I decided to get up and try to watch the sunrise because I definitely didn't want to sleep 9 or 10 hours and be a grumper all day. I was a bit stiff and my muscles felt a little tight but other than that I was feeling pretty good. When I got out to our little beach I realized the sun would come up just out of my view but it still looked pretty cool with all of the colors in the sky. Will came out and took a few pictures as well and also contemplated a swim (insane) but ultimately decided to head back to his bag. Since no one else was moving by 7 I took a hike back to the bigger Waterloo bay beach in hope of catching a glimpse of a Wallaby, but no such luck. I saw some little birds and tons of fairy wrens but I still didn't get a good picture - little rascals! When I came back to camp at 8 no one was moving so I ventured down to the creek to look for crayfish but didn't find any. I did see an eel who had come up with the tide foraging for food which was pretty neat. Just for clarification the water at the campsites is piped in from upstream so we don't have to drink the brackish stuff. Eventually other people started stirring and I was able to make breakfast and start packing up for our next trek. The ravens got into everyone's stuff during breakfast and stole my granola bars and stabbed our cheese block, bold buggers. We needed to make a 14 km hike to the next camp at Sealer's Cove. We didn't get a move on till after 10:30 though - slow people. The day brought a lot of ups and downs as we needed to go over two smallish mountains. We hiked out of the fire damage area so the vegetation changed drastically, I spent every second scanning for any species of herps but saw nothing but a few skinks :o( We took breaks for photo ops, snacks and water. We had a minor detour at the Kersop Peak which was fantastic and really showed how beautiful the area was. We reached Refuge Cove at about 2:15ish and took a nice long lunch break on the sand. Will spotted some whales - which was absolutely the most exciting thing ever - and we spent so long watching them that we almost got trapped by the tide! (at high tide some of the beach trail sort of goes underwater -there are ways around but it's a pain) We made a run for it and made it down the beach with only slightly wet feet. With another 7 km to go before dark we headed out and up - the whales stuck around so I was able to get some pretty good pics from up on the mountain side down into the bay. The rest of the hike was similar to the first half - a lot of up and downs before we reached our destination. A couple people saw Wallabies but they spooked pretty quick so I didn't get to see them - too busy hanging back taking pictures of everything. We reached camp at about 5:30 and set up tents before heading down to explore Sealer's Cove. Named for the Fur Seal slaughtering that once took place there, the cove is really shallow but I finally go to see my Oystercatcher and some other shore birds. After dark we made our dinner, Penne pasta with pesto sauce, red peppers, cheese, and snow peas - we're gourmet- don't be jealous. Anyway it was yummy especially followed with some hot chocolate - yay! Of course our dinner was rudely interrupted because as soon as the sun set the possums attacked. I mean attacked - they we in our bags, tents, food, everywhere! Will literally picked one up and through it out of the German's bag, while I tackled one to get a chocolate bar back. We learned quickly that these devious little creatures could open zippers and fully enjoyed trying to get into everything. Nothing was safe. Eventually we secured everything known to mankind and the possums backed off. We ended the evening with more star gazing and mint biscuit competition. Of course another possum ruined my beauty sleep by breaking into Amber's bag in the middle of the night.
Just before sunrise... my favorite time of day!
Pretty
More pretty
Beach at our campsite
The set up
That's a fur seal - it may just look like a brown blob to you - but it was really neat
Change in vegetation
The view from Kersop Peak
Lunch time at Refuge Cove
Starfish
Southern Right Whale, there were actually two of them and this picture does the whale no justice because they were ENORMOUS!
On the trail again...
Termite mound
My favorite shorebird - I think I like ours better. Notice the leg band
That's our tent and that's a brush tail possum coming out of it. Notice the new color variation
This is the one I tackled - chocolate thief
2 comments:
Whales & seals - I'm so jealous! Make sure we them, too. The possums look like an African bushbaby. Sounds like an awesome trip!
AWESOME pictures! That must have been so cool to watch the whales. I love your sunrise pics as well- it's a shame so many people miss out on witnessing it:)
So are there any incredibly poisonous creatures that you have to watch out for while hiking/camping?
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