Monday 19th of October Mallacoota – Wilson’s Premonitory
We were awake at 6.30am and on the road by 8am. Made a couple of stops along the way, called in at Gypsy Point on the way out, it was very lovely but we both thought Mallacoota was better. We drove to Cape Conran, great spot overlooking the beach, saw some surfers. Then on to Marlo where we stopped for morning tea, we made up for yesterday! Was really lovely overlooking the beach.
We drove to Sale and got some groceries, had lunch and filled up with diesel. We arrived at the Prom at 3.30pm, set up camp, the view is nowhere near as good as Mallacoota. After dinner we went for a walk to the lookout over squeaky beach to watch the sunset, got some great photos and saw a few wombats on the way.
Greg read his book and I did a hard suduko, I have finally worked out how to do them – very pleased with myself, didn’t take very long.
Tuesday 20th of October - The Prom
We woke up early around 5ish, was very windy and the tent was flapping. Got up around 6.30am, shared breakfast with some beautiful red parrots – we didn’t actually share, but they were good company. Going to go to the information centre when it opens at 8.30am, then off to do a few walks.
Well we did the information centre, very “informative”. And then went to The Prom Store, had a bit of a look around and got a paper and a couple of post cards for the little ones.
Once back to our site we did the postcards. Stamped and posted before 10am.
We set out for our walks at around 10am, first stop was Five Mile Rd carpark. From there we set off for Vereker Outlook, a 3km (6km return) walk up into the bush and a steep climb through boulders (I didn’t do the steep climb bit!) and Stringybark forest to a rocky granite summit with views to the coast at Cotters Lake and Beach, and the mid SW of The Prom. A wonderful view, which highlighted how extensive the fires had been down here back in Feb 2009.
From there we tracked downhill (thankfully whenever you go uphill you get to go back down)to join up with the track to Millers landing. The walk was through a Banksia forest with a ground cover of Braken Fern. The bushfires had gone through this area extensively. At the beach was a mix of nice white sand alongside mangroves.
From there we walked back to the car. On the way we passed an area that had been fenced off to all animal egress. The idea was to study the regrowth of the vegetation after the fires, eliminating the effects of mammals on the flora. It was easy to see that the plants were doing much better within the enclosure, than those outside it that were a meal for the local kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and rabbits.
We then drove to the car park at the end of Cotters Lake Road. We sat in the car and had lunch before setting out across Cotters Lake, more of a marsh really, and onto Cotters Beach. Along the way we came to the attention of a couple of magpies, they must have had a nest near the access road, and proceed to swoop at us to drive us away. A bit annoying, but fun all the same.
Cotters Beach is renowned for its copious quantities of flotsam and jetsam. The beach was strewn with all sorts of things. Mainly drift wood, seaweed, HUGE Cuttlefish “shells” and other bits and pieces. It was fun walking along and taking it all in. The beach itself had a large number of fist size rocks all over it. Deb commented that it was a bit unusual. We have see beaches with pebbles and beaches covered in large rocks, but never any this size.
After there we drove back towards Tidal River and called in at Picnic Point, overlooking Picnic Beach. It was a beautiful little beach sheltered from the northerly winds. From the viewing area you could starkly see how “selective” the bushfires had been in what was burnt and what was left untouched. Large areas of untouched green bush laid in and around significant areas of totally burnt out bush.
We then went back to the camp site, and had a tea and coffee before going for a walk along Tidal River to the ocean. It was a very relaxing walk and the “River” and beach were both worth the walk.
For the remainder of the afternoon we sat at our site and read, and watched the local parrots as they scratched around in the grass and strutted around on our table and even had a look in our kitchen.
Wednesday 21st of October - The Prom
Another slow start, this is starting to be a really good habit we are developing. After breakfast we walked up and got the morning papers, and then sat back and enjoyed the peace and sunshine for an hour or so.
We eventually started our day with a walk inland along the Tidal River. It was so peaceful and the diversity of the vegetation around the area really came out. The area was a mix of low woodlands and marshlands. During the walk we went past four fishing points on the raised boardwalk along the river. The signs at each fishing spot seemed to promise all sorts of fish from Native Perch, to mullet and black bream. ( I made a mental note of them for later.) After the walk we went back to our campsite and had morning tea.
After a coffee and biscuit, I got my fishing gear together, bought some bait(a packet of White Bait) from “The General Store” and headed down to the river. Once there I realised I had forgotten my fishing reel, so I headed back and got it. Once I got back to the river I got all set up, and settled back to catch myself a bag full. As it turned out the bait I was using was bigger than anything else in the river. But at least on a positive note, I did actually lose my bait a couple of times, that is at least twice more than in Mallacoota. It’s getting a little repetitive, this fishing that is uninterrupted by fish, I am going to have to make an appointment with Tom when I get back! Having achieved a new height in my state of enlightenment through the mystic rituals of meditative fishing I headed back to Deb and our campsite for lunch.
We spent the early part of the afternoon weighing up the pro’s and cons of our new neighbours. A group of about 12 early 20’s, four tents, two VERY large Eskies full of beer and other drinks (Ice Boxes for you north Americans). Our peaceful camp area was becoming interesting! (A late afternoon visit by the local Ranger had a short calming effect, but it was short lived.) We are hoping the contents of the Eskies will have a calming effect causing them all to have an early night! (We can but wish, LOL).
We both settled back to read. I turned off to the world (my hearing aides have a very convenient off switch that comes in handy at times like these) and settled into my book, the new Dan Brown Novel “The Lost Symbol”. It’s very Dan Brown = very readable with plenty of twists! Deb eventually didn’t read but sort of snoozed for a few hours.
