Sunday, March 14, 2010

Back to Blue Skies

MORNINGTON BEACH I know that I posted a similar picture last year when we were on the Mornington Peninsula but the beach sheds are just so colourful. The beach looked lovely but the venturous were only wading in up to their knees despite the temperature being in the mid 20's.
DANDENONG RANGES We are staying at Frankston and yesterday visited the ranges; different to what we expected as very residential with little townships dotted around. There were great views from the Sky High lookout over the City, Port Philip Bay and to Healesville. At the base were apple orchards and on the way up numerous very athletic cyclists, must have nerves of steel for the glide down the mountain.
OWL in the garden at the Mt Dandenong Sky High Lookout.



Thursday, March 11, 2010

Wilsons Promontory National Park

MILLERS LANDING We had a great day today in this National Park on the South East corner of Victoria. This bay had a variety of bird life, swans, seagulls, ibis, crows, black parrots and egrets. There were even quite a few jellyfish washed up here and around at one of the beaches several blue bottles with tentacles up to 2 metres long. SQUEAKY BEACH Yes, the sand does squeak when you walk across it. The granite boulders were just spectacular and a reminder of the ones at Coles Bay in Tasmania. Lovely to visit during the week as felt like we had the place to ourselves.
PICNIC BAY There were several beaches on this side of the National Back and the other side was mountains covered in huge granite rocks. Would be quite spectacular when they have electric storms. Early 2009 a lot of the park was destroyed by bush fires and the areas are recovering very well.
Really chuffed as we finally saw a live wombat, he was waddling back into some bush right by where the parks ranger workshops were.
Just as I zoomed in on these flowers and pressed the button the bee landed.




Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Feels like a Polar Blast

AGNES FALLS Now at Foster and it feels like the wind is straight off the South Pole, give us heat any day. Been overcast and showery the last couple of days so hoping that the sun will shine through tomorrow. Agnes Falls is set in a valley amongst lovely rolling hills dotted with cattle and is the longest single drop waterfall in Victoria.
MAIL BOX Don't you just love the udder.


Monday, March 8, 2010

Missed the Storm of the Century

LAKES ENTRANCE On Saturday we left Mallacoota and parked up at Bairnsdale, a few storm clouds around, luckily we only had some thunder and lightning and then during the night some heavy rain. Melbourne sure did get a pounding with damaging hail stones. Yesterday was a damp one so had a quiet day reading.
Today we went back up the coast to Lakes Entrance which was the host over the weekend of the junior surf titles, not good weather for it unfortunately and today is a public holiday in Victoria. Lakes Entrance is the home of Australias largest fishing fleet.
NINETY MILE BEACH, Lakes Entrance
LINDENOW West of Bairnsdale is a lot of farming land with cows, sheep, corn and what looked to be cabbages. In the background is the Great Dividing Range.



Friday, March 5, 2010

Another State

MALLACOOTA WHARF Yesterday we crossed the border into Victoria. Mallacoota is surrounded by the Croajingolong National Park which is UNESCO protected as a World Biosphere Reserve with the majority of the beach and bush wilderness not accessible to the public. The place is abuzz with tourists at Christmas and Easter and if you fancy moving to Victoria it has the mildest winter in the state.
SOUTH ARM One of the many Mallacoota inlets. The water is the colour of tea as it is stained with tannin from the button grass, just like most of the waters in Tasmania.
There is a war taking place at Bastion Point, the locals just want a new boat ramp and the powers that be want to put in more boat parking and a 30 metre rock retaining wall, there are signs on most homes in the area against this. Time will tell.


Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Sapphire Coast

HANCOCK POINT, Ben Boyd National Park It was lovely to wake to a beautiful sunny day and you can see how this area has got it's name of the Sapphire Coast. This was the view from the top of the point looking across to south Pembula, the colours just spectacular.
PINNACLE, Ben Boyd National Park Amazing colours in this bluff which reminded me of the coloured sands at Rainbow Beach in Queensland.
TATHRA WHARF This is how clear the water is, yes the fish are actually Yellow Fin. For the first time ever we saw someone actually catch a fish, would hate to think how many fishermen we have seen in our travels.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Eat our Dust!

HOW IS THIS FOR A COW? It is an overcast day here at Pambula Beach so drove north to Bega Valley and checked out the cheese there and this was one of the cows on display.
EAST OF JINDABYNE Yesterday Tommy our GPS took us down a road that had 12kms of gravel, usually he asks us if we would live to avoid an unpaved road, so our 'house on wheels' had it's first off road experience. Luckily the road was pretty good as it was being prepared to be sealed.
PAMBULA BEACH CARAVAN PARK A big caravan park that is absolute beachfront and lot's of kangaroos wandering around. This is our view and luckily the east coast of Australia did not get hit by a tsunami.