Lane's Ramblings

Or "Wilson's Prom" or "The Prom". The Prom is a National Park about 200km southeast of Melbourne with some smaller mountains, a lot of hiking, a lot of wild space, beaches, wildlife, and campgrounds. It is the southernmost point on mainland Australia and to get to the actual southern most point you have to hike about 13km in. I didn't make it all the way to the southern point, I went along the foreshore instead. I took this daytrip in December during the break. It was a great trip and I'll definitely be back for some hiking and camping and to make it down to that point. And, yes, this is where I saw my first wild kangaroo and first wild wombat.

Here's a website for The Prom
http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_display.cfm?park=217

Here's the link to my pictures - open up the pictures and follow along with the commentary below (shift+click to open in a different window).
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=s8e95zp.367jcnx1&Uy=-a062ya&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=1&UV=90606688563_318801173109

1) I drove into the park and parked near the Tidal River campground. This is a picture of Norman Bay from the beach near the carpark.

2) Mt Oberon (558m - 1,831ft) from the same beach.

3) Smaller hill towards the ocean.

4) Looking back at the beach heading back to the carpark.

5) Trying to get a closer look at the rocks/islands just offshore.

6) This guy is the first wombat that I've seen in the wild and he was hanging very close to the campground and, as you can see, not too far from where I was walking on the trail. He's at least a foot long and is a bit bigger than a cat.

7) The strange trees that cover part of the trail.

8) Trying to show what the bushfires did to this area a year or two ago - a big problem throughout Victoria.

9) More bushfire remnants.

10) The beach on Norman Bay from the trail - all of the first 10 pictures were taken within the first half hour of the hike.

11) Same beach.

12) A couple of huge boulders just sitting on the side of the mountain. These mountains were covered with some very strange boulders.

13) Islands in Norman Bay.

14) I think these are the same boulders just from the other side.

15) Looking down into Little Oberon Bay - the color of the water was amazing but it was still very cold.

16) Looking across Oberon Bay to Mt Norgate (419m - 1,375ft).

17) A white sand beach on Little Oberon Bay and boulders on the side of Mt Oberon.

18) Rocks on the side of the mountain.

19) The same white sand beach - you can tell that there's no one there.

20) I'm the only one on this white sand beach.

21) Same.

22) Mt Norgate from the beach looking across Little Oberon Bay and Oberon Bay.

23) The beach - the trail markings weren't very good, at times it seemed like the trail just ended. Here I was able (or forced to) do some bushwhacking to find the trail.

24) Boulders.

25) Rocks on the beach.

26) The boulders were huge.

27) This beach is on Oberon Bay, it was a lot bigger than the white sand beach.

28) Mt Norgate.

29) A tidal river just off the trail. I had to jump over it to get to the rest of the beach.

30) This beach, which was also empty except for me, was covered in jellyfish left of the beach by the waves.

31) The enormous, empty beach.

32) More jellyfish.

33) They're all over the place.

34) I was just coming off the beach and turned the corner when I saw this guy eating his lunch. He was a little over 4ft tall and was only about 30ft away from me. I had to sit around and wait for him to finish because I could pass him and I didn't want to disturb him. So, I watched him eat for about 10mins and he watched me watch him eat.

35) Still eating.

36) Come on, buddy, I gotta keep walking.

37) Typical Australian - just wants to hang around even if he's done eating.

38) Going back for more.

39) "Are you still watching me eat?"

40) I tried to get a little closer.

41) Once I got past the kangaroo I ran into these trees covering the trail.

42) You have to look closely but I'm taking a picure of the flies that are covering my backpack. And when the pack is on me, yes, so are the flies, they were everywhere.

43) An anthill? This thing was 4ft high and there were a few of them in the bush.

44) Tall, burnt trees with vegetation regrowing on them.

45) Mt Oberon from trail heading back to a carpark not too far from where my car was. I took the trail along the foreshore but took the direct trail out but the map didn't tell me that this carpark that I was heading to was on top of a mountain. Topo maps people, come on, help me out here. I was able to take a shuttle back to my carpark though - sweet.

46) The surrounding scenery.

47) This kangaroo was just hanging out on the road, probably wondering what I was doing in his backyard.

48) I'm getting closer.

49) Still just sitting there.

50) And he didn't really feel like talking.

51) I did get to see him hop down the hill in the bush.

52) Mountains along the ocean.

53) More mountains. These may look very short and they are, you have to go to northeaster Victoria to see the big ones.

54) Ahh, yes, the Squeaky Beach. This beach squeaks when you walk on it because of the type of sand on it. It's just like Singing Beach in Manchester-By-The-Sea, Massachusetts except that I didn't have to pay $35 to park, show that my salary has 6 or more figures, or prove that my family came over on the Mayflower. If you've ever been to Manchester-By-The-Sea you know what I mean.

55) More of the Squeaky Beach.

56) And one more time, the Squeaky Beach.

There you have it, my trip to Wilson's Prom. Let me know what you think of this format of showing pictures and I'll change around to make it easier.