Moving on from Wilson's Prom

Our last day at Wilsons Promontory included many adventures.  We started the day by exploring Picnic Bay which reminded us a lot of the East Coast of Tassie with its large granite boulders and beautiful white beach.

 We were able to explore the length of Tidal River in our kayaks.  Oscar and Angus sat on the back of the boats for some of the journey and Angus body-boarded behind Jon's boat for some of the trip also.  There were many birds which we admired along the way and eventually the river ended up very narrow with tea trees overhanging the river.  At this point we turned around and enjoyed the current assisting us back to our starting point.

One of the little beaches along Tidal River.

We then walked up to the peak of Mt. Bishop and saw the amazing regrowth after the 2009 bush fires.  The colours were vibrant against the start black of the burnt eucalyptus trunks.  At the summit we had a wonderful view of Wilsons Prom and many of the beaches below.  Oscar and Angus fairly raced back down hiding behind many tree trunks trying to scare Jon and I as many times as they could.

We had planned to travel North but due to the severe flooding in those regions and after much discussion and deliberation we have headed west toward the Great Ocean Road.  We have not studied up on this region at all so each day will be a discovery.  

We stopped at Sorrento for two nights and were surprised at how beautiful this area is.  We spent time cycling out to Point Nepean and exploring the Quarantine station which was used to Quarantine any early settlers who were arriving in ships and who were thought to have infectious diseases.  Prime Minister Harold Holt also disappeared in this area in 1967 and we visited his memorial.

The highlight of our day was surprisingly exploring Fort Pearce and Fort Nepean.  The forts were set up to protect Melbourne during the second World War.  We were able to walk through tunnels, explore old artillery storage areas and learn a huge amount about the history of the area.  We were caught in a shower of rain on the way back but this only made us hurry up bit and cycle faster!  We had spent a lot longer than planned wandering the ruins of the forts.  

Port Phillip Bay was calm and inviting on our return to camp and we had a bit of a paddle and swim to check out the beaches, piers and many boats moored just offshore. Oscar and Angus built elaborate forts and tunnels with the sand and fortunately they survived the night!  Good architecture I must say!

We are now heading off toward The Great Ocean Road - not exactly sure where we'll stay the night .....part of the fun of an adventure!

Oscar and Angus checking out the view at Fort Nepean

Jenn