Portland

We happened to watch an episode of "Backroads" a few weeks ago about the Great South West Walk that starts in Portland. It whet our appetite to do parts of it as short walks. The first one was the Cape Bridgewater section.

The blowhole wasn't blowing (but that meant there weren't big seas or the associated strong winds, so we didn't mind!). The rock formations were interesting and very different to those in other parts of the cape.

The Petrified Forest is actually hollow tubes of eroded limestone.

The longer walk on the other side of the cape was to see the seal colony. We weren't sure if we would see any, but we weren't disappointed. It was a really pretty walk - in spite of the hills.

Singing honeyeater

A couple of days later we did the Cape Nelson lighthouse and sea cliff walk. It was quite foggy at the lighthouse, and we assumed it would clear. It did as we walked towards the west, but then it came back and hung around the lighthouse which made for some interesting photos.

The ubiquitous flies!

We didn't bother looking for the gannet colony that afternoon because the fog was still hanging around, so went back the next morning to Point Danger. The colony on the end of the point were close enough to see clearly with binoculars. They also covered the island further out to sea.

Fitzroy River, Victoria

Everyone knows Victorian weather is unpredictable... or extremely predictable because it is so changeable! After experiencing a number of cycles of mid to high 30s for one or more days and then drops of 10-15 degrees the following day we decided we wanted to escape the heat and get to the coast. We are on our way to South Australia, so headed south east and found what looked to be a great spot on WikiCamps. There are quite a lot of other campers here, but we managed to get a spot right on the water.

Although we have had a few days of strong winds, we've also had other days of dead calm. The river mouth is not open, so it is basically a lake. A short kayak trip takes us to the "mouth" of the river and then there is a lovely empty beach.

Silvereye

Superb Fairy-wren

European Gold Finch

The only down side is the dairy farm next door and the resulting flies!

We drove up to Hamilton to visit a friend the other day and stopped at the Wannon Falls and the Nigretta Falls on the way. They were more 'dribbles' than 'falls'...

Christmas in Sale and starting the New Year in country Victoria

After catching up with friends and family in Melbourne we went east to Sale in hope of finding a quiet spot for Christmas. We succeeded! The caravan park was almost empty! We enjoyed nice walks around the lake and through the botanical gardens.

On Christmas morning we went for a drive out to Golden Beach, went for a walk and had a picnic lunch (in the car because it was a bit breezy down on the beach!).

We then drove down to Seaspray and walked around there. It looks like another great spot to come back to.

On the way home we stopped at the Thompson River Swing Bridge.

After Christmas we went across to Haddon, south west of Ballarat. We visited the botanical gardens in Ballarat and enjoyed a walk by Lake Wendouree.