Wines, family, and a national park

We are in Victoria, Australia, and after a week of driving through Melbourne and historic areas of Victoria’s Great South, we drove to the other side of Melbourne to the Mornington Peninsula. We were going to catch up with Leigh’s family, who she hasn’t seen for several years, and one of our first family events was a wine tour.

Marg with our wine purchase, Mornington, Victoria

Leigh’s niece Emily and her husband Ramon arranged the tour and it was wonderful. The wines were very tasty and we purchased a bottle of dessert wine from Dromana Estate Winery to take home to New Zealand. Although it may go the way of Cousin Sue’s Christmas cake (see previous blog), and be enjoyed well before we get it home!

The following day, we had a wonderful family get-together hosted by Leigh’s nephew Darren and his family. With Leigh’s siblings, nephew, niece, their partners and all of their kids, it was a big happy affair with a lot of catching up.

Brother Rod's gorgeous restored 50's Ford

We also spent time with Leigh’s brother Rod and his wife Sandy. Rod showed us his bespoke 50’s car that he’d restored. It is red and gorgeous, and has a great rumble. 

Rod and Sandy normally live in Queensland; however, they were in Victoria after visiting a car show, so meeting up with them in Mornington was a bonus.

A few days later, we got together with Leigh’s other brother Greg and his wife Carol in their stunning new home. A few more days after that, we caught up with Leigh’s sister Joanne and her family, and Cousin Chris and his wife Sharon on their farm. 

The drive into Wilsons Promontory, Victoria

After a couple of wonderful weeks catching up with family, we drove to rural south-eastern Victoria, where our first stop was Wilsons Promontory. Known locally as “The Prom” it is a national park sitting in splendid isolation at the southernmost tip of mainland Australia. We were there to see the scenery, beaches, native forest, and birdlife.

But we nearly didn’t get a campsite there, due to a missing Australian mobile phone sim-card. After two weeks of worrying why our pre-purchased sim-card had not arrived, we cancelled it and bought another while on the way to The Prom. Luckily we did, as it enabled us to book a camp at busy Wilson’s Prom.

Beautiful rocks on Tidal River, Wilsons Prom, Victoria

We eventually set up camp among the trees at The Prom’s Tidal River Camp. Very soon after, we were off and away on our first walk which was along Tidal River, the main river in The Prom. The walk began alongside the river, where we saw many huge colourful rocks with sharp reflections in the clear, still water. 

Stunning views of Bass Strait, Wilsons Prom, Victoria

The track runs alongside, then above the river through a beautiful forest, where we could look back over the sea at various intervals. The sea is actually the wild Bass Strait.

The views in this part of the track were great, and we really enjoyed the walk. At the end of the walk, we arrived at lovely, sandy Norman’s Beach.

Marg reflecting at Norman's Beach, Wilsons Prom, Victoria

Norman’s Beach is known for its good swimming and snorkelling. However, the weather was not hot enough for us to take a dip. So, after admiring the views of nearby Mount Oberon and a few offshore islands, we walked back along Tidal River to the camp. 

The next day, we went for a longer walk that took us to Squeaky Beach. The sand on this beach is really white and as its name implies, it squeaks when you walk on it. Apparently, it is composed of rounded grains of quartz that make a squeaking sound as they rub together.

Leigh on the rocks at Squeaky Beach, Wilsons Prom, Victoria

The walk to Squeaky Beach took us through forest and over some really impressive rocks. One spectacular rock that Leigh could not resist climbing on, was very much like Split-Apple Rock in New Zealand’s Nelson Bays. It was round and split down the middle. 

On the other end of the beach there were more impressive rocks that we had to climb over and around in order to get to the track on the other side. It was great fun.

Marg with a Xanthorrhoea Australis, Wilsons Prom, Victoria

On another walk, we came across some interesting plants called Xanthorrhoea Australis, also known as a Grass Tree. These trees start out looking like a clump of grass. Over time, a blackish stumpy trunk appears underneath the grass, then eventually it grows a spear-like flower that can reach up to 2 metres high. Some of these plants live for over 350 years.

Back at the camp, we were regularly entertained by a large variety of birdlife including ducks, geese, pigeons, doves, and cuckoos, and on the walk, we spotted shearwaters, petrels, herons, egrets and a variety of other seabirds. 

Galahs, kookaburra and rosella at Wilsons Prom, Victoria

However, our favourites were the pretty pink and grey galahs, the laughing kookaburras, and the flashy red and blue rosellas that regularly swooped through the campsite.

We also came across a large and wandering swamp wallaby at one stage, and gave him a wide berth. He seemed very interested in eating the bark of a rotten tree trunk. Bark is apparently high on their menu.

After a few days and some great walks and sights, we left The Prom to drive to far-eastern Victoria. See our NEXT BLOG about that.

This is part of a wider blog on our travels around south-eastern Australia, that began in Melbourne, Victoria.