Joined: 20/4/2015 Gold Member 
Forum Posts: 234
| Site Reviews Total: | 0 |
|
| Site Reviews 2024: | 0  |
| Site Reviews 2023: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2022: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2021: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2020: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2019: | 0 |
| Site Reviews 2018: | 0 |
|
| Site Nights 2024: | 0 |
| Site Nights 2023: | 0 |
| Site Nights 2022: | 0 |
| Site Nights 2021: | 0 |
| Site Nights 2020: | 0 |
| Site Nights 2019: | 0 |
| Site Nights 2018: | 0 |
|
Hi all,
My last report finished at the historical town of Tarraville, named in recognition of Charley Tarra.
As we drove towards Foster I mentioned to the girls to keep an eye out for a tree that was supposed to resemble a likeness to our canine friends. Intrigued, I further said we may have to use our imagination a bit!!!
When we came to it they gave me that exasperated look and sigh that our women folk give us guys sometimes Ha!
A brief stop in Foster to photograph these murals depicting early settlers in the region, and an elaborate water fountain/drinking tap designed by someone who had a little too much time on their hands.
Our destination this day was the Yanakie Foreshore Caravan Park. I had booked it only hours after Victorias lockdown had eased. As I was one of the first to call I had the dibs on what site I wanted, and I reckon we just about nailed it. Secluded with lovely views it was a terrific site in a lovely park.
Here is our site and a few photos I took during our stay showing you some of the changing weather/views we had. It was located right on the shore of Corner Inlet with Wilsons Promontory National Park in the distance.
Pre dawn, then the sun rose.
We took a drive into the Prom, Kristie had only been there once previously and hadn’t really seen much of it on that occasion.
Our first stop was at Squeaky Beach, so called due to the sound that is made when you walk on the soft sand. This is caused when the near perfectly spherical (95% silicon) grains of sand rub against one another. Hope no mining execs get to read this report!!
The track to the beach as it reaches the sand and then some general shots I took whilst there, and then one of yours truly.
We took a stroll into Lilly Pilly Gully, a nature walk that for many years has been a must do even when your time is limited in the Park. It is a small patch of lush sub tropical rainforest which is unique in that it is found near the very bottom of the Australian mainland and a very short distance from the ocean.
Sadly for me it is now nothing like what it used to be, not that many years ago. A freak rain event which dumped over 300 mm of rain on the Prom in less than 24 hrs caused major damage with many plants etc being ripped from the ground. Then to top things off a few years after that a bushfire burnt a lot of it and we know that rainforest and fires don’t go well together.
It is still nice but it may take many decades or longer before it will fully recover. On our walk I took these next pics.
A Hyacinth Orchid and some ferny bits that had survived natures fury.
Along the track we came across this magnificent Bracket Fungi, I put my key fob beside it to give you a sense of its size (the fob is about 50mm long).
Lunch at Tidal River with Mount Oberon in the distance.
Cloud started to build up, we called into Whisky Bay. The rock formations at either end of the beach were so photogenic, at the south eastern end I took these.
And some shots from the north western end.
Just inside the entrance to the park are some historic graves. I had been shown these by the head ranger nearly thirty years previous, and wanted to visit them again. When we had entered the park early in the day I had asked about their location but all the staff at the entrance station were oblivious to their existence, suggesting the rangers at Tidal River maybe able to help. They also were unaware of any graves in the park but showed quite a bit of interest in them when I told them they were there.
On our exiting I tried to relocate them, knowing of their approximate location. No probs at all as once I had parked a bit off the main road, you just had to walk along a track following the signs that said, Historic Cemetery this way!!!! I was a bit surprised that the roughly six staff who had heard my earlier enquiries knew nothing of them.
One day we visited Sandy Point where we saw these surf boards painted by some local children. Between the boards was a banksia tree with a number of flowers in different stages of flowering.
On another trip into the Prom I took the girls to a spot called, “The Big Drift” it is a massive area of sand dunes covering many square kilometres, it was blowing a gale when we were there.
The dunes are constantly moving, smothering vegetation as it does.
Click on this next pic for a short movie, sound on.
We had a mixed bag of weather conditions whilst staying at the caravan park which made for some memorable scenes.
 [
Time to move on from this part of our trip, but before I do, a pic of a couple of Soldier Flies doing what they do!!! And on my chair Ha!!
Just as you enter the small township of Fish Creek from the east, there is a mural that captures part of the towns history.
We stopped at Inverloch for a cuppa, this coastal town has a lovely protected inlet that has lovely swimming areas, great boating on semi protected waters and is also quite picturesque.
At Wonthagi we searched out a recently completed mural from renowned artist Jimmy Dvate, his work is found all over Australia as well as a number overseas as well.
Here he has painted two of the areas well known native species of birdlife, the Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo and the White eared Honeyeater.
They have been painted on the side of the local Bakery which fronts a local carpark. We were lucky to have the images free of any cars although being on a Sunday morning helped.
I had Jen stand in the front of it to give you a sense of scale, very impressive works.
The thing that impresses you most when you arrive at Kilcunda is their famous heritage listed Railway Trestle Bridge that was built in 1911. It is 91 metres long, 12 metres high and was once part of the Woolamai Wonthagi railway line that stopped running in 1978.
It is now part of a walking/cycle trail that is very popular with visitors to the area.
These next pics are from Corinella on the east coast of Western Port Bay. A fitting place to end my reports from our Xmas holidays. The reason I had headed there, was to show the girls a memorial that had been erected to remember Strzelecki’s successful completion of his exploration of the Australian Alps, when they arrived at that spot in 1840.
Shortly after the unveiling of the memorial and plaque, there was quite a bit of controversy. Some members of the party had been omitted and they had miss spelt both Charley Tarra’s christian and surnames! Surprisingly for the times, there was a lot of annoyance of how they had worded it the plaque. Some members of the party were mentioned and then like it was an after thought or that he was not a full member of the group they had put at the end “and Charlie Tara”
As I have mentioned earlier not only was he an integral part of the group, it could be argued that he was possibly the most important member for without him most likely they all would have died.
The public outcry was such that another plaque was added correcting those errors, and mentioning Charley as an equal which was for those days hardly ever done. ( Plus they now spelt his name correctly)
Near the foreshore there were some very tame native birds that just called out to be photographed, a lovely peaceful scene that I felt was a lovely way to end our quiet, relaxed 2.5 weeks away!!
Col and Jen.
-------------
The worst day above ground, is a whole lot better than the best one under it. Live life to the fullest while you can.
|
Topic: Aussie Cols Xmas Hols (Final Report)
