AUSTRALIA - VICTORIA - WILSONS PROMONTORY AREA - foster, the prom, walkerville, cape liptrap - 5 to 8 january 2014

5^th January 2014 Sunday

We drove for a long time and eventually reached Foster near Wilson’s Promontory where we camped for a few nights. Along the way the weather changed to extreme winds with trees falling across the road and our bike rack broke. We placed the bikes into the van so it wasn’t a big problem.

6^th January 2014 Monday

The weather was wet, cold and windy. We stayed and rested up in the camp area most of the day. We had a trip buy bike racks at Leongatha.

7^th January 2014 Tuesday

The weather improved during the night and in the morning it was cloudy, cold with some sunshine. We loaded the gear and realised that the new bike racks were missing a pin which stopped it opening if you hit a hard bump on the road.

Our first stop was back to the autobarn in Leongatha where they apologised and gave us a pin.

Back on the road but a quick stop at MacDonald’s for a take away coffee and breakfast stuff. Their coffee is quite nice.

After petrol, we were back on the road again to Wilsons Promontory. We drove through till Tidal River to check out the camp grounds. It was very packed out. Still, it was a nice location we walked down to the beach and wandered around.

Next we stopped at Lilly Pilly car park for the Mount Bishop hike. It was a great hike. It started as a reasonable slope which increased about one third into the walk. The vegetation changed from dry ferns to moist fern trees. Very pretty! The top of the mountain had an awesome view across the coastline of Wilson Prom.

distance - 5.14km
time - 1 h 10 mins
av. speed - 4.4 km/h
elevation range - 275 m

Next stop was Darby River. We had lunch, and then I went for a kayak. Firstly, I paddled up river which was mainly reeds which eventually closed in making the waterway very narrow. It was a mini version of the ’Africian Queen’. On return, I checked with Jacinta who was enjoying the rest so I continued towards the beach. This section was excellent, huge seagulls, massive sand dunes and a rugged wild beach.

distance - 5.43 km
time - 1 h 7mins
av. speed - 4.8 km/h

The next stop was the Prom Wildlife Walk. It was only short but we did get to see a multitude of kangaroos and some emus. The flies were in abundance making filming a hazardous task.

distance - 2.21 km
time - 30 mins
av. speed - 4.4 km/h

We drove out of the National park and found a camp area at Shallow Inlet - $29 unpowered site. It had a great view in sections over the water and the sunset. It was just a short walk to the beach.

8^th January 2014 Wednesday

A quiet night’s sleep! I was up early but Jacinta took awhile to awake.

On the road, and the first stop was Walkerville. The last section of the road was corrugated and the vibration was unbelievea…ble..a…ble..a...ble. After ‘shaken all over’ we pulled into the beach carpark. The wind was howling from the east and the surf was shining. We walked along a short track to look at the old lime kilns then walked back along the beach. The kilns are testament of how quickly the past can be obliterated. The beach was excellent with lots of jagged rock formations.

The next stop was Cape Liptrap. Once again the corrugations on the road were jarring. The lighthouse at the cape was interesting and the cape scenery was cliffs covered in vegetation and some beaches in some of the coves.

We followed the coast from Inverell to Cape Paterson. Great scenery but the strong onshore winds dampened out desire to explore. The waterway at Inverell looked ideal for windsurfing! There were some boats and kite surfers out.