Road trip: Day 4 - The Coorong and lakes

It's taking me longer to write about our recent holiday than it took us to make the actual trip in the first place. I've been slack and it's also been too hot for me to want to go near my laptop.

On day four we continued exploring The Coorong and surrounds. We expected to see plenty of water birds because The Coorong is renowned for them, but we weren't really expecting to see emus.  We saw a pair walking across a salt pan a long way off in the distance as we drove by. "What's that?" "Emus!" Not that we hadn't seen emus before, but I don't think I've seen them in the wild.

We saw their footprints on the beach where we stopped soon after seeing them, although I hesitate to use the word 'beach'...

Ew. Sticky, stinky mud. It's rapidly becoming a rule that we can't go on holidays without me falling in something (e.g. a creek in Tasmania) or stepping in something (e.g. dog poo in Paris, within hours of landing).  Luke laughed and laughed and laughed. I laughed too, just not as much as he did.

Fortunately my foot slipped out of my sandal mostly mud-free and I was able to wash the sandal in the handbasin of a nearby toilet block before sitting it on the dash of the car to dry in the sun.

When we returned to the car I was startled by a snake sheltering under our car. Well, I thought it was a snake at first, but quickly realised it was only a lizard. A fat, stumpy-tail.

Luke had to move the car because Stumpy didn't seem to have plans to go anywhere. Luke came back over to have a closer look at the lizard and it crawled into his shadow. It wasn't particularly hot, so we think it might have been seeking protection from birds of prey. But we couldn't stay there all day sheltering it.

We visited various points along along the lagoons, traversing many dirt and gravel roads. We saw more pelicans, although nowhere near as many as you'd see in the area during breeding season.

Cleared for take-off

We visited another look-out area which was weird and a little creepy. A strange, dense, textile-like substance the colour of hessian had apparently washed ashore and bunched up along where the "beach" meets the scrub. 

But that's not the creepy bit. This is:  

Boo!

This wasn't the only dead fish - I spotted about a dozen on about a 15 metre stretch of beach/hessian stuff and on the grassy/scrub, long dead and mostly skeletonised. Maybe fisherman had discarded the fish due to their undesirability and birds had picked their bones? 

This was where I encountered my first (and only) snake for the trip. It was lying near a bush on the edge of the beach, but when it heard or felt me approach it whipped into the shrub so fast I heard it more than saw it. I was about two metres away so I didn't feel in any danger. 

Next we drove around the western shore of Lake Albert up to the Raukkan Community, a settlement established by the Ngarrindjeri people 150 years ago on the banks of Lake Alexandrina. This is where David Unaipon, a preacher, writer and inventor who graces the $50 note, lived and ministered to his flock. The little church above his shoulder on the $50 note still stands and is very well looked after. 

You might recognise it better front on, which is how it appears on the currency. It's called the Point McLeay church. 

We took the ferry across The Narrows, which joins Lake Alexandrina (at the top in the photo below) and Lake Albert (at the bottom). 

Hidden behind the ferry is Malcolm Point and its wee little lighthouse (I know, not very useful. We didn't stop for photos either). It's no longer operational, but it remains Australia's only inland lighthouse - possibly the only inland lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere. 

That night we had an early dinner at the pub in the tiny town of Wellington on the banks of the Murray River and then headed back to Meningie with a few detours to take photos. 

Sunset over Lake Albert 

Road trip: Day 1 - Melbourne to Warrnambool

I've taken my time getting around to writing about our road trip in early January. It's a long weekend for Australia Day, so I thought I should get off my butt (or, rather, on my butt) and blog. 

On our first day Luke and I drove along the Great Ocean Road (GOR) to Warrnambool. 

