A highlight of the trip on the Southern coast of Australia promised to be Wilsons Promontory National Park, or short „The Prom“.
In case you were wondering what promontory means, we were, here is the Britannica‘s definition: „a high area of land or rock that sticks out into the sea“.
Wilsons Promontory is located only 160 kilometers from Melbourne and on the other side of the Bass Strait from Tasmania.
Right before reaching our accomodation in Yannakie we stopped at a lookout underneath a large wind park to get a first idea for the area.
We had found a lovely place on Airbnb called „Tidal Dreaming Seaview Cottage“ in Yanakie, a short drive away from the park‘s entrance. The views from the cottage were gorgeous and the cottage spacious and lovingly decorated.
It was already past lunch time when we arrived so we prepared a snack before heading out to the park‘s visitor centre.
We were a bit confused when we reached the park. Normally when going to a National Park you reach a gate where you pay a park entrance fee and get information about the park itself. At the Prom you drive past a gate- in our case the booth was already closed- and then continue for about half an hour until you reach the visitor centre, no fee required, no information given so far.
As it was past 4 o‘clock when we finally reached the visitor centre it was also closed. But fortunately they offer maps and park information that you can pick up from a stall.
We took the maps and then walked down to Norman Beach just a few minutes from the centre.
After a stroll along Norman Beach where we watched a group of people trying to learn how to surf the waves we decided to make use of the remaining daylight and drive up Telegraph Saddle for a view of the mountain.
We were already approaching sunset when we made our way back out of the Wilson Promontory National Park. Plan was to watch the sun go down from the Big Drift right at the park‘s entrance.
When they tell you not to drive at dusk in Australia they sure know what they are talking about. We just closely avoided a crash with no less than two wallabies and one kangaroo.
We used up our luck driving but ran out when it came to sun downer spots: we were told that the most beautiful spot to see the sun set was at the „Big Drift“. Unfortunately the day we arrived Parks Victoria was conducting an aerial deer control operation in order to reduce the non- native deer population. So the Big Drift was closed for the public.
We decided to watch the sunset at the access road to our cottage. It was just as beautiful and at least we did not have to drive back in the dark because dark in Australia really means dark as there is no air pollution in the country side.
Just a friendly reminder before I close this post:
