Josh and I spent the weekend at Wilson's Promontory, the most southerly point on mainland Australia and a place often battered by the infamous wind the Roaring Forties. We stayed at Fish Creek, in the Fish Creek hotel, a wonderful retro style hotel in a beautiful Australian village.
Apart from the obvious scenic attractions, the main reason for going to the Prom was to try to see some of the iconic Australian species which occur there but which have so far eluded me, specifically echidna and wombats. It's not surprising that I had never previously seen the latter since I'd never previously been within the species range, but the same can't be said of echidna which is all over Australia and which I have really tried hard to see in the past to no avail. However within minutes of entering the national park we had to stop to allow an echidna to cross the road! A fabulous creature, three times the size of a hedgehog with golden spines, the closest living relative to the platypus, this is another mammal which lays eggs. An unforgettable experience.
Yellow-tailed black cockatoos are quite common at the Prom, and other species of parrot encountered included crimson rosella and galah.
Wombats are common in the evenings and generally very approachable.
Emu
Sooty oystercatchers.
Pacific gull.
Spotted pardalote.
A singing brown gerygone.
A skink, probably blue-tonged. This was about 30cm long.
Not sure what this snake is.
White-fronted chat
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