Iconic Bells Beach near Torquay. Not a great day for the beach 

(for us, I mean, not surfers) - it was very windy and a bit chilly

The Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet

It's a pretty little lighthouse

Although the sky was mostly grey, there were some sunny

 breaks which turned the shallows a beautiful aqua blue 

The lush rural hinterland near Apollo Bay...a dramatic

contrast to what was to come later in our trip

That's the ocean at Apollo Bay in the distance

Our next stop was at Cape Otway. There's a lighthouse there, but we thought the admission fee was a bit steep, so we walked to the little historic cemetery nearby instead.  In the late 1800s it was the burial place for about a dozen people mostly connected with the lighthouse (including several infants) and victims of drownings at sea. 

One of the graves is for a seaman who died in the Eric The Red shipwreck in 1880. The ship had sailed from New York en route to Melbourne carrying exhibits for the International Exhibition.

Another is for Thomas Monk who died in the Blanket Bay disaster. 

It reads: In memory of Albert Griffiths Chief Officer aged 33 years * Thomas Monks aged 34 years * Alexander Mathieson aged 23 years * Who lost their lives in the Blanket Bay disaster 21st March  1896 * Erected on the grave of Thomas Monk by their shipmates and friends

There were tracts of skeletal trees on the road between the GOR and Cape Otway. They were eerily beautiful and reminded me of the trees we saw on top of Lake Mountain in 2012. I don't think they were dead as some were sprouting leaves. I'm not sure what was going on with them. 

Some - the ones with more leaves - had koalas in them! 

 This was the first of several wildlife encounters on our trip

Mmmmm... gum leaves...munch munch munch

We stopped at the little town of Lavers Hill for sustenance and I was thrilled to find a packet of homestyle gluten-free melting moments biscuits. They were delicious too - far superior to ones I bought recently from the gourmet mecca of the David Jones food hall. 

Next up was Melba Gully, a patch of mossy, ferny, licheny, fungusy rainforest with some superb trees. 

 This one has a face, a spooky face

 Moss-covered tree

 Above tree, with tree fern

Fungus on a fallen log

Next up was the best-known stretch of the GOR - the bit with the Twelve Apostles and the other rock formations beyond.

 The Twelve Apostles

 The Apostles again

 The Loch Ard Gorge. The open wild Southern Ocean lies 
through that gap in the rocks 

The Loch Ard Gorge is my favourite. It's a secluded cove bound by high cliffs, with a little beach and a cave at the back with stalactites and stalacmites (below).  I like it because it doesn't attract anywhere near as many tourists as the Twelve Apostles and because when I was in grade six I won an essay competition in which I had to imagine I was one of the two survivors of the Loch Ard shipwreck. My story was published in the local paper. I always think about that when I visit. 

The gorge is named after the ship because the survivors came ashore there. The rugged coast in this part of Victoria is known as the Shipwreck Coast because of the more than 600 sailing ships that came to grief there in the 1800s to early 1900s. 

The cave

 Further alone, the Bay of Martyrs in the golden hour

The sun setting over the Bay of Martyrs 

We continued on to Warrnambool, checked into our motel, managed to get a restaurant meal at 9.30 on a Monday night (Warrnambool is quite large, but still a country town). The restaurant also offered gluten-free options. I was impressed...even though I then chose to eat gluten because bread is delicious.  It's nice to have the option, y'know?

We both slept very well. 

Gippsland glee - part I

So, our little getaway! We hit the road at about 9.00am on Friday and made our first stop for morning tea at Kilkunda, a small seaside town not far past the turn off to the tourist hotspot Phillip Island. 

We ate at an overpriced café ($10 for 2 small pieces of fruit toast!) overlooking the gloomy grey ocean, and then went for a wander to the beach...where I had an accidental paddle in the sea. I was bending over writing in the sand, thinking I was out of reach of the water, but no.  My sneakers, socks and the bottom of my cargo pants were saturated and sandy. Thankfully my pants dried quickly - I didn't have another pair - but I did have another pair of shoes. My socks spent the rest of the trip drying on the dashboard of the car. 

My soggy state didn't deter me from taking photos of the lovely old trestle bridge that runs parallel to the the shore. 

