Wilsons Promontory National Park

After our short break back into the civilisation we were back on the road again on the way to Sydney. After recommendations from our friends (Marco & Evi - thx!!) and some of the locals, we decided to take a detour and pay Wilsons Promontory National Park ('The Prom') a visit.


The National Park is on the most southern point of Aussie mainland and very popular here! Its 130 km coastline is framed by granite headlands, mountains, forests and fern gullies. We started our trip to the National Park from Foster, which is about a 2h drive from Melbourne and 1h drive from the Prom.

Brekkie time: Cereals for Pasci and Toast for Mishell / Frühstück Zeit: Kellogs für Pasci und Toast für Mishell

The Prom is as well famous for all the wildlife going on. And that was as well why we decided to stay overnight because apparently the park gets flooded in the evening and nights with Wombats - and we did not manage to see the little creatures yet on our travels through Australia.

The following pictures we took on the way from the Tollhouse, where you pay the park entrance fee (as well in Down Under applies the rule: Nothing comes for free), to the centre of the park at Tidal River. Unfortunately for us, the weather was not as good and it was raining once in a while on the drive to the Prom.

Scenic pictures from the drive to the Prom / Landschaftsbilder auf dem Weg in den Nationalpark

The signboard is warning for Wombats / Das Schild warnt vor Wombats

Arriving at the Prom / Ankunft im Nationalpark

After setting up our Spaceship - by now we were quite an efficient team and the whole procedure to set up our Spaceship and make it ready for the overnight stay took us only a few minutes - we decided to explore more of the national park on one of the many hikes one can do here. The weather was still a bit unpredictable therefore we equipped ourselves with some fancy Aussie Ponchos!

We started off our walk along the Tidal River in great sunshine / Wir starteten unsere Wanderung entlang dem Tidal Fluss in wunderschönem Sonnenschein

But not much later.....the rain came....and we could test our Aussie Ponchos / Nur wenig später.....kam der Regen...und wir konnten unsere neuen Regen-Ponchos ausprobieren

Attempt to fly.... / Versuch zu fliegen

But only a little later, the sun was out again and we were both feeling hungry, so it was time for a lunch stop. These days, usually we would have sandwiches with some meat that we barbecued the night before or with some cold meat (i.e. ham).

After our lunch stop we marched on to our first 'sight' the Squeaky Beach, which according to the info provided earns his name due to the squeaky sand when you walk on there.

Mishell takes a hearty bite of the sandwich / Mishell nimmt einen herzhaften Biss von dem Sandwich

View of the Squeaky Beach / Aussicht auf den 'Squeaky Beach' ( = Quietschender Strand)

Some big waves going on / Es hatte hohe Wellen

And huge ants.... / Und riesige Ameisen

Scenic view of the Tidal river / Bilderbuch-Aussicht auf den Tidal Fluss

After hiking for about 5 hours, we went back to our Spaceship where we were chilling in the late-afternoon sun with a nice glass of wine and a book to read. Then it was dinner time and Spaceship Mum Mishell went to do the cooking with Spaceship Dad Pasci as her first subordinate.

This was our first time staying at an unpowered site, i.e no power source. We were initially nervous how that would turn out but the Spaceship is well equipped for this sort of adventure! :) We had a nice little spot just right behind the beach, so we could fall asleep listening to the waves. One thing we didn't quite like about the wildlife at the Prom, though, was the amount of milipedes (worm) that was around...everywhere....on the beach...on the bathroom walls...all around the camping site...ewww...

Our extended Spaceship / Unser erweitertes Spaceship

A blink in our bedroom / Ein Blick in unser Schlafzimmer

Mishell preparing dinner in the Spaceship kitchen / Mishell am Kochen in der Spaceship Küche

Tataaaaa...and we had for dinner: Stir-fry, corn and lamb-chops / Tataaaaa...und es gab zum Abendessen: Gemüse, Mais und Lamm-Koteletts

After dinner, it was sunset and we went to hunt for some of the diverse wildlife that the Prom has to offer. One of the things we found were the resident rabbit which had his house just round the corner of our Spaceship.

And then, finally we saw the first Wombat! HOW EXCITING! Wombats look really cuddly and friendly but they can get nasty as well (apparently). If you overnight in a tent and do not store all your food in the car, then you might get a friendly visitor (Wombat) coming through the wall of your tent. We were told that they particullarly like Cereals and Chips!

Later, when Mishell went to brush her teeth, and as usual - look up at the ceiling to look out for spiders, she was yet again met with a pair of Possum eyes staring back at her just above where she was standing (!!). This Possum has apparently chosen the ladies bathroom as her bedroom and could not really be bothered by the people coming and going out of there and just curled up to sleep. She was apparently pregnant too -with a baby Possum in its pouch. Cute.

Our resident rabbit / Unser Nachbar - der Hase

Pacific Seagull....a massive bird! / Pazifische Seemöwe....ein grosser Vogel!

Cute and cuddly fellows - the Wombats / Niedliche und kuschlige Genossen - die Wombats

'Catch me if you can'....lucky him that we had our dinner already / 'Fang mich wenn Du kannst'....zum Glück für Ihn hatten wir bereits gegessen

The next day, before moving on with our drive to Sydney, we did another short hike to an outlook to see more of the Prom from the bird perspective. It was a bit of a hilly climb up there which was not very interesting apart from one viewing of a Kangaroo.

We were told that there are actually quite a few kinds of snakes living in the Prom and that there are frequent viewings and bites (dry-bites though; i.e. no poison injected) but unfortunately we did not see any! Once you make it to the outlook you are rewarded with an amazing view in all directions on the Prom. Brilliant!!!

The 'Penis plant' - a very phallic piece of green/ die 'Penis Pflanze' - ein sehr phallisches Stück grün

New species of Koala Bear: 'Leongis Mishellensis' / Neue Spezie von Kuala Bären: 'Leongis Mishellensis'

Amazing view from the outlook over the Prom / Wunderschöne Aussicht über den Nationalpark

WOOOOOAHHHHHH......

Feeding the Kuala / Den Kuala füttern

More wildlife: a lizard.....unfortunately we did not see any snakes / Mehr Tiere: eine Eidechse....leider haben wir keine Schlangen gesehen

We did it! It's a bit of an upwards climb.....but rewarding when you make it up there! / Geschafft! Man muss ein bisschen hochklettern....aber sehr belohnend wenn man es da rauf schafft!

Then it was time to move on and leave this amazing piece of nature and wildlife! One could easily spend more time hiking around here. But Sydney was calling us!

A fellow Spaceship on the way up north... / Ein anderes Spaceship auf dem Weg in den Norden

Next stop: Lakes Entrance on the Gippsland Coast