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Australia (Victoria): Wilsons Promontory National Park

3 Mar 2021 | Australia EN blog, AustraliaEN | 1 comment

Wilsons Promontory

Wilsons Promontory is the southernmost area in Australia (excluding Tasmania). The entire peninsula is a national park. Most of it is closed to car traffic. The main tourist centre is in the Tidal River and from here you can go trekking. You have several routes to choose from. From one-day to several-day ones, with the possibility of overnight camping.

How to get there?

The Wilsons Prom is located approximately 200 km south of Melbourne. So the fastest way is to rent a car and go there by car. But be careful! 200 km in Europe is about 2.5 hours of driving. Here it’s about 4 hours. Due to the speed limits, I recommend you to follow. The fines are very high !!!

Where to sleep?

The cheapest and best option is camping in Tidal River, but you need to book it in advance. Especially when you want to go for the weekend or during the holidays. Private accommodation is another option. However, all of them are located outside the Park, i.e. min. 30km from Tidal River. We, however, stayed in such a place. Right at the entrance to the park is the Prom View Farm. We had the whole cabin to ourselves. Two bedrooms, living room, kitchen and barbecue on the porch. The price per night is $ 50 / person. (with 5 people). We paid $ 250 for the whole house.

What to see if you have only 2 days:

Mt Oberon – to get to the top you can either go on foot from the Tidal River or take a bus that will take you halfway to the top. You have about 45 minutes to walk from the bus parking lot to the top. The view from the top is amazing. It’s definitely worth a sweat.
Squeaky Beach – squeaky, because it squeaks when you walk on it, but basically there is nothing to get excited about because almost every beach in Europe has this: D However, it cannot be denied its charm. Interestingly, on the beach, you will find rock formations somewhat resembling those in the Maldives. So if you want to cheat your friends a little (those who know how the Maldives looks like, of course), this is a good place for a selfie: D
Lilly Pilly Gully Walk – is a loop that leads through the evergreen forest. The route is nice because it keeps going flat, and after some time you will enter wooden footbridges stretched over the streams. If you will be quiet, maybe you will be able to see some animals, but if not….
Prom Wildlife Walk – will ensure the abundance of animals. There are so many animals here that you can trip over them. They may not live here in the wild, because they are part of the research program, but despite everything, they are not in cages but running around us. Kangaroos, emus, wallabies, wombats and all kinds of birds.

Great Ocean Road

29 Jan 2019 | AustraliaEN

Great Ocean Road is one of the 10 most beautiful scenic routes in the world. Supposedly. Is it actually? It’s a matter of taste. However, it is clear that the charm can not be denied.

GOR is more or less 243 km long and stretches from Torquay to Warrnambool, Victoria.

I do not know if you are aware of that, but the construction of this scenic route is associated with quite a difficult moment in history. Great Ocean Road is the world’s largest monument to the victims of war. The road was built after the First World War by soldiers who returned from the war. In tribute to their fallen colleagues. Construction took 16 years.

From Melbourne is about 100 km away, so you can easily make a getaway for the weekend, but GOR is not only 12 Apostles, so good if you have a bit more time. We only had two days so I will describe what we were able to see at the time.

Torquey (Bells Beach)

Bells Beach is one of the few surf beaches on GOR. It is huge, with light and soft sand.

Great Ocean Road Chocolatiere

We came to this place by accident. We just saw a sign by the road and decided to turn. And good, because it was one of the best points of the program : D, which was totally spontaneous. Stupidly admit, but it was the worst planned trips. In fact, it was not planned at all. We were looking for accommodation while on the way, and the only attractions we knew was 12 Apostles and the rain forest mentioned by Joachim at the lecture.

Returning to the above topic. This is an unusual place. Chocolate factory with free (!!!) tasting. Personally, I had a headache from the amount of chocolate. Everything was chocolate. Chocolate wombats, kangaroos, Easter eggs. Chocolate for kilograms and meters. You could also try chocolates with local spices. And it was not cool because they were extremely hideous. ?

If you are nearby, you must visit.

Anglesea

Another surfers’ beach. The water was not too warm, but what to expect from the ocean. In spite of everything, I did the first and only swimming in the ocean in the state of Victoria. Interestingly, there was a weekend and there were no crowds.

Split Point

The place is interesting because of the lighthouse and the view of the rocky coast. I did not climb the lighthouse because it cost $10, and the view from below was equally thrilling. Nearby is also a nice cafe, resembling a fisherman’s hut.

The official start of the route

Suddenly, without a warning, the gate appeared, gate in a vary Flintstone style. It looks a bit funny, but I think it suits this place. It perhaps doesn’t go well with a monument of veterans working right next to it, but … it’s Australia. A huge glass house sat on the hill like a bird on a bush.

Great Otway National Park

My second favorite place on the route. Delightful rain forest. I felt like in the jungle. Like in the Kipling’s novels. There was wilderness and was beautiful there. And especially when the asphalt ended, it really felt wild. Like a real expedition, not a trip for retired Germans (no offense :D). It was even more interesting when we lost the trail looking for a waterfall and we waded through the wilderness completely off the path. We had such an adventure in the forest of Californian Redwoods, with sequoias as big as skyscrapers. Mostly because we asked tourist for direction, we ended up in the middle of nowhere 😀

What is worth seeing here are waterfalls. I got to Houptoun Falls, but there are a few more. An interesting place is Lake Elizabeth. Trekking is not exhaustive. It goes about 40 minutes through a thick forest to find a mysterious lake from King Kong. And if you’re lucky then you can meet the platypus.

