Avalon Airshow it was loud!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Long Weekend Camping at Mitchell River National park

We returned to Mitchell River as Michelle had said it looked quite nice from the photos she had seen from our Christmas Trip here, and it was going to be a hot weekend, so a nice cool river was the perfect place to be.

Our trip down proved eventful though when I looked in the rear mirror only a few kilometres from the campsite to discover that the bikes were missing off the back of the car! The tube holding the bike rack had snapped cleanly off. We turned around and headed back to the end of the road, but there was no site of them. I figured the next most likely place they had fallen off would have been some 50 kilometres back, so the chances of them still being there would have been very slim, so we continued down to Angusvale.

Our previous campsite was taken, and there were no river spots left at Angusvale so we headed downstream and set up camp near the river ford after discounting a few other spots. It was a lovely spot, and a good place for the kids to swim with the river quite shallow and cool as it flowed over the cobblestones.

We were relaxing around our campsite when a guy drove across the river. This was fine, but then he decided to go driving up the river. he had forgotten to lock his hubs and had become stuck. He had to jump out of the car in a metre of water and lock his hubs before he was able to drive out. of course he, and his car was soaking wet. I was surprised he didn't stuff his engine. This was our first clue of the dreadful night that awaited us.

He was joined a short time later by some of his mates, who set up camp across the river. Everything was fine till evening set in and the alcohol they must have been consuming in vast quantities took over.

They drove across the river a number of times, and as it got later they drove up and down the river banks and throughthe campground, beeping their horns and being a general nuisance to everybody.

They knocked over a few trees by the side of the track, and whilst hoonign around at the top of the hill, they must have hit a tree and damaged one of the cars. This resulted in an all out brawl back at their campsite only quieting down when one of them threatened to get his rifle out.

In the morning the 4WD club that had been camping down at Rock Creek came through and sorted them out, taking their rego plates and reporting them to the Police and Parks Vic.

As Rock Creek was now vacant, and we had no idea if could expect the same again tonight, we went without breakfast and moved our campsite. Thankfully the trouble makers moved on and we were able to enjoy the rest of our weekend.

We spotted some huge carp swimming in the river, and wee spent the rest of the hot afternoon relaxing in the water. We had a little bit of excitement after lunch when Liam came splashing towards us with a look of pure horror on his face as a snake went skimming across the water behind him!

As the afternoon passed on, we spotted some mountain goats high on the cliffs. It was amazing watching them make their way across the cliff face with absolutely no fear of heights. Makes me shudder just to think of it.

Apart from the snake we spotted yesterday, Michelle also saw a huge goanna make it's way off into the bushes, and the kids also found a baby dragon. As we were packing up, we also found a huge Huntsman Spider which we made sure didn't hitch a ride back with us.

A day Hike on French Island

It was time for an easy walk after some of the more recent walks that I had arranged. Travelling to French Island also seemed to offer a bit of excitement, as it required a ferry ride to get there.
An early start was in order due to the ferry leaving at 8:30, so James and I bundled into the car and left home about 6:30. My day had begun a lot earlier though, as I had incorrectly set my alarm, and had woken up at about 4:00!
We stopped in at Frankston looking for a Baker's Delight to pick up some scones, but I couldn't find one anywhere. I took the chance of finding a store in hastings, which thankfully paid off. I did have to wait another 20 minutes for the scones to finish cooking though
We arrived at Stony Point with 30 minutes to spare, and awaited the rest of our walking party to arrive. Patty 7 David cut it really fine, arriving right on the nose as the ferry was about to leave



Less than half an hour later and we were on French Island. We followed the Day Walks Victoria walk notes, and headed north along the beach, but our progress was thwarted by the high tide and Tankerton Creek. A proper reading of the walk notes says to do the walk in reverse at high tide...


A short backtrack, and we continued along Coast Road. The weather wasn't looking good, but spirits remained high despite a light drizzle


We continued on to Chilcott Rocks, which were not much more than a low rocky outcrop on a slight point. There were a number of sea birds around, as well as some swans which seemed a little unusual. Don't they normally hang around lakes and not the beach?

 

The walk entered the National Park area, and we were hopeful of spotting some wildlife, but it was not to be today. We couldn't even hear any Pobblebonks at Pobblebonk Swamp

 

We climbed to the Pinnacle, which is a low sand dune offering views over the island. The weather had cleared, but the mosquitos were swarming. I'd never seen so many in all my life! The picnic shelter had fallen into disrepair and was becoming lost in the bracken.
The path wound back on itself then joined up with a firebreak whcih we followed back to Clump Road.


James was getting quite tired at this point, and had put in a fantastic effort given this was his longest walk to date. We'd covered about 10km before his feet were starting to hurt him, which was pretty good considering he was wearing new shoes.

 

We stopped in to the store for icecreams, but eventually ended up abandoning our brought lunches and hoeing into som pretty good organic burgers. A good hour plus later and we continued past some old houses rusting away, and kept a watchful eye out for koalas at the footy ovals, again without any luck.


We had plenty of time to kill before the ferry was due back, so we turned left aftger the ovals to the beach, and walked across the mud flats, spotting a few various birds along the way.

 
 

David was quite adept at his mud skating!


We took the chance on whether we could make it along the the beach back to the ferry, which was good as it turned out to be an interstieng walk, making our way through the swamps and marches.

 

Back on the mainland we watched the pelicans get a feed of fish from a successful catch before heading on home