As we drove into in Wilson’s Promontory, the ancient rolling hills of eucalypt forest took our breath away. Massive round boulders, that have been smoothed by millennia of weather, are scattered over the hills and the beaches like giant marbles.
It felt like we were entering Jurassic park, except instead of dinosaurs we were on the look out for emus, kangaroos, and a creature we were particularly excited about…. the adorable, fluffy, wombat. We didn’t realise, but just like a Jurassic Park movie, we were about to see an animal go rogue….
Tidal River campground was our home for three nights. To be honest, we could have spent three whole days in the campsite, there was so much to see. Crimson rosellas hopped around, and yellow-tailed black cockatoos gnawed on the banksia trees above our tent. As the sun went down, wombat hour commenced!
Crimson Rosella
One evening, we were watching a large wombat ambling around. He walked though our neighbours site, sniffed at their esky….hmm too hard to get in there. Then over to their tent, and next thing we know he was chomping a hole in the tent with his teeth, ripping it open with his claws, then disappearing inside! Our neighbours were out, so I went into the tent and tried to steer the wombat to the exit. He was strong and I couldn’t budge him. He ignored my efforts and continued sniffing around the tent for food. Scott had to lift the wombat out, and although the wombat didn’t protest, his sheer weight and stubbornness made it tricky. After this, the wombat strolled off casually as if nothing had happened, but left me extra vigilant about locking away all food in the car!
Wombat
The beach at the campsite was beautiful. It gave me the perfect setting to practice with my new toy… a bodyboard! I haven’t bodyboarded since I was about 10 years old on family holidays in the UK, but this year as we explore the Australian coast, I’ve decided to re-live my youth. Its apparently very entertaining for Scott, as I flounder around looking exactly like a British tourist who is new to the surf. But it’s an exhilarating way to start the day!
Sunset at Norman Beach
We did leave the campsite to do a few hikes, one of them was entitled “Wildlife Walk” and lived up to its name. We saw mobs of kangaroos, a blue-tongued lizard and a variety of birds. Towards the end of the track, I said to Scott “we haven’t seen any emus yet”, and as if they were listening to me, two emus shot out from the bush right in front of us and made us jump. We followed them for a while as they picked and ate fruit from the bushes.
Scott was hopeful for clear skies to do some astro-photography, and on our final night, the universe delivered. The Milky Way was to be in a good position at 3am that night. The problem with astro-photography is that you have to be awake to do it. But Scott committed, set the alarm, and went out at 3am alongside the possums and wombats to get his star shot.
Tidal River at 3.30am
We realised that three days were not enough to explore the Prom properly, but we got a great taster. We reluctantly packed down our tent, which was clearly not as appealing to the wombat as our neighbours one, and headed out through the beautiful scenery. Time to bring on the next adventure…..Tassie here we come!
Photos:
Wombat by me
Others by Scott
On Olympus AU & NZ OMD EM1 MK2 and OMD 1X