A weekend with wombats and many birds
I was very happy when Karsten invited me to come along with him, Michelle and Sheridan to a weekend in the Wilson’s Promontory National Park. I couldn’t wait to see all the typical Australian animals and the impressive nature.
We decided to stay there for 2 nights and started looking for a nice accommodation in the National Park. We didn’t expect that it could be a problem to find one but regrettably the park was already fully booked. So if you would like to stay directly in the National Park, you have too pre-book your accommodation in advance. But we were lucky to find great accommodation in Waratah Bay, about 30 km away from the Park. We stayed at the Beachcomber, located only a couple of minutes away from the nice beach of Waratah Bay and surrounded by a coastal forest, which is inhabited by many very gentle birds and other animals.
After a comfortable Friday night, we started well rested and motivated towards the National Park and arrived there early in the morning after a short drive.Wilson’s Promontory National Park -also known as the 'Prom'- is one of Victoria's best-loved National Parks. It marks the southern most point of mainland Australia and is very famous for its abundance of native animals, birds, reptiles as well as plants, magnificent beaches and thick coastal forest. The park contains the largest coastal wilderness area in Victoria. After passing the park entrance, we still had to drive for about 20 minutes and could enjoy a beautiful view, with breathtaking coastal scenery appearing between a constantly changing landscape. We really had to drive slowly because of the wildlife close to the street. And finally I was lucky to see my first kangaroo… that still was alive!
Our first stop was Squeaky Beach, a pure white quartz sand beach that is famous for its funny squeaky noise that your bare feet make walking on the dry sand... and we had much fun there! The rock formations and boulders at the north end of the beach are also well worth exploring.
We only had to drive a couple of kilometers to the next point of interest. We parked our car at the Lilly Pilly Gully car park and decided to walk along the “Lilly Pilly Gully Track”. This track is a great walk along the side of Mount Bishop where you can see koalas or wombats when you are lucky. Unfortunately, we weren’t very lucky…
After a two-hour-walk up the hill, through rainforest, a stringybark forest and cool moist fern gullies we reached Mt.Bishop’s rocky summit. And our efforts were rewarded by a breathtaking view over Tidal River and the coast…. amazing! We found a perfect place to have lunch and recover before we started the way back downhill.
Arriving at the Car park again we realized that we had just mastered a 14 km walk… something we could also feel the next morning!!
You really can say that the "Prom" is an excellent place to chill out, swim and walk where you could happily stay for more than a weekend. It is home to a wide range of wildlife species and the chance to see kangaroos, emus or wombats is really high.
The most prominent among a numerous species of birds are the red rosella. As the wildlife around Tidal River is accustomed to human presence, many of them near the campsites will approach humans, accept food from them, or even enter their tents uninvited.
The park has a selection of different accommodation. The main campsite is at Tidal River, very close to the river and to an excellent beach, and consists primarily of unpowered sites for tents or caravans. Facilities include toilet and shower blocks, water near each site, a general store, and a visitor centre. Park rangers staff the campsite and patrol the entire park. Some cabins are also available. But pre-booking is really essential during the summer, as it is a popular holiday location. There are also bush camping areas around the National Park. If you want to find out more about the Prom from audio-visual presentations as well as informative displays and maps and other publications for sale visit the Information Center in the park.
If you want to get away from the stress and the hustleandbustle of the city, only 200kms from Melbourne then Wilson’s Promontory National Park is a great weekender, the perfect place to relax and enjoy the beautiful nature.
.gif)