We stopped at Cape Paterson (ho-hum) before heading on to Shack Bay, a pretty little bay with a rock formation we thought looked like Australia rising out of - or sinking into - the ocean. It's called Eagle's Nest. A google search reveals we aren't the only people who see the resemblance to northern Australia. 

Tiny snake - about the size of a big worm - beside the 

steps down to the beach

Luke with big seaweed

Our next stop was our destination - Venus Bay. Before heading to our accommodation we did the rounds of the surf beaches, which are evocatively named Surf Beach 1, Surf Beach 2 and so on. It was very windy on the Bass Strait side of the narrow peninsula where Venus Bay is located, but a few hardy fisherman and paddlers braved the conditions. 

Beachgoers in the mist

We checked into our cabin and then headed to the nearby Tarwin Lower pub for dinner. We stopped on the way to take photos of the sun setting over the Tarwin River. 

 Cow waiting for its close-up while Luke takes sunset shots

We both had a huge T-bone steak for dinner at the pub which has one of those set ups where you get a ticket with a number for your order and they announce it over the PA when your order is ready.  We got a giggle out of the rather nasal voice of the announcer. "Nointy-noin. Your order is ready. Nointy-noin." 

Then it was a back to our cabin where we were lulled to sleep by the sound of the surf and the wind in the trees. 

The bright side of the dark

I'm not sorry summer's over, but I am a little sad about the end of daylight savings. Walking home in the dark isn't all bad though. The sun was setting as I crossed Prince's Bridge and once it got dark, the lights of the city and the traffic on Brunton Avenue reflected on the black water of the Yarra.  

After I took the photo above, a colony of bats flew over my head, silhouetted against the clouds, which were lit up by the city lights. (Incidentally, 'cloud' is another collective noun for bats.)

The end of daylight savings also means I get to see the city glowing during the late afternoon 'golden hour' from my office window. 

 

I'm having yet another long weekend soon. The Anzac Day public holiday is on Thursday 25 April, and I'm taking the Friday off as well. Luke and I are heading to the seaside town of Venus Bay on Friday and staying the night (Luke works Sundays). I've never been there before. I'm looking forward taking in some coastal vistas. 

I got an unexpected email from a woman I used to work with in my old old job (the one I left in 2010). We lost contact, but her email was a pleasant surprise. It made my day. 

It's a girl, three kinds of fish, sunset

 Funny little car on Puckle Street, Moonee Ponds

I'm still playing blog catch-up, but at least I'm only a few days behind now. Luke's sister had her third baby on Friday - a little girl after two boys. Yay! We visited on Saturday afternoon. So tiny and cute and not at all happy about being woken up to have a bath. Luke has an adorably funny picture of her reaction, which he will no doubt bring out for her 21st birthday.

Luke wore his Planet Terror t-shirt on Saturday, which was April 6.  When we were in the lift going up to the maternity ward I noticed the date at the bottom of the print. 

After we left the hospital, we visited Middle Brighton Beach. It was a warm, sunny day. Our Indian summer isn't quite over yet. 

 Brighton's famous bathing boxes

 They're a popular backdrop for wedding photos

Look at all these little fish!

There were thousands - probably tens of thousands - of them swimming in the shallows  around the Middle Brighton Pier, flashing silver in the sun. They were mesmerising. 

Jellyfish!

Starfish! 

This starfish is far more laid back than Sassy Starfish. 

 

The hazy city

The clouds rolled in, but it didn't rain where we were

After Brighton, we stopped in St Kilda, just before the sun set. It was a pearler. 

 

Puffy cloud on the horizon opposite the sun

We had dinner on Acland Street, and then gelato...well, had gelato; Luke didn't because his belly was full with the giant chicken parmagiana he had for dinner. I had the coconut meringue and the caramel popcorn flavoured gelato from 7 Apples (yes, it actually had bits of popccorn in it). The popcorn was OK and the coconut was pleasant. My heart/stomach still belongs to Fritz Gelato.