17th Feb

We are currently in the 'High Country' between Melbourne and Canberra.This is a series of National parks making up the quite a mountainous region and Victoria's main ski locations.We have spent the last three days in Wilson's Promonotory National Park which is down by the coast, south of Melbourne.I haven't broken the days up like usual as the whole experience seems to have blended into one fantastic blur.The park is one of the most popular in australia and after a short amount of time it was clear why this is.It's a spit of land, probably three times the size of the Isle of Wight and the most southerly point on mainland Australia.It's the combination of stunning coastline, granite hills and the wildlife which make it so attractive.We arrived late afternoon after a two hour drive with shopping stop from Melbourne and found a spot in the huge campsite at Tidal River which is the only destination in the park to stay at (other than walk in bush camps).There are 480 spaces in the campsite as it gets tremendously busy during the Dec summer break.As this is the only accommodation in the park the beaches never get busy and we found ourselves amongst only about 50 people on the first afternoon playing in the surf and enjoying the sunshine.The beaches here, and many other places in Oz, need to be seen to be believed.The sand is just right, the water always the right temperature for a swim and you are never far from your base or car.The only downside is the sea very often contains some nasties such as rip currents to take you out to sea or jelly fish which are almost always impossible to identify for the novice.Connie got on the wrong end of a jelly while playing and got quite a few stings down her legs.It's a bit like copious nettle rash and she was soon back playing although a little more wary.

We went for a proper bush walk on Friday up to 'Vereker Lookout'.It was incredibly hot and the going quite steep in places but as usual the children didn't cease to amaze us.Isla especially does incredibly well on walks like this and keeps going with a lot of singing and story telling on the way.Rosie and Connie are excellent walkers and Meg, well Meg is in best walking mood when hoisted onto Daddy's shoulders and poking him in the ear with a stick.I needed to lose a few pounds anyway!We were rewarded at the top with awesome views and some lizards, skinks and a wallaby to add to our total of wildlife spotting.The afternoon was spent with a well deserved play by Tidal river which is probably the most perfect natural children's playground we have seen.The river drains into the beach by the campground, is shallow, sandy bottomed and warm.The children played for ages, running through the shallows at top speed before crashing into the deeper pools.Meg loved it especially as she is usually a bit more hesitant about playing in the sea where the waves are a little unnerving for her.

One evening we drove down to Whiskey beach to watch the sunset.The beach is one of the most easterly points in Australia where one can see a sunset over the sea and it didn't diasappoint.I don't think the children were quite as romanced by it as we were and paid more attention to the two hippies smoking dodgey cigarettes sitting just up the beach but the effect wasn't altogether lost.

Our last day in 'The Prom' was spent walking to a beach called 'Squeaky Beach' and then back at the river.Squeaky beach is so called due to the high quartz content of the sand which makes it squeak when you walk through it in bare feet.It has the additional quality of being brilliant for sand castles and we spent a happy hour making tunnels and castles which never collapsed.The beach was another picture postcard perfect sort and I dreamed of flying down the flat sands in my kite buggy - next time perhaps!

In the evening we went wombat spotting around the campground as these huge beasts have become quite tame and regulary raid people's tents for tucker.We did spot one and it allowe d us to gawp at it for a few minutes before rumbling off into the bush.My only photo being of its big hairy backside.The children were delighted with the spot and expressed a desire to continue the search for emus which are one of the few large Aussie animals we are yet to see.As the hour was late we had to reserve that for another day.Our final wildife spot came as we left the park and Michele and I saw a large snake cross the road in front of us.You hear all sorts of tales about snakes but actually people are hardly ever bitten and those that are end up with a nip because they have disturbed the creatures habitat.I turned the van round so the children could see it but unfortunatley it had slithered off into the undergrowth.I have done a lot of three point turns in the middle of nowhere to retrace our steps when wildlife spotting and I'm sure one end of our big bus will end up in a ditch before long.

So here we are several hundreed feet up a mountain parked up by the side of the road having just enjoyed another lovely meal.I don't know how Michele manages to cook so well with such a tiny kitchen and just a couple of pots and a wok!When we haven't got electrical hook up like tonight she can't even use the microwave.We are eating just as healthily as when we are at home.Having said that we did have an ice cream Sundae from Macdonalds as a reward for driving 350 km today so it's not all fat free!