Woonona Mob "Zig Zag Oz": Majestic Victorian forests

The Grampians were first glimpsed by us from Dunkeld, rising up out of the lush green rolling hills, like sails on a barque. We pulled into Halls Gap, and found ourselves in the midst of a tourist horde. Puzzled as to why there were so many people in this tiny village on a Monday? The caravan park was very busy as were the main street and the ice creamery. No it was not school holidays in any state in Australia. It took as a little while to realise that it was the Melbourne Cup the next day and Victorians took a 4 day long weekend. We drove through the national park, looking for a spot that wasn’t jammed in with 50 other campers or one of the numerous “school” groups. The track was narrow and windy with few signs to tell us where we were. By 6.30pm, after an hour and a half driving through the park we stopped at Smiths Mill camp site. This had been an old timber mill, deep within the forest, surrounded by tall pines. Only a few campers, so even though camping in between Radiata pines wasn’t my idea of a “National Park” experience, we realised we had run out of options. It turned out to be a lovely spot, near a babbling creek, far from civilisation and beautifully quiet and serene. The weather was rather chilly, getting down to 6 degrees at night, rainy and very misty. We did some exploration, driving around and walking in the cold misty mountains to lookouts where occasionally the mist would clear enough to see across the spectacular valleys to the mountains beyond. We stopped at the Brambuck cultural centre at Halls Gap, which turned out to be one of the best we have seen on our travels. The information and display, as well as the building it self were very interesting. It was here that the girls found snake number 32, a large Red-belly Black, asleep beside the path.

From here we drove to Port Fairy, and stayed at a caravan park, as we desperately needed a shower after 3 days in the cold and wet. That’s the only drawback to our solar showers…you need sunshine! It was a lovely coastal town, on the banks of a river, with Victoria’s largest fishing fleet. The town it self has long tree lined avenues, with well maintained historic houses. It is a tourist town, with an abundance of rental cottages and boutique hotels. We went for an evening stroll along the harbour pier and the coastal boardwalk, and out to Griffiths Island. From here we were able to witness the return of thousands of Shearwaters (Mutton birds) to their rookery. Mutton birds are ground nesting and build burrows in the long grass growing on the coastal dunes, which they return to each evening after a days fishing. My Uncle Laurie used to tell me stories of catching Mutton birds for dinner.

From Port Fairy we drove along the Great Ocean Road, stopping at the sites, along with the hundreds of overseas tourists. It is a dramatic and awesome coast line. We decided to head into the Western Otway’s, driving up through Beech Forest, which Russ remembered from a childhood road trip. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quiet what he remembered from over 35 years ago. (Really!) We again went on a magical mystery tour, attempting to follow one of the Victorian National Park maps to a camping site within the forest. It was a beautiful drive through tall Mountain Ash trees and huge tree ferns. However we became a little lost after an hour or so, and again it was approaching 6pm, and we still hadn’t found the camping site we were looking for. The roads were all old logging tracks, muddy from recent rain and steep in sections. Luckily we came upon some fellows gathering wood, and they directed us to a camp site called Dandoes. (Not the one we were looking for) It was set in an old logging camp on a creek, with remnants of tall blue-gums planted in straight lines that we camped beneath. The place filled up the next day with locals from Geelong and surrounds, who liked to party, turn their music up and drink rather a lot. Thankfully by the third day, they all packed up and left us to a very quiet and peaceful evening. We explored the area, after being shown a quicker route then the one we had come in on. Walking among the majestic Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans), the second largest tree in the world, stunning views, the most amazing forest drive and the Otway Fly made this another highlight.

We are now camped in the eastern Otway’s, at Blanket Bay, a much easier place to find. As we drove towards Cape Otway we had to stop for a Koala crossing the road. The surrounding eucalypts were literally littered with them, and the trees themselves looked worse for wear. Last night a young Koala walked through our camp site, and is still asleep in the tree above our camper today. We saw two Echidnas next to us and have found a further two Koalas near us. We also had a visit from a fox and a feral kitten. The girls are obviously delighted. Koalas make grunting noises by the way, very odd, and their scats (poo) resemble those of a possum. We know because they are all over our mat!