(UPDATED) Tour of South East Victoria (Dec 8th - 19th)

In the first half of December we went on a tour of Eastern Victoria with Sarah and James in their car and took 3 bicycles (James not interested in cycling). We had booked our first stop in a self catering holiday cottage in Mallacoota at the far Eastern corner of Victoria. The location was wonderful, even though in a residential street. It was on the side of a hill overlooking a large sea inlet and surrounded by forest. The owner had several properties and encouraged lots of birds to visit them by providing large bird feeding troughs, so we were treated to a very close up view of Rainbow Lorikeets, King Parrots, Galahs, Superb Fairy Wrens and a few other visitors like bush rats and brush tailed possum. Pelicans regularly flew overhead and nearby we were also able to see Lyrebirds and hear them mimicking all the other birds. We could hear and see many other birds, some familiar and some we could not identify.

King Parrot - a less seen visitor to our holiday cottage

Rainbow Lorikeet - the most commonly seen at the bird feeder (and elsehwere in Australian residential areas). Quite agressive in hogging the bird seed. Very high pitched and noisy. Usually paired and in groups of 6 or more.

Galahs waiting their turn at the food, Lorikeets permitting! These are entertaining birds. They rush about in large groups, flying rather chaotically and squawking and jabbering to each other. Sometimes 6 or more at the feeder would eat communally, with a clear ring leader, who appeared to verbally orchestrate the eating. None could start until he (she?) said so and there was always lots of chat at the trough. They also happily waddled about, rather pidgeon like and pidgeon shaped, on the ground eating the dropped seeds.

Native Bush Rat - more like a mouse, but not a pest in houses - happy to hoover up all the seeds the birds dropped. Meant to be nocturnal, but these ones seem to have forgotten.

Superb Fairy Wren (male) - the blue markings were even more striking in real life, almost like Kingfisher blue. Not at all shy like British wrens and quite commonly seen with their less colourful mates all over suburban areas in this region.

From Mallacoota we were able to walk into the Croajingalong national park.....

.....and down to the sea. Very few people around (this is Liz, Sarah and James exploring the beach).

On the same walk we came across Goannas or Lace Monitor Lizards. They are 2 or 3 feet long with some nice markings which camouflage them nicely when they stop moving. This fellow was intent on digging for ants (or something) at the side of the footpath. Barely bothered by our presence at all, so we could photograph it as close as we liked.

THE SNAKE:  On this same walk we had our first encountter with a snake. A Red Bellied Black Snake was sunning by the path. These are poisonous but not aggressive unless threatened. James met it first and it quickly slithered away, but to the surprise of Liz and Sarah behind us it moved towards them and underneath the walkway they were standing on. It clearly was not just running(?) away and had a very specifcic destination in mind! Liz and Sarah were very calm about it.

This was one of a big group of grazing kagaroos we came across. One of his group had a strange fit of macho aggression with a bush while we were watching. It reared up and then forced its whole front into the bush and shook it and rubbed against it for about half a minute, even rearing right up onto its tail. Presumably some kind of scenting activity, but very aggressive. The one in this picture was glancing at it and then at us with what looked like embarrassed apology for his colleague's bahaviour (excuse anthropomorphism).

 From Mallacoota we went on a river trip inland where, amongst other things, we could see these sea eagles and watch them catch fish thrown from the boat (quite sensitively done, just one small fish per bird, so they dont become dependant). Quite amazing to see them grab the fish from the water as they flew past at full speed.

After Mallacoota we moved West half way back towards Melbourne to stay at Cape Conran in a forest cabin run by the forest park authorities. These cabins were scattered through part of the forest a one minute walk from a beach which is at the Eastern end of the '90 mile beach'.....

......this is one tiny part of it. There were other people staying in cabins and tents but most of the time the beach looked like this. At night you could stand there and see nothing but stars - incredibly bright and numerous. The constellations were of course either unfamilar or hard to recognise because they are upside down.

Kookaburras were living all around the cabin and often came to have a look at us. I suppose some people had been feeding them, but they are not meant to. Lovely to hear their cackling 'laughter' and see them so close.

these wallabies occasionally passed by the cabin, but much more shy than the birds.

We had a number of walks and cycle rides around the area. These Water Dragons could be seen in a few places, sunning themselves on rocks around small streams.

Another local resident.

Some of the very Australian road signs (Lyre bird)

(Wombat)

After leaving Cape Conran James and Sarah went back to Castlemaine by train and generously left us to continue our travels in their car for a few more days. We went to Paynesville further towards Melbourne, a more touristy but pretty boating and fishing area with some nice waterside places to cycle.

We planned a return trip through the Australian alps. Nothing like the European alps, but still high enough to ski in Winter.

Much of the higher slopes of the mountains were covered in bare white trees, so that the overall landscape looked very bleak and wintry. This was due to forest fires that had passed through the area in the previous summer. The gum trees had survived as they usually do and were now regenerating from the bottom.

In the high plateau of the Alps near Bright we had a very good cycle ride, 30km each way, on a 'rail trail' which meant it was nice and flat, also with tarmac so we could look out at the mountains and fields on either side without fear of hitting a pothole. Our accommodation was near the start of the track and we were told about a bridge near there where we might see a Platypus. We strolled along there not really expecting to see one and were treated to a view of one that lingered on the surface of the river just below the bridge. It seemed to have come up just for our benefit, since they normally just take a breath and dive down again. Very exciting.

We finished the tour by calling in at a winery and a cheesery(?) of which there are many in the area between the Alps and Castlemaine. All in all a pretty good exploration of Victoria! Then were back to Castlemaine for Christmas - hmm - that seems a long time ago now.