Last weekend we had an extra day off from work for Anzac Day which is similar to Veteran's Day. To enjoy the long weekend, we traveled 4 and 1/2 hours to Wilson's Promontory National Park; it was supposed to be a shorter drive, but it's a popular place to go over long weekends. Our friend Annie has been going to 'The Prom' for years, so it was nice having someone to guide us through the area. The Prom is on a peninsula, but 'promontory' actually means high points on a peninsula. This place was absolutely gorgeous-mountains meeting the beach and the Bass Strait. It reminded me of Lost. The sand is so white (some of it actually squeaks), the water looks like Caribbean water, and the mountains and the horizon enclose the beach making it feel like a secluded island.
We were joined by some friends: Annie, Jill and Nick and then Ed, Danielle and T on the third night. It was really nice to go camping with friends similar to our camping group at home (although not as loud and no citations or getting kicked out of the campsite).
Steve and I arrived Friday night to meet Annie, Jill and Nick. It was SO cold outside; between the three nights, the coldest was below 5 degrees Celsius. I mean, I had six layers on my torso and I was still cold. Thank goodness we got an air mattress or else we would have been feeling the cold creep up from the ground into our sleeping bags. It was so cold in fact, that the second and third nights I slept with a hat on!
Friday morning we cooked brekky (breakfast-everything here has a shortened name), hung out for awhile, visited the beach and hiked Mount Oberon. It was a steady, sligh
tly inclined hike. The view at the top was amazing. On top of the mountains, able to see for kilometers out into the ocean, although it all looks the same after awhile anyway-just kilometers of water. But before the kilometers of water, it was just a fantastic view. Really breathtaking, making the hike totally worth it. Steve was in his element, nature and hiking. And I'm lucky that he's so patient with me, going at my pace:) The hike down was a lot easier and faster than the way up; but to anyone that will be at The Prom, this hike and the view is worth doing.
During the hike down, a giant hollow log was slanted down from a height of five to six feet.
After some encouragement, we convinced Steve to climb down it. He said it was harder than it looked, very slippery inside. But it was hysterical watching him try to maneuver down this log.
Halfway down, going head first, he decided he was going to turn around. I mean, how was Steve going to turn around in this log? It wasn't a very big log, and he's six foot. But it was funny, here are the pictures.
After the hike, Jill was cooking chicken skewers on the grill when a kookaburra swooped down and grabbed a skewer right off of the grill! She shrieked, afraid that the bird was going to attack her, rightfully so. Nick and Steve followed the bird over to a log where it was smacking the skewer against the log to get the chicken off of the stick while making these crazy noises to defend it's territory and keep Steve and Nick at bay. The kookaburra reminded me of a penguin, but it's noises were so annoying.
Friday night we hung out, ate dinner and talked. Out of nowhere, this pig/dog-like animal stands on Annie's foot (which she describes as the weight of a 10-year-old child) an
d proceeds to try to open the food bin with his snout. It turns out to be a wombat, which was exciting to see, but so crazy in that it looks like a pig but acts like a dog. Steve gently kicked it's bum to get it out of the bin and Annie acted like it was a dog by telling it sternly, "No." The wombat did not react to either the kick or the scolding. Luckily the bin was closed shut and didn't get into the food. But apparently these animals wait until nighttime and then go to people's campsite's looking for food. It was an early bedtime for us all after the excitement of these Australian animals.
Saturday we went for another hike (Lilly Pilly Gully trail) with the entire group and did the same old camping thing, cooking, hanging out and we introduced our Aussie friends to the card game of Kings. While we were playing, Ed tried to warn me of a wombat coming up behind me, but I didn't believe him. And what do you know? Not only was Ed telling the truth, but the wombat tried getting into the food bin again. We scared it away after Steve tried unsuccessfully again to obtain a picture of it. It's funny because wombats stick around for quite some time trying to get food, but I guess Steve's camera doesn't work fast enough and he kept getting pictures of the wombats' bum, while it was running away. He finally got one full picture of it (reference picture above).
Sunday we packed up camp, walked along the beaches and headed home. On our caravan ride, we noticed a kangaroo (the video/blog before this one) and two emus. It was so crazy. I can't believe how many Australian animals we're finding. I never thought we'd see anything besides a kangaroo and we're really seeing them all.
It was a great weekend. Lot's of fun hiking, hanging out with friends and seeing new parts of Australia.
Cheers!
Another photo for you, in case you were wondering what a chicken-eating kookaburra looks like. This bird obviously was well versed in eating meat-on-a-stick. I think it waited until the chicken was medium rare - not too dry.
tly inclined hike. The view at the top was amazing. On top of the mountains, able to see for kilometers out into the ocean, although it all looks the same after awhile anyway-just kilometers of water. But before the kilometers of water, it was just a fantastic view. Really breathtaking, making the hike totally worth it. Steve was in his element, nature and hiking. And I'm lucky that he's so patient with me, going at my pace:) The hike down was a lot easier and faster than the way up; but to anyone that will be at The Prom, this hike and the view is worth doing.
d proceeds to try to open the food bin with his snout. It turns out to be a wombat, which was exciting to see, but so crazy in that it looks like a pig but acts like a dog. Steve gently kicked it's bum to get it out of the bin and Annie acted like it was a dog by telling it sternly, "No." The wombat did not react to either the kick or the scolding. Luckily the bin was closed shut and didn't get into the food. But apparently these animals wait until nighttime and then go to people's campsite's looking for food. It was an early bedtime for us all after the excitement of these Australian animals.
