Wildlife and camping
I wake up to a lovely sunny morning and admire the view from the balcony of my Airbnb in Anglesea. This is the place I stayed at last year with the drama with the solar panels that were not on the roof and I've been here for two nights, One of them a freebie to compensate for my inconvenience last year, which is lovely.
As I drive back past the beaches, I note that the sea is so much calmer today and Point Danger looks as if it would be brilliant for snorkeling, but perhaps not today. I have quite a few hours driving and a diversion that's potentially will take a couple of hours.
I drive out of Anglesea and my route takes me through some rather lovely native forest with extensive undergrowth of wattle in flower. The eucalypt trunks are all burned, but given the general health of the forest, I would surmise that it was a low intensity burn to keep the surrounding area safe.
Through Colac, I notice the substantial and historic nature of some of the buildings and wonder if they have a Baker's Delight. The prospect of some fresh bread is rather appealing. I asked the question with Hey Google and suddenly I'm directed off my route for a 1-minute detour to the local Baker's Delight, which unfortunately doesn't have low FODMAP bread today.
I arrive at Tower Hill, a destination I had in mind last year, but I had scheduled way too much in to those days.
As I drive into the reserve, I pass some beautiful honeycomb sandstone escapment, but it might not be sandstone given that this is a volcanic area, and lovely wetlands and as I head to find the toilets I see my first koala. Later on I see one that is much more active and a little closer, and later still I see one that is very active but busy climbing away from me.
Immediate needs dealt with. I set off on the Lava Tongue Boardwalk and spot a rather more active koala which is lovely and as I walk the trail through the wetlands there's much sound of frogs and birds.
A little further around I come across a pair of emu feeding in the shallows of the lake and then as I walk up a little rise lots of tiny, very pretty, birds flitt backwards and forwards.
A young boy tells me there are kangaroo ahead if I want to take a photo which is kind of him. But I suspect the loud teenagers that passed me scared it sufficiently to remove itself to shelter.
Further round there is a swan and also, I think, a purple swamphen ,but I'm not sure.
I had planned to spend a couple of hours at Tower Hill but getting there took me longer than I thought and I do want to be at my campsite tonight in good time to set up and be organised before the I start to lose light.
As I'm walking back the sun peeps through the clouds and lights a wattle in full bloom and that looks fabulous.
I choose another short circuit, around a small lake and parts of it are really pretty through a forest with a significant amount of sweet pittosporum which is in full bloom and quite overpoweringly scented. The path through it is pretty though.
While I think sweet pittosporum is native, at least to some parts of Victoria, there are lots of weeds that aren't. The area was incredibly degraded by farming, clearing and grazing and then in the '60s the decision to try and rehabilitate it was made. Thus it now being a sanctuary for wildlife.
Towards the end of that walk I hear a koala growling and seems to be nearby but I cannot see it.
I continue my journey and arrive at Budj Bim campground in good time and set up in my chosen campsite by 4:30
I head off for a walk up to the lookout.
On the way I see three kangaroos and on my return I see a smaller wallaby very clearly a different species.
It seems I have the campground to myself tonight unless there are some late bookings.
I can hear a Koala growling but I'm not sure where it is.
A couple of cars come and drive around the campsite area but they are just having a look. One car, obviously set up for camping, comes in with a solo young woman and she stops nearby then drives on. She's gone for a while but then she turns around and leaves, which is a bit mysterious. Maybe the slight isolation scares her a bit. It delights me.
As I sit with my pre-dinner glass of wine, and cheese and biscuits, the birds are very vocal, as are the cows which are not too far away. This national park really is a little dot in the middle of the landscape but I do rather like it because it's a national parks campsite, and the sites are spread out. Plus this particular campsite has flushing toilets and a hot shower even if the hot shower is timed at 2 minutes. It's a very peaceful location.
The temperature drops after the sun goes down and while I have plenty of additional clothes I could put on I shall not be sitting up late. My cosy sleeping bag in the back of my car on my comfortable mattress will invite.
Dusk is fading to dark as I ate my dinner and I move my chair out in the open so I can look up at the canopy of gum trees above me. The waxing moon fades in intensity as light cloud drifts across it and a pair of birds roost up in one of the branches nearby. It's beautiful!
And the night was as peaceful as I expected it to be. I was woken a little before 6:00 by the birds anticipating dawn and after snuggling in my sleeping bag for a little longer I got up and started to make coffee. My butane stove can be as slow as a wet week first thing in the morning. It finally gave me boiling water as the sun started to peep through the trees and throw rays of light across the grass between the volcanic rocks of a nearby campsite.
And I have some visitors! The kangaroo family work their way quite close to check me out. The bub's not so sure!
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