On up the Princes Highway, we drove through beautiful eucalyptus forests with all the trees sporting new red leaves looking for all the world as though they had red hair. Whether by accident or design, the farmers here leave the trees which border the road so that the drive is as though it was through original forest. The ads say that "You'll love every piece of Victoria" and it's certainly true here.
We finished up at Mallacoota at the mouth of the Genoa River and in the Croajingalong National Park. Its a very beautiful place with a large lake and the caravan park is ideally situated on the foreshore. With a little care is locating the truck, we were able to sit in absolute comfort and still observe all the local birds.
We spent the beast part of the day birdwatching.
On the nearest island is a Silver Gull rookery. One doesn't think of gulls as good parents but they must breed somewhere and there they were all crammed together on a tiny stretch of grass at the waters edge. The Crested Terns had also selected this place to breed and there were a dozen pairs in a tiny space right in the middle of the nesting gulls.
Further across the lake is a Little Tern colony, too far away to see but one occasionally sees a Little Tern hunting closer to shore.
Several pairs of Pied Oystercatchers make the islands their home. Both they and the Little Terns are listed as endangered.
Lots of Pelicans, Black Swans, Wood Ducks, Great and Little Black Cormorant, Chestnut Teal, and White-faced herons but also Eastern Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit which we had not seen before.
On land I saw Galah, Rainbow Lorikeet, Red Wattlebird, Welcome Swallow and Rufous Whistler.
Having stayed in Mallacoota for three days so that we could take a river cruise today, Jean decided that it was too windy for her so I set off on my own only to find that the cruise was cancelled - because it was too windy.