| We took advantage of our rental wheels to take the hour drive to Baw Baw National Park. There is a more direct route that would have cut off many miles - fortunately we consulted with Clive who informed us that the Cowwarr road is unpaved and hasn't been regraded since the equipment brought in to fight the last big fire rutted the road considerably - without high-clearance 4-wheel drive we wouldn't have made it, and even if we did it would have taken more time to get there. Before reaching the Park we turned off a narrow, winding road to the beautiful little town of Wahalla. This prompted several "mind your left" comments from Jo as driving a mountain road on the wrong side made me a bit nervous. Once in the town we spied our first kookoobura sitting in a tree (not a gum tree like the song though). Unfortunately we didn't have more time to spend in the town as we wanted to hike in the Park. The drive to the trailhead for Mushroom Rocks was pretty much straight up a good gravel road that was covered in debris from eucalypts. The hike took us through a primordial fern forest with towering fern trees which look like sago palms with fern fronds as leaves. Fully expected King Kong to come tromping through in a battle with a dinosaur. As we ascending the 1.5 km path we passed through distinct mixed eucalypts, silver wattle and snow gum areas until we arrived in a boulder field with wonderful camping areas for a short backpack before continuing the trail through the park. We bemoaned the lack of equipment to capture aroma as the scent of eucalyptus was whelming. As we descended the trail we saw two lyre birds which are known for being quite shy. One was digging in the dirt and another, perhaps its mate, |
flew into a tree above. Further down the trail we were serenaded by a stunningly varied 20 second song by an unknown bird (lyre bird?) that almost brought us to tears. Driving back I felt much more confident with this left lane nonsense (though I was quite relieved when the semi that was behind me turned off at the quarry).
We stopped at the Narkoojee Winery for tasting and a lovely conversation. We purchased two bottles and Jo, the vintner's wife, gave us a bottle to share with our hosts at Cowwarr Art Space. The only downside is that tasting those wonderful wines spoiled us for the lesser wines we had purchased earlier in Sale.
We stopped at the Narkoojee Winery for tasting and a lovely conversation. We purchased two bottles and Jo, the vintner's wife, gave us a bottle to share with our hosts at Cowwarr Art Space. The only downside is that tasting those wonderful wines spoiled us for the lesser wines we had purchased earlier in Sale.