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Published: October 12th 2009
Ahoy there me hearties ….we greet you this time from the Glenelg Highway in Western Victoria where we are making our way towards Mount Gambier on the SA coast. We’ve had a couple of comments from people having to guess where our path will take us next and over the past 3 weeks, our route has kept even us guessing! Our route and timing has been largely determined by the weather and one thing is for sure, we will certainly remember Victoria for its cold wind and rain. I’m told Summer is well and truly on the way in Brisbane with 30 deg temps … down here we’ve barely made it into the teens for most days. The very faint tans that we acquired in outback QLD have long since disappeared. Despite the weather, this little corner of Australia has been rather special for a number of different reasons, mostly wildlife related!!!
In my last blog we were just about to leave NSW and head into Victoria but there were still 2 things on our agenda. The first was to visit the Bega cheese factory / heritage centre which we did successfully. The second, certainly more exciting than cheese, was
"Old Tom" - Killer Whale Museum
Worn teeth on left handside from where he used to hold the rope when he helped to tow whaling boats out to seato visit the little fishing town of Eden, so with our bellies full of creamy milkshakes and our pockets brimming with cheese we headed to Eden.
Eden is the home of several of the earliest whaling stations which started back in the 1820’s however, what makes Eden special is the way in which the whales were hunted. When a likely candidate, be it a humpback or southern right whale, was present within the vicinity of Eden it was a pod of Killer whales (Orcas) that would hunt the whale and herd it into Two-Fold bay (the 3rd deepest bay in the world). The Killers would attract the attention of the whalers who would then race to their boats and row out to harpoon the whale. Once harvested the whalers would reward the Killers with the remains of the whale which included the tongue, apparently a favourite meal. This is the only place in the world where this relationship between humans and Killer whales is known. The commercial whaling industry at the time employed many aborigines since this unique relationship was established by the aborigines long before Europeans reached Australia. In the Killer Whale museum they tell you the story
of “Old Tom” who was apparently the last “leader” Killer Whale and whose skeleton they have on display. After Tom’s death in 1930, the other Killer Whales stopped coming to the bay and it wasn’t long after that, industrial whaling stopped. By that time, whale populations had declined so much anyway!
Of course the whaling stations are no longer functional (thank goodness!) but they do have whale watching cruises where they sight Humpbacks, Southern Rights and Killer whales in the same area which I was really looking forward to. Rich too, since he watched Cat Balou (the whale watching boat) being built in the shed opposite his work back in Qld. The week prior to us getting there I had read their sighting reports and Killer Whales were definitely out there but unfortunately for us, even though we hung out for 6 days waiting for a suitable day to go out, the weather was just awful with wind and rain and up to 45 knots out on the water most days. So we ended up missing out on that trip. I would love to come back some time if anyone would like to join me!
Mallacoota, a few
kms south of Eden, has a sheltered inlet just perfect for kayaking, so with this in mind on we went only to discover the weather was to get worse (gales of over 110km/hr) and so even this was considered too dangerous. Since the whole south coast was experiencing this “cold front” (so the weather man called it!) we decided there was no escape and just to tie everything down and sit it out. Four days and 436 games of gin rummy later, the sun did eventually appear and we immediately rushed out to explore the very pretty Croajingolong National Park, however this sunny spell was to last just 1 day and we quickly decided move on.
For the next few days we spent time going through the Snowy River region, Lakes Entrance and Gippsland Lakes. We also stayed at the very nicely named Paradise Beach on Ninety Mile beach however at this time of year, the name could not be any further from the truth!!! I don’t have many pictures from around this area mainly because I spent most of it enjoying the views from the warmth of the car!!! We were brave enough one day to walk part
The unfortunate Cicada
Gippsland Lakes discovery trail of the Gippsland lakes discovery trail and saw some cicadas going through their final moult before maturing into their flying adult form, leaving lots of abandoned exoskeletons on every tree or signpost. The picture I have here is of one poor little soul who didn’t quite make the final moult, the other is a picture of a more successful (and I must say prettier looking) cicada. These are the critters that are to blame for those deafening sounds of the Australian bush!