Around 4 we went for a walk across the river and to the right to a viewing point we saw up on the hillside during our morning walk. It was a gentle incline and very easy walk. The views were great. The river valley opened up beneath us, the camping grounds were very hard to make out amongst all the trees and the views of the river as it wound its way inland through the marshlands flanked by large granite hills was calming. I walked further around the track to a point where you could see the next valley north from us. The entire south face of the next hill had been burnt out in the Feb bushfires, while everything else seemed relatively untouched. An interpretative sign at this point told of how the bush needed the fires to ensure the diversity of the flora.
Back at camp we decided to begin our packing so we could get away as quickly and smoothly as possible in the morning, on our way to The Grampians.
Thursday 22 Oct 2009 Halls Gap, The Grampians.
We left The prom at about 8am and headed off for Halls Gap. On the road out of the Prom NP we saw kangaroos and emus grazing on the roadside. The emu even had a very small chick with it. Was good to see a bit of the wildlife on our way out, and even better that they were off the road.
We negotiated Melbourne uneventfully this time, apart from very slow traffic on the toll roads (apparently they are doing major road works and upgrades,) but at $12.40 for a day pass for a very short use of the road I thought the traffic flow would have been so much better.
We stopped off in Ballarat, (birth place of a great cultural pilgrim, J ) for fuel and lunch and then headed onto Halls Gap.
We got to Halls gap around 2 or 3pm, and found ourselves a nice spot in the camping ground over looking Stony Creek and away from other campers. After settling in we went for a drive up to the NP Info and Cultural Centre and into the Halls Gap Information Centre. We got all the guides and maps we needed for the next few days and then drove out to have a look at Lake Bellfield. Deb was astounded at how low the water level was. I guess years of drought takes its toll, and the recent rains hadn’t done that much to lift the level.
After tea, we built a small campfire and sat around and chatted by the fire for a while. It was fun to be able to have a fire, we both love looking into them and just relaxing.
Friday 23 Oct 2009 Halls Gap, The Grampians.
We had a pretty busy morning exploring a lot of the places Deb had told me about. Deb used to come to Halls Gap often when she was growing up and into her 20’s, its been some years since Deb was here last. And things have changed as they do. It seems bushwalkers have got softer, there are now steps on the trails, hand rails in steeper spots and even guard rails at the main vantage points to stop worn out walkers toppling of the edge of the cliffs. We walked up to “The Pinnacle”, through “Silent Street” and up through “The Grand Canyon”. All these places she (and the rest of the family) have spoken about for so long, I had finally experienced with her. The Grampians are truly magnificent. The bush is recovering from bushfires (looks like the fires went through here about 2 years ago), there is new growth sprouting all up and down the trees and the wild flowers are all bursting into full bloom. There were hundreds of birds of all description everywhere and all singing to their hearts content. A very enjoyable morning.
After lunch, we had a walk through town and looked at all the new shops, before settling in back at our camp site and spent a lazy afternoon reading. Another campfire at night, with a sip of Port (mmm did I forget to mention that last night as well, LOL), what a life.
Saturday 24 Oct 2009 Halls Gap The Grampians
After sleeping in, we got underway eventually. We took a couple of short walks from the camping ground. First, we walked up along Stony Creek to the “Venus Baths”, tranquil rock pools at the base of a massive sloping rock face. We then had a look through the local Botanic Gardens(definitely a work in progress) and then onto “Clematis Falls”. There was a bit of a falls, but you could easily see that after rain they would have been much more spectacular. I am sure if they were running well you could go in under the falls and look back out.
After lunch we got in the car and went up to Reed Lookout, with wonderful expansive views over the valleys and the bushland. Then it was onto “MacKenzie Falls”. First we walked to the “Broken Falls” lookout, these falls are on a tributary to the MacKenzie Falls and were small but very good all the same. Then I walked down to the MacKenzie Falls themselves. After a bit of a hike down a very well made path and steps I reached the bottom, only to find that the battery in the camera had run out! The falls weren’t running at full strength, but the water that was coming over was plenty enough to see the falls in all their grandeur. The cliff face that forms the falls is “dark” black, and the contrast it has with the water falling from its top is pretty spectacular. There were lots of people down the bottom admiring the falls and relaxing on the river banks and rocks at the bottom. The climb up was a bit of an effort but very worth the view of the falls. We got back in the car and drove to “Wartook Lake”. The views across the lake were great looking up towards the nearside of the Boroka Lookout area. We then drove back and took a short cut on the “Old Mill Road”, a dirt track that traversed across the countryside eliminating all the bends in the main road. The wild flowers were abundant throughout the drive and their splashes of colour lit up the green and black of the bush. Boroka lookout gave us an amazing view down over Halls Gap to Lake Bellfield and beyond and a general 180 degree view of all the country side north of Halls Gap, to Stawell and on.
We got back to our campsite mid afternoon and relaxed reading the papers. We later went to the Halls Gap Pub for tea. An experience we would both prefer to forget, the food was very underwhelming. The Pub itself was quite good, a veranda around 2 sides gave you the opportunity to sit and relax over a drink and take in the views of The Grampians rising in the near distance.
We head home tomorrow. We are both looking forward to see everyone, especially Aiko.
Sunday 25 Oct 2009 The Grampians to Home
Left Halls Gap at 8:20am(EST) and arrived home at 1:10pm (CST), an uneventful 5hr 20min trip. It's always great to be home. :-)
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