Foster

We got as far as Foster near Wilson’s Promontory thinking we would spend couple of days in the Prom. Unfortunately, a lightning strike set fire to a remote part so the CFS has closed the park until the fire goes out. See Photo. It is not threatening any homes so it is low on their priority list at the minute.
Further east, they have closed the road due to the threat of the fires, so we will not be going that way for a while. It could be that we will have to turn back and have a long look at the Great Ocean Road.
The ABC radio is giving regular updates, and so is Channel 10. It’s the only TV station still operating in this area since the Channel 7 transmitter went on Saturday night.
There are lots of places to see around here. The coast is dotted with little communities, whose main industry seems to be fishing, farming or mending roads, and there are always spectacular views of the coastline.

Venus Bay

We have had several calls and emails about the fires in Victoria. We are not in the danger zone, although there is a serious fire risk with the dry conditions all over the state. The nearest fires are about 80km away and we have been keeping an ear open to the CFS radio reports to ensure we stay away from the fires.
Today we went down the coast to Venus Bay and the Cape Liptrop Coastal Park. Every other house in Venus Bay is for sale, so if you are thinking of buying, now would be a good time.
We called in at just about every bay and beach on the way. A beautiful area well worth the time spent here. Photo shows the historic lighthouse, still operating, at Cape Liptrop.Tomorrow we head for Wilson’s Promontory

Phillip Island

A very hot day on Phillip Island. We did the tourist thing, looking at the beaches, rookeries and rock formations around the Island, but when the north wind came in and the temperature went up like a space shuttle we ran back to the caravan and turned the air conditioner on. We heard on the news that Victoria had 67 fire incidents, but fortunately for us, none of them were near Phillip Island.
We will have to keep an eye on where the fires are and make sure we stay away from them.
Kathy saved an echidna. We saw the echidna start to cross the road in front of us, so we stopped and Kathy rushed out to herd him off the road. A car came over the rise, saw Kathy waving franticly and stopped about a metre from the echidna, who scuttled off to the side of the road and disappeared in the undergrowth.

San Remo

What a journey we had today. We left Warrnambool and went to Queenscliff and got on the ferry to Sorrento. (The one in Vic, not San Francisco). A pleasant cruise across the mouth of Port Phillip Bay, see pic of the approach to Sorrento. Then we headed for Phillip Island, following the directions of the Tom Tom navigator. It sent us down dirt tracks, single track roads, up hills and down dales including having to cross a three lane highway with heavy traffic travelling at 100+ Kph round a blind corner. Brown trouser time!
Anyway, we got to San Remo, at the start of the causeway to Phillip Island, found a nice caravan park on the beach and have set up to suffer the next couple of days of heat. The locals say it should not get above 30 degrees, but the Melbourne forecast is for 44, the hottest February day ever.

Warrnambool

We had a great drive to Warrnambool. We stopped at the Wannon Falls which would have been spectacular, if there was any water flowing, but there were just two stagnant pools, one at the top and one at the bottom of the falls. There does not seem to be a petrol station in Hamilton, apart from a BP on a roundabout that I could not get into with the van on, so we drove further on to some little village that had a credit card operated pump. It did not tell us that it would charge $4.51 as a usage fee.

We got to Warrnambool, set up the van and went touring. Picture shows the Fletcher Jones Gardens. Kathy saw the two floors of the Mill Markets and the Fletcher Jones Shop, so that's where we are going today.

Kaniva

We had an early start on Tuesday, about 1:30pm so we got out of SA on the first day. The Kaniva park is part of the community swimming pool area, which means it is a community owned asset. Drive in, find a spot and the lady calls round later in the evening to collect the money. They had a couple of devices operating that we have not seen for a long time. Sprinklers chucking water about! Beautiful green grass all over the place.
Happy Birthday Maisie. (Kathy's mum)

Home Too Long

We are planning the next trip, starting early in February, to see South East Victoria.
In our usual way, we have a general idea about where we are going, but no fixed plans, if we like where we are we stay a bit longer and when we are ready we move on. Life is tough, but someone has to do it.