number listed on the wall didn't either. So then we bought one of those phone cards (sold at a convenience store) and tried that, but kept getting error messages. Finally we figured out which 0s not to dial. In the end, though, no one answered, so they must not be there on Sundays or I did it wrong. We'll find out tomorrow.

The drive to Wilson's Promontory from Foster is 60 km, which took about 40 minutes. We passed some nice farmland, some of it with lots of cows of all combinations of colors, kind of a nice scene. While we drove, Walendo practiced his cow sounds. He's trying to perfect his "moo" immitation, and sometimes he gets it spot on, but it usually takes a few tries. So he'll go "mooo, no, mooooo, no, moooo, no, moooooo, there!" It amuses me.

Scenery in Wilson's Prom

The park costs AU$9 (US$4.50) and you drive to the end of the road to get to the visitor's center. The terrain reminded me a bit of Acadia Park in Maine, with lots of green trees covering relatively low mountains, maybe 1,000 feet high, and some huge boulders sticking out here and there. There was also some nice coastline with a nice acquablue colored water. We asked the woman for a day hike (about 4 hours) where we'd see wildlife. She pointed us to Lilly Pilly Gully, which was a 5.1 km walk (about 2-3 hours), but said that most of the wildlife came out at dusk, so we might not see any.

Lilly Pilly Gully Trail

We decided to take our chances and for the most part we didn't see any wildlife. But the trail was pretty, filled with Eucalyptis trees and lots of huge ferns. I took a bunch of pictures of the ferns from different angles — I was especially excited about one looking up from underneath a huge fern with the sun shining through it. Not far along the walk Walendo slipped and twisted the ankle he'd hurt a few weeks ago. It hurt like crazy for a few minutes but then he though it would be okay to continue. I was impressed that he didn't even suggest going back. We found him a walking stick to help him take the weight off of it, and we went along very slowly. He took an advil and after a while, he said it felt much better. Not good at all that he still hasn't recovered. Poor guy.

Fern on the trail

As we walked along slowly we looked closely for wildlife but didn't see any. There was lots of poo on the trail, so something must have been there, but just not when we were. Others on the trail said they hadn't seen anything either. Oh well. About 2/3 of the way through, we came to an open area where they had benches. Off of that was a separate loop through what they called a temperate(?) rain forest. They created a boardwalk trail and that area was filled with lots of ferns but no Eucalyptis trees (which had been everywhere in the rest of the hills). It was interesting. After that loop, we stopped for lunch.

Walendo having lunch

We had brought some cheese, crackers, and salami and Walendo had brought his gerkins, which we said a lot because it's a fun word to say. Yummy. While we were finishing up, a bright red bird landed on a branch in front of us. I had my camera on my tripod right next to me, so I grabbed it and took a bunch of shots. It seemed to be posing for me. Then it moved onto another tree where another bird joined it. Several people had gathered around to watch them munch on some seeds and to take photos. I think I shot a roll of them. (I later found out they're called Crimson Rosellas, and apparently they're common in the park.) That was a bit of a highlight.

Crimson Rosella

We walked the rest of the way out fairly quickly, a little disappointed we hadn't seen other animals. We did see an interesting type of bush that looked just like a giant green koosh ball — with long firm strands (leaves) shooting straight up from the middle and flopping out around the sides in a circle (picture at bottom of page). Even though we'd gone slowly and stopped a while for lunch, the whole thing had taken less than 3 hours, an easy hike. We decided to take a different trail that went up to an overlook, hang out for a while and read, and then when the sun got lower see if we could find more wildlife. We walked up to the Tidal Overlook, which was about 2km or so and relatively steep in parts. It had a nice view of the hills, the ocean, and two very pretty beaches. I took some shots of one of the beaches, which must have been very shallow for a long way out, cuz it had several rows of waves all gradually making their way to shore, it was a nice effect.

Waves of waves Wilson's Prom

The view was good, but there wasn't really a good place to sit. There had been big boulders along the way, so we'd been hoping for that. Still we made do. We both read for a while and just let our minds wander as we checked out the scenery. After a while, though, the hot sun started to get to us but not as much as the annoying large noisy flies. They were like sand flies but huge and really pestery. They'd go away long enough for me to get back into my book and then they'd return again. Sigh.

Ellen resting atop Wilson's Prom

After hanging out for about an hour or so, we finally decided to head down. It was around 4pm and the sun was still quite high, still too early to see much wildlife, but so be it. The walk back down was pretty quick, a few nice views and some interesting plants to see. When we got near the end, there was a walking bridge across the river to the lodge area. We walked across and found ourselves in a large camping grounds. There were tons of families there camping, all packed in together, not the ideal setting but they had good facilities and the park is nice, so I guess that's why it's popular.

River near campgrounds Wilson's Prom

Down the way was a park grocery store that catered to the campers. We stopped in and got a snack (I had ice cream, of course) and relaxed a bit. Then we decided to head back, abandoning our plan to hunt for wildlife. Since I had very slow film in the camera I probably wouldn't be able to get many good shots at this point. On the way back, we saw some birds that looked like boobies, so we took some shots of those and considered ourselves successful.

Koosh ball bush

The drive back to Foster went by really quickly. We agreed that it had been a pleasant place but not spectacular (a word used in the guidebook). Maybe we've just been to too many truly spectacular places that this one doesn't stand out. Still, we'd enjoyed the day we spent there.

We went back to the room to shower and change, and then went back to the local bar/bistro for dinner. This time it wasn't as crowded (it's Sunday night) but still it was busy enough. I had chicken cutlets and Walendo had the special pork filets in plum sauce, which he really liked. Once again, it was good, solid food. Now we're back in the room and I'm catching up with this journal. Tomorrow we'll head out early toward the Great Ocean Road, supposedly one of the most beautiful roads in the country. I'm looking forward to it.

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