Clearly this was not beach weather so after consulting our map book and tourist brochures we headed inland and up the mountains where it somehow seemed more appropriate to be cold. Our destination in the hills … Walhalla, an historic gold mining town. This is a place I really enjoyed visiting even though it was only 2 days and it rained for most of it!! The town of Walhalla is situated within a narrow gap between two mountains and was once home to 3500 people which is quite incredible when you actually see the size of it. That was back in the late 1800’s when they discovered gold in the area and then managed to extract over
Mature Cicada
Gippsland Lakes discovery trail 4 tonnes of gold from the mines there over quite a short period of time. Today Walhalla has a population of just 20 permanent residents. The town is quite different from the old pictures with fewer houses and much more lush green forest in the valley. It is a beautiful place to visit with many of the houses dating back to that time. The old hospital building is still there today, standing high on the hillside, towering over the town. I thought it was quite an inappropriate place to put it given the climb you would have to make to get there … especially if you had a broken leg!!! On the bright side, at least you would be guaranteed a room with a view!
After our disappointment of missing out on Montague Island and then with the whale watching trip in Eden, we thought we would make a 3rd attempt at seeing some of Australia’s sea creatures and made the detour down to Phillip Island to see the Little Penguins. This time we were lucky! That night, despite being rugged up and having our wet weather gear on, we were battered by wind and rain (which was very
Walhalla town
Hospital is the building on the top right. effective at clearing the public viewing stands) but all was worth it to see the little guys surf in on their bellies, stand up and walk in little groups up the beach to their burrows. They were very cute and very entertaining but they are certainly smelly little creatures! Apparently this public viewing has been going on since before the 1920’s and so the penguins aren’t bothered by hundreds of people staring at them and following them up the boardwalks. Many of the penguins were sitting on eggs or feeding very young chicks in their burrows which was amazing to see. The largest colony of Australian fur seals also call Phillip Island home and through the binoculars you could see hundreds of them (there are supposed to be about 7000 of them there) on Seal Rocks but my little camera just couldn’t reach that far for any good pictures. Despite the cold down here, all of the wildlife know that spring is here and the Little Penguins had started to breed early this year according to the rangers and we were also lucky enough to get close to some of the gull chicks too.
From Phillip Island we headed
to Geelong to visit a beautiful old house called Corio Villa which overlooks Corio Bay. This villa was built for and first owned by Richie’s great great grandfather, Alfred Douglass, and his family back in the 1850’s. It is now heritage listed and over recent years has been used as holiday accommodation and as a wedding venue. After this we made our way along the Great Ocean Road visiting its many attractions, including Australia’s oldest lighthouse on Cape Otway (1848) and the 12 Apostles. Although we didn’t find any dragons called Elliott at the lighthouse, Richie was quite excited when he thought he may have discovered his cave!!!
The Great Ocean Road was very nice and certainly worth the drive but for me, the best bit of Victoria was yet to come and it certainly didn’t disappoint. We said goodbye to Woody at a boarding kennel in Ararat (he wasn’t even slightly bothered about us leaving him when he saw the other dogs!) and headed into the Grampians National Park. We spent 2 nights camping here and had 2 good days of hiking and rock hopping with absolutely fantastic walks and scenery and getting up close and personal with
the local wildlife. Definitely an experience not to be missed!!! Loved it!!! We were also lucky with the weather and for the first time since leaving Qld, I saw Richie’s legs and I managed to survive the day in a vest top!!! Even the sun cream made an appearance!!!
We picked Woody up from the kennels this morning and it looks as though he had almost as good a time as we did although, he now squeaks instead of barks having lost his voice from too much excitement. Yesterdays weather was nice while it lasted but now we’re back to being cold and wet. We even drove through hail today. We’re now making our way up the Limestone coast and only have 450km before we get to Adelaide where we get to indulge in a bit of luxury and leave the trailer tent well alone for a week …. can’t wait!!! Looking forward to having more company too …….
Hope you enjoy the pictures and have a great week
Take care ……….
ps. How to make Richie jump ….
1) wet weather outside
2) warm dry tent inside
3) Richie in bed watching movie on laptop
4)
Seal Rocks and The Nobbies
Home of the Fur seal colony inside tent …. Richie’s arm …. big HAIRY SPIDER ……..!!!!!
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mommy
non-member comment
'Our Little Star'
hi hay/rich/woody, what little stars you are entertaining your many fans about your 'adventures'. It all sounds so fabulous despite the atrocious weather. Your bloggs are so interesting Hay, so professional, humorous and photos just fab. Clearly you are enjoying your travels and seeing the sights and sounds of native Australia. Hopefully, Dad and I will get to share your experiences this weekend and spend an 'idylic week' with you all, can't wait. xxx Keep the bloggs coming and promise me you will publish them when your finished? Love ya 'Mommy' xxxxxxxxxxxxHarry x Oskie xxx 'DAD' XX