12 Apostles

We arrived at 12 Apostles at sunset. The view was stunning and I couldn’t believe I’m there. In any case, it is worth to go there at this time. The weather was also good, because unfortunately it is usually cloudy. When the sun was setting, I was sitting on a rock far out into the ocean, outside the guardrails for tourists, but who would care? I sat and watched the setting sun, knowing that it’s gonna appears on the other hemisphere and that in my distant home in my beloved Poznań, a new day is about to begin. It’s a bit surreal feeling. To be so far away. I hear recently that “The world has become so small”. It did not become small. It has only become easily accessible, but it is still huge, and I am still separated from the house by 16,000 km. At best, it’s a day on the plane.

Returning to the Apostles. Is there 12 of them? No. A few have already were undergone erosion. Why 12 Apostles? Such a marketing procedure. There was a sow and pigs, but who would want to photograph with Sow? 😀

Port Cambell

Here we slept in a great hostel. I can really recommend it. Room for 4 people. Bathrooms in the hall, a large kitchen, the possibility of ordering pizza and beer, and pancakes in the morning. Very clean and quiet. And all this for 40 $ / person, and also close to the beach and walking routes in the bush.

London Bridge

On the way back we stopped in several places. One of them was a wild beach, hidden between the rocks with a huge rocky formation called London Bridge. Penguins and rats can also be found on this beach. I was lucky to see both of them. 🙂

Cape Otway

Do you want to see koalas in nature? It’s the best place. So I’ve heard. And I was not disappointed. I saw 3. It is not difficult to miss them because under a tree with a koala you will always see a group of people with cameras. Cape Otway is a peninsula with a lighthouse. However, to see the lighthouse you have to pay $ 40. For this price, you enter the whole complex with a mini zoo, souvenir shops, a playground and other crap, which is not needed for anything but to make money on tourists. That is why we also let the attractions off.

Melbourne

29 Jan 2019 | AustraliaEN

Melbourne is an amazing city. Full of nooks and crannies. However, at first glance, there are not many tourist attractions here. The most important ones include the CBD with skyscrapers, shops and restaurants; Botanical Garden, Federation Square, meeting place and main station of the city rail, Arcades and Lanes, the hidden streets in the city center.

Museums are unfortunately not very interesting. But we will find many art galleries in Melbourne that are worth visiting. For sure, worth a visit is the Queen Victoria Market with a huge variety of vegetables and fruits, but we may also find here a lot of souvenirs, such as hand-carved figurines or opal jewelry.

For sports fans: MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), one of ten the biggest stadium in the World, where footy, Australian football and cricket are held, and AAMI Park – a complex of stadiums and tennis courts in the very center of the city.

For lovers of sunbathing, beaches in St Kilda or Brighton with characteristic houses. Both quite ugly, and the water is a bit dirty, because we are still in the bay, so to the cleanliness we could have some objections.

CBD – Central Business District

A vibrant city center. Lots of pubs, people dressed so differently and bravely that I looked back and stare at them over and over again. It’s colorful and crowded. Musicians playing on the sidewalk. But also homeless. The whole mass. Sleeping next to glass office buildings.

Queen Vic Market

Something for shopping enthusiasts, but also good, cheap food fans. Fruits and vegetables I have never seen before and I do not even know how to eat them. Yelling hawkers, mixed smells, and the idyllic atmosphere of this place is so awesome I can spend 2 hours there, or even drive for more than an hour to come and just walk between stalls.

Ivanhoe

The district in which I was living, is about 25 minutes by train from CBD (which is relatively close). Ivenhoe is not particularly entertaining. It is rather like a small town. Single-family houses with large gardens, main street with a supermarket, post office and shops. The atmosphere is very family-friendly, everyone knows each other. After 4 months, I already knew people at the station. Ivanhoe is one of the “better”, more expensive districts, but due to the distance from the center you can find relatively cheap rooms here. However, most “WH visa” travelers prefer to live closer to the CBD or St Kildy (beach). Few people know that Cate Blanchett spent most of her childhood in Ivanhoe.

St Kilda

It’s a neighborhood where every backpacker would like to live. Close to the beach, a lot going on, parties, restaurants, shops. It is also somewhat dangerous, because Australia is struggling with the drug problem. Everyone here takes something or at least smokes. But, in general is awesome. 😀 I love it.

Arcades & Lanes

Here, it is really worth getting lost because you can find something unusual. The magic of these streets is amazing. Everywhere is full of young people, all smiling, satisfied with life, taking pictures of themselves with the graffiti. Hidden pubs and small shops with handicrafts or sweets are another reason why I visit Arcades & Lanes more and more often ?

Federation Square

Everyone meets here before going out to the city. “Under the clocks” – exactly. Suburban trains come from all over the city. And on the other side of the street: a huge place/plaza with art galleries, shops and cafes, next to the river, where you spend a pleasant time on warm days.

Fitzroy Gardens

A beautiful park almost in the city center (ok, not so in the center, but very close). Interestingly, there are possums in the park (such a combination of a cat and a squirrel), which are quite friendly and if we go there in the evening with an orange or banana and wait a moment, they will certainly come to us. But be careful! not all are so nice. In the other parks there are quite aggressive individuals.

Royal Botanic Gardens

Royal Botanic Gardens – with that name the gardens must impress. RBG are huge and you can walk around for hours (if it’s not too hot, otherwise you melt). 😀 Gardens are just behind the river in the CBD, so anytime you want you can rest and relax there.