Sunday, December 24, 2017

Wilson’s Prom and Baw Baw NP

By Jen.

Since we were already pretty close to Wilson’s Promontory National Park, we figured we would spend another day there. We only spent one day last time, so we gave it another try. We tried to do the walk to Squeaky Beach (a several km trek), but ended up there after only about 250 m. Oh well, at least we got to hear the sand squeak underneath our shoes.

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That didn’t take any time at all, so we were able to check out the next walk: Lilly Pilly Circuit. This is a path through the forest leading to a gully where a micro-climate of rainforest exists. They have a unique crayfish there called the Lilly Pilly Burrowing Crayfish. This tiny crustacean builds an underground network of tunnels. Apparently they have been seen climbing trees as well!

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Crayfish burrow and chimney.

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On our way back, we saw a long snake.

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This is what some eucalyptus gum looks like.

Walk concluded, we decided to head north out of the park.

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Because Australia.

Next and last stop before we had to head back and prep the van was Baw Baw National Park. For day one, we visited Mushroom Rocks, which is part of the Australian Alps Great Walk.

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They didn’t really look like mushrooms to me, but they were fun to walk around.

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A colorful moth!

The next day we decided to head up Mt St Gwinear Track.

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Spotted grasshoppers, possibly in the process of mating.

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They beautiful colors and striations of snow gums.

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The single view out over the mountains and valleys.

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We made a stop at the dam before we went back into Melbourne to prepare.

FUN FACT 1: In Australia, instead of mailboxes, they have letterboxes. They don’t pick up mail to be sent from these boxes, so there is no “flag.” Additionally, they don’t have a standard for these letterboxes. They can be any size and any distance from the road. The letterboxes are often very creative. We have seen everything from appliances (washers, driers, microwaves, etc.) to buckets to artistic sculptures of cows or people.

FUN FACT 2: Even before we arrived in Australia, we had heard of their “road trains.” Although spoken of with extreme caution, I was excited to see one. A movie that we watched implied that they were these extremely long semi with multiple trailers in tow. I wanted to see one in action! But, from the time we arrived in AUS, Jonathan and I were in argument about what defined a road train. I thought that being a train meant it needed to have at least 2, preferably 3 trailers to qualify (otherwise it is just a simple semi or tandem trailer). But Jonathan thought that it was just what they called their semi trucks/trailers. Well, sadly, he was correct. A road train consists of any length/combo of semi truck and trailer. And, their road trains are limited to a maximum length. So, the truck part looks a bit different than those in the US. They are taller (more often a cab-over) and not as long, so that they can fit more trailers behind them.

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