As we drove down to Wilson’s Promontory National Park from Melbourne, it was pouring rain. Our tour guide was optimistic that the weather might be clear at the “prom” since it tends to have its own weather patterns. However, as we drove through the entrance to the park, it was still raining, and our tour guide tried to brainstorm things to do in case it did not clear up.
We drove straight through the park to Tidal River, where there was a shop and a cafe to wait for 1/2 hour to see what the weather would do. None of us had any hope that the weather would clear, and we were bummed that we had chosen the wrong day. However to our surprise, the clouds parted and the sun started to come out! We watched some rosellas beg for food happily since the weather was getting better.
Since the rain appeared to have stopped, our tour guide decided it would be alright to do a walk around Tidal River that would lead us to a place called Squeaky Beach. It is named Squeaky Beach, because when the sand is dry, it squeaks. This is because each grain of sand is exactly the same size and shape as all the others. As it had been a rainy day earlier, we did not get to hear the squeaking, but it was a beautiful beach just the same. In fact, as we stopped for lunch, a rainbow even appeared.
After lunch, the rain clouds reappeared, so we decided to do a short walk to Lilly Pilly Gully to do a circle through the rainforest. Much of Wilson’s Promontory had been burned by a bad bushfire in April 2009, but we were able to find many parts that had been growing back nicely. The rainforest was green, dense, and beautiful.
It did not appear that it was going to rain, so we were able to go on the longer walk to the top of Mt. Bishop, which has a beautiful view from the top. Although not the tallest mountain in the park (Mt. Oberon actually is), Mt. Bishop was our tour guide’s favorite and was still a 3.9km climb to the top! The walk was beautiful as we wound our way up to the summit. An amazing view of Tidal River and Squeaky Beach awaited us when we got there, and it was really windy. One of the girls in our group was brave and climbed onto the ledge for a picture, so then of course we all had to try it. It was a little scary with the wind blowing like crazy, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I was going to take it.
After taking pictures of our daring feat and the views, we took a shortcut back down Mt. Bishop to the waiting tour bus. It was getting late and we had to drive back to Melbourne for the night, but we made one last stop on our way out of the park. Near an old airplane landing strip, tons of kangaroos and wombats congregate especially at dusk. I had only seen one wombat before in the wild, so I was excited to see some more - they really are an interesting looking animal! We were able to see almost a hundred kangaroos and a handful of wombats which was really exciting.
On the drive back and over the next couple of days, I planned my next trip - starting on Saturday, I will be slowly making my way up the East Coast of Australia from Melbourne to Cairns and possibly further depending on time. Instead of waiting to hear back from the pending jobs, I figured now would be the best time to fit in this leg of my trip. It is starting to get a little cold in Melbourne, and I hear that Queensland is still nice and warm. Actually, now might be the best time to visit Queensland because it can almost be too warm and tropical during the summer when they have their wet season.
I am sad to say goodbye to Melbourne for now and the friends I have made so far, but I am excited about the East Coast road trip I am about to embark on...
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