Travels around Victoria

Somehow two months have past since my last post...where does the time go?  In my defense, February was basically nothing but work.  Between writing reports and two weeks of field work in Brisbane, I didn't get up to much of anything on the weekends other than sleeping in.  March was much busier as my parents were visiting for almost three weeks.  It was really nice to see them both.  I hadn't seen my Dad since we moved abroad in June 2016 and I hadn't seen my Mom since she visited me in Wellington in November 2016.  I had to work during the week but we got out and explored Victoria on the weekends.

Koala along the Great Ocean Road

The first weekend that they were in town, we saw the Melbourne sights as both of my parents were still trying to get over jet lag.  We went to the Shrine of Remembrance, Botanical Gardens, laneways, State Library, National Gallery Victoria and the Queen Victoria Market.  I showed them around St. Kilda and we had some cake at one of the European cake shops along Acland Street. We also tried to see the penguins on the St. Kilda pier but we went on a weekend day over a long holiday weekend, so it was swarming with people.  My parents didn't end up seeing the penguins while they were visiting but we did see a ton of other fun Oz wildlife, so I think that made up for the lack of penguins. Plus my parents are already planning their trip for next year, so we'll make more of an effort to see penguins then. 

At the Botanical Gardens

Sunset by the St. Kilda pier

Street art in the laneways

The first Monday that my parents were in Oz was Labour Day (public holiday) so we drove down to Wilsons Promontory National Park (aka Wilsons Prom or just The Prom).  I've been meaning to get down there since I moved to Melbourne in August and just hadn't made it yet.  It is gorgeous!  We had a little picnic before starting out hiking and my parents were blown away by the birds (Galah, Crimson Rosella, Kookaburra, etc.) around the picnic area.  My dad kept saying that he'd only ever seen these birds at zoos or pet stores.  We did a couple short hikes out to an overlook and Squeaky Beach.  On the way out we came across a wallaby just off the side of the trail.  It was surprisingly unafraid of us and only hopped off after we'd all gotten some pictures.  When we were leaving the park we saw a young wombat by the side of the road.  It was sooooo cute and the first wombat that I'd seen that wasn't in a zoo or roadkill.

Kookaburra

Squeaky Beach

Wombat

Galahs

Crimson Rosella

The second weekend that my parents were in town Ross came up from New Zealand and the four of us did the Great Ocean Road.  It was really pretty but a surprising amount of it is inland and away from the ocean.  We stopped at Bells Beach of "Point Break" fame or, if you actually surf, it's where the RipCurl Champs are, I think... I don't know but they were setting up stands for something when we were there.  

Bells Beach

The next major stop for us along the Great Ocean Road was at Kennett River.  One of my co-workers had mentioned that the roads behind the caravan park are a good place to see wild Koalas.  I am so glad that I listened because we saw a ton.  Oddly enough, the first one that we saw was in the tree that I happened to park under.

From the koalas we headed on to the Twelve Apostles. We got there later in the day but there were still a ton of people around.  They are close enough to Melbourne that you can go out and back in a day (~12 hours) if you want to.  Even though there are only seven actual rock stacks, the Twelve Apostles are really incredible.  We stayed for a while and took way too many pictures.  There are a bunch of other cool things by the Twelve Apostles that we wanted to see too (e.g. - Gibson Steps, Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge, etc.) but it was getting pretty late so we headed on to our AirBnb in Warrnambool with the intent of coming back the next day to see what we had missed.

The next morning, on the way back to the Twelve Apostles, I noticed that a couple roads heading north off of the Great Ocean Road were closed and my first thought (being a Colorado kid) was "Fire."  We stopped at a cheese factory and I asked at the checkout while my parents investigated the cheese options.  Sure enough there were multiple grass fires in the area.  Ross and I watched the news and found out that the main motorway that we'd been planning on taking back to Melbourne was closed, as was the Great Ocean Road.  After consulting the map, we found a road that was open and headed back to Melbourne.  We listened to the radio the whole way because we were basically driving between two grass fires.  The announcements that they had on the radio were unlike anything that I've ever heard before.  The radio announcer would read off towns that were under evacuation orders and then they'd read off towns where it was too late to evacuate and the residents were just supposed to "shelter in place."  They would then go through a list of what you should do if you're driving and your car is overtaken by the grass fire.  It was crazy.  

The second Monday that my parents were in town, I took off from work.  Ross headed back to New Zealand early in the morning.  My parents and I then went to Hanging Rock Reserve.  The impetus for the trip was a movie that my parents love called "Picnic at Hanging Rock."  I haven't seen it since I was in high school but I remember it as boring and incredibly slow.  That being said, we had a picnic at Hanging Rock and then did some hiking.  We saw a huge mob (actual work for a group of kangaroos) of kangaroos and a bunch of gorgeous birds.  The rock formations were also incredible and, while the hike wasn't that long, it had great views.

Since it was on the way back to Melbourne, we also stopped at Organ Pipes National Park.  It's a really small park plus there's very little shade and it was a really warm day, so we didn't spend a whole lot of time there.  Apparently there are platypuses there but we didn't see any.

The last weekend that my parents were in Australia, we spent the weekend down on the Mornington Peninsula which is just south of Melbourne.  The weather wasn't amazing but we went hiking at both Point Nepean National Park and Cape Schanck, which is part of the Mornington Peninsula National Park.  Point Nepean has a really interesting history as a military base.  Let me pause here in my narration to quote Bill Bryson from In a Sunburned Country: "For a hundred years, the whole of [Point Nepean] - several hundred acres of the most gorgeous coastal property in Victoria - was off limits to the public because it was owned by the military, which used it as a firing range.  Pause with me for a moment while we put this in perspective.  Here you have a country of three million square miles, nearly all of it empty and eminently bombable. And here, just a couple hours' drive from the country's second city, you have a headland of rare and sumptuous beauty, and of considerable ecological importance, and from this land you bar the public because you are trying to blow it to smithereens."  Luckily the military agreed to turn the land into a national park and it's gorgeous. I'd been to Cape Schanck previously but it is really pretty and well-worth repeat visits.

The Narrows at Point Nepean

Point Nepean

Point Nepean

Cape Schanck Lighthouse

Cape Schanck 

The roos blend in so well.

All in all, it was great to see my parents and take advantage of their rental car to see more of Victoria. As I've said before, I love having visitors because it gives me an excuse to explore more.