The Johnsons' Journal

Recently, our friends Henry, Alicia, Tony and Emma (HATE) moved out to Melbourne from the States. We all squeezed into our 2 bed house for a few weeks before they found a place of their own only 5 minutes away.

Since they arrived, we’ve been spending a good amount of time with them making up for two years of being apart.

This past weekend was Labor Day in Victoria (not all of Australia, but that’s another story.) We made a 4 day weekend out of it, loaded up the van we hired with camping gear and people and headed down the coast to Wilson’s Promontory. Wilson’s Prom is a peninsula and is the southeastern most point in mainland Australia.

Upon entering the park we were greeted by a wombat crossing the road. We stopped to snap a photo since this was the first time we had seen one of these animals outside of a zoo, but unfortunately before we could get the camera out, he had meandered his way into a bush. We were disappointed at the time, but we saw several more over the weekend cruising through the campground munching on grass. They’re pretty cute little bear looking animals, but can still give you a fright if they come up to you and nudge your leg in the dark.

We camped a place called Tidal River which is right at the mouth of a river that flows into the ocean. The name comes from the fact that as the tide comes in, the river flows the opposite direction. You can actually see the line where the clear salt water meets up with the silty fresh water at this time.

My coworker mentioned something called Squeaky Beach when I told him we were going to Wilson’s Prom for the weekend. He didn’t say much, besides somehow it really squeaks. We’re not one to pass up such a natural wonder, so the second day down there we packed our water and lunch and headed out on the trail to this famed attraction.

 

 

 

Turns out Squeaky Beach does squeak! It must be just the right consistency or type of sand. We had a good time messing around out there over lunch.

The campground had an outdoor movie theater so on Saturday night we decided to curl up with some blankets a hot chocolate and some Tim-Tams and watch We Bought A Zoo. We had a good time and the movie was better than we expected which was a nice surprise.

The next day we went on a bit longer of a hike to the top of Mt. Bishop. The trail goes through fern covered rain forest and up the mountain to a granite outcrop lookout. Where you can see the valleys on one side and Tidal River and the beaches on the other.

 

 

On the drive out on Friday we noticed a few wineries. So we decided to visit a couple on the way back to the city on Monday. The first one we stopped at was quaint and picturesque… and they served food. We got a couple platters of nibblies a bottle of the Pinot Noir that we all decided was the best, and had ourselves a picnic on the tables overlooking the valley.