I don’t think I have ever heard so many or such loud trucks bombing along the highway as I did Monday night. It was insane! I enjoy camping but crikey this noise and lack of sleep is gonna make me crankyyyyyyy!! Still, how is it possible to be cranky in this beautiful country? So what was on the agenda for Tuesday? Continuing our journey down towards Melbourne.
The tent and car were packed up and we were on the road by 9am. Again, nothing we had planned at all other than seeking out a shower somewhere. What with not staying in hostels this time we would need to find free campsites with showers. First stop was the beautiful Lake Tyers a place of calm waters, soft sand and fish jumping out of the blue! Here was chilled for a bit before we moved on to Lakes Entrance and pulled into the beach. There was a play park, electric BBQs, a beach and plenty of picnic tables. To make it better the sun was glorious and there were showers!
We whipped out our trusty cooker and toaster, and proceeded to make brunch. Again consisting of beans/spaghetti on toast. This time I actually had hot beans on toast! I was ravenous! We spent a good few hours here soaking up the sun and trundled off to the shower to clean after two days of feeling grotty!
Feeling refreshed we got back in the car and headed to Franklin River Reserve Campground which was a beautiful spot off the main road. On the way there I felt my top almost rubbing my mole on my neck. All of a sudden a sharp pain went through my neck and I looked in the mirror to find a bee had just committed suicide by stinging me. There is sat on my top. I told Nathan to pull over to a) remove the bee and b) pull the sting out that I could still see poking out my skin. What followed was some swelling, aching and a hell of a lot of itching! Thank goodness for antihistamine and bite cream!The campground was gorgeous. We pitched the tent just inside the camping area and watched the sun go down. This time, nothing woke me up but there sounded like there was a hog outside the tent as I was drifting off. Maybe I’m going mad and hearing things??????
Wednesday morning treated us with glorious sunshine as we de-camped ready for another hot, sunny day. We ventured to Wilson’s Promontory National Park first. We stopped off at a couple of viewpoints before we reached the camping area and turned back on the lookout for kangaroos/koalas/wombats!
Not a single one! Every road we’ve driven so far has had signs saying “watch for animals” or “kangaroos next 35km.” None. Zilch. Zero. Not a single animal! I’d expected to see them in abundance. How naive! All we saw was a bloody bunny rabbit!
We continued driving down to Philip Island, home of the infamous Penguin Parade. By now it was getting colder and the wind was picking up. We got onto the island and saw the Philip Island Grand Prix Circuit.Here they hold the Australian Grand Prix, Superbikes, Go Karts, V8 cars and more. As we strolled in hoping to catch a glimpse of the Lamborghinis racing round the track, we settled for a long distance view as it was $16 each to view.
There were several Lambos whizzing round the track. You could hear the purr of the engine as we exited to go to the nobbies.
First of all we came across pyramid rock at the end of a fly infested boardwalk. To the right of it we were adamant we could see whales/dolphins playing in the sea. 1) there was a boat pointing directly where we were looking 2) it was disappearing under the water then coming back up. We don’t know if it was something or a rock but we sat there a good while trying to figure it out!
We got to the end of the island and wandered down the boardwalk. The island in the distance is home to a large colony of Australian Fur Seals but it was slightly too far out of range of my eyesight to see them! It was a very pretty area despite the fact the temperature was starting to drop and the wind was piercingly cold.
The next part of the journey saw us enter Hammond Camp Ground. Off the beaten track and away from a main road so hopefully a decent nights sleep would follow. What was even better? As we pulled into the camp ground, a family of kangaroos greeted us! The daddy was bloody huge staring us out as we figured out where to pack. I’m not kidding he was literally massive. Looked like he was injecting steroids!
They got scared away and jumped the fence initially but soon came back to pose in the rain for photos!
I was so excited that we had finally seen kangaroos in the wild!!! So friggin excited!! There were four of them including a baby! The ground was soaked so we decided to stay in the car instead of pitching the tent. We had the campsite to ourselves except for a French couple in their posh pick up with a tent on the roof!
We had to get a kangaroo selfie right?? I mean who knows if we will actually see them in the wild again on this trip! Hopefully 😊! We set up camp in the car including putting towels and blankets against the windows to stop any light getting in.
It was actually pretty cosy to be honest but I slept like a ‘V’ and it didn’t stay comfortable all night. Ok I say I slept, but again, I didn’t really. My hay fever had kicked in like a bitch during the day and that meant for the whole night it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest preventing me from breathing normally. Chuck in desperately needing a wee at 4am and fumbling my way through the blankets to the outside hoping daddy kangaroo wasn’t there waiting to box me, resulting in another sleepless, yet entertaining night…
Our friendly kangaroos were even there to greet us in the misty, horrible, wet, miserable morning…Baby Roo seemed occupied in the fire pit…
Until next time…
Glad you finally got to see some kangaroos. I love how you explain your adventures in such detail, really helps your viewers feel and share the experience with you. Keep it up!
By the way, I always wanted to travel to Australia since a child, it’s been this odd obsession and at first I never knew why I really wanted to go there besides the accents! Haha Now I think it is more because the landscape, the nation is home to some of the most excotic animals that the rest of the world doesn’t have etc. I am not so sure about the hot weather, but I am sure I could stick it out for the experience. Lol. So yes I do plan to visit Australia one day.
