I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise just outside Wilson’s Promontory.
I then headed into the park.
Initially I was a little disappointed, there wasn’t much scenery to speak of, just the usual scrubby bush hemming in the road, the same as vast tracts of non-National Park land. I did however catch sight of some emus.
The deeper south I got into the park, the better it got. Early views were still only OK…
Then at around the half way point, everything clicked into place:
The main township inside the park is Tidal River, where there’s a monument to the original WW2 Commandos, as this was the first training location where the battalions were raised.
Wilson’s Promontory includes the southernmost point in Australia, however it’s a 30+ kilometre overnight hike to get to, so considering my limited timeframe, I decided to climb Mt Oberon and try and get a view of it instead. The hiking path wound its way up the hill through vegetation almost reminiscent of rainforest.
This little guy kept me company for at least 500m of the track – he would fly ahead a leg as I approached, then wait for me.
Although there had been patchy clouds as I set off, by the time I reached the summit the clouds had closed in completely, leaving me with absolutely zero view. I took the survey point as proof of the climb instead. Stupid Victorian weather.
After that I left the park and set off towards Melbourne, back through the Gippsland Plains.
The closer I got, the closer to the coast we came, until the road was running parallel to the beach.
As I was making good time, I decided to take a little detour.
First stop was the GP circuit, with a quick wander through the museum, then out to the trackside to see the bikes going around – just a normal track day, I think.
Next up was Pyramid Rock.
I had planned to see the Penguin Boardwalk as well but sadly ran out of time.
Back across to the mainland, looking back at the bridge.
Then it was a long run through featureless plains and farmland, through to the outskirts of Melbourne and down the Mornington Peninsula to Sorrento.
Tomorrow will be onto the ferry across Port Phillip Bay, then onto the Great Ocean Road. Sure to be plenty of photos!