I love traveling, camping and the outdoors, have since a kid and so glad to hear someone else does as well. I grew up on a very remote beautiful island on the ocean. We are talking no malls, movie theaters, fast food and a population of maybe 5,000 people remote. When I moved back to the city (I have moved from there since to the states another city kinda) no one really seems to share or understand my love for the live off the grid, travel, and enjoy nature. It sucks lol xD
Australia has been amazing indeed! Likewise it’s somewhere I always wanted to travel to and finally got here! The weather has been just right for exploring low to mid 20s most days except for some with torrential rain haha!! The landscapes are second to none and the people are the friendliest I have ever met and they’re genuine too. They always want to help whether it’s offering you a lift, randomly buying you dinner or offering directions or help in a shop. Nothing is too much travel!! It’s amazing!
We’re travelling on a budget now so are looking for free campsites everywhere we go and they’ve been awesome! There’s so many! It just seems like a different world out here compared to Home!
Which island did you grow up on? Sounds so peaceful!
😊
That;s great that the weather has been good! I guess it depends what time of year you travel there too. Yes I have heard great things about the people and how friendly they are. Really makes the travel experience better! And yes nothing is too much to travel and there is nothing quite like it. The experiences and you learn so much etc!
Yes always gotta travel on a budget and I will make note of all the free campsites around for when we plan to travel there. 🙂
I grew up on a very small island west coast of Bristish Columbia, Canada. It is north of Vancouver, BC. It use to be called The Queen Charlotte Islands, but is now known as Haida Gwaii to pay respect to the natives of the land. It’s expensive to travel, visit and live there but I tell everyone I meet it is totally worth a visit and the money! xD It is not for everyone’s lifestyle, but to travel yes. But then again all of British Columbia, Canada is pretty spectacular. I just think getting away from the city, really truly on an ocean, the rain forest, abundance of huge trees, the mountains can be seen easier with no pollution of cities, the skies are so beautiful without light pollution in bussling towns and cities, like really clear, and tons of wild life and ocean life. (Saw whales all the time, seals, dolphins etc. even out my front window as we had ocean front property although everyone pretty much did xD Black bears there are I think if my memory serves me correctly are the biggest in North America, or maybe at least Canada? But not scary at all, don’t attack humans as long as you leave them alone, they are more scared of us. xD There was only one bear attack on the island and happened like so many years ago even before I moved there when I was 11, was a boy he lived. They lived by the dump, boy was carrying groceries in the house. But after that incident moved the Dump out away from town and houses. But yeah deer and bears would chill in my backyard all the time. It could be scary to come across a huge black bear in your pear tree but like that just as long as you are aware, they really didnt notice or seem to be bothered.) Oh and something I really miss is I love seafood, salmon, halibut, sushi, crab etc and it was in such an abundance there we’d get it for free all the time from friends, neighbors, as well as deer meat. Why I ever moved away I do not know. Haha. Camping, kayaking, fishing, hunting, living off the land etc was really what was the fun around there. It also really made me humble and appreciate life a lot more.
I came back to the city a few years ago and if the power goes out for like 5 minutes people go crazy, like OMG I can’t play xbox now 🙁 I am like eh I grew up in a remote area and due to high wind storms in winter we’d lose power for hours all the time, it doesn’t bother me. Like I don’t need materialstic things or electronics all the time to be content or happy.
Anyways I am rambling, but yes it was amazing! I want to take my husband back to visit when the time is right. 🙂
You’re not rambling at all!!! It sounds truly wonderful! I’m not a fan of seafood at all 😬 but everything else sounds amazing. Especially bears chilling in your back yard! I haven’t lived anywhere other than England and have just been travelling the last seven months and even staying in central and South America, not in the big cities made me appreciate life more that’s for sure! But I’m not more chilled in the respect of not needing internet, not needing to eat so much 😂, living a lot more cheaply and even when I go back to work not feeling the need to earn so much!
We made a pit stop in Canada in June went up through Banff National Park and then across to the west and back into USA via Vancouver I think. What we saw in Canada was stunning and it’s on our list to go back!
It truly sounds wonderful where you lived! Which city are you in now?
Lol I wasn’t a fan of seafood either actually until I moved to the island, and even then I am very picky with it. I don’t like super fishy tasting seafood. Crab and Halbut are some of my favorites because they are not really fishy tasting. Halibut is a very light fish, hate to use the stereotypical saying but it more kinda tastes like chicken. Lol.
Well I always wanted to visit England, and South America sounds lovely too. So I am sure you have your own great adventures! xD Lol. No worries I wouldn’t want to disconnect completely from the internet either, but once in awhile it’s not so bad and I LOVe eating too. Haha. Yes living cheaply is great.
Banff National Park is awesome, one of my fav parks in Canada actually. Yes Canada is a beautiful country and for the most part people are friendly.
I won’t reveal my recent located city as it is the internet and all and you never know, but I am living in Michigan, USA with my husband. 🙂 He lived in Canada for a bit when we met with me, but we came back to where he grew up. Living here is actually a lot cheaper than where we were living in Canada before we moved. (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) Canada is very costly and expensive especially BC. I will say that about my home country. xD Like I hope to be able to move back to BC and my husband would be up for that as well, maybe even retire but it is so dang expensive that I don’t know if it will be in the cards. 😛
I liked Michigan 😊 ah fingers crossed you do manage to get back to Canada at some point 😊😊!
Yes Michigan is pretty nice, I have enjoyed living here thus far. 🙂 And thanks! Me too. 😀