We’re still adjusting to daylight saving and being on holiday, so we’re not up until just before 9.
After getting ready we drive into town around 10 to visit Raymond Island. Apparently, there are Koalas everywhere here.
Normally you can take you car over on a ferry, although they do ask for you to leave your car in town and just go over as a pedestrian. Not sure if that so tourist stay down the south end of the island, or if driving tourists gawking at Koalas are a traffic hazard???
In any case our decision has been made so much easier as today is the first day of the annual three week maintenance shutdown of the ferry, so we couldn’t take the car over if we wanted too. They’re running a small water taxi back and forward for people (and apparently there is a small car ferry for emergencies). I guess the island residence are used to it and plan accordingly. This might explain the inordinate amount of cars park on the town side.
The taxi is just about to leave as we arrive, so we jump on and it’s only a couple of minutes to cross the less than hundred meters or so from the mainland to the lake island.
We’re dropped at the Jetty. We walk through a park and see the first of the “Koala Trail” signs, seconds later Liam looks up and points out a Koala in the tree! At this point in time we’re just in regular suburban style streets. A few trees later there’s a 2nd one. The first few seem to be sleeping and curled up and are just showing us their butts.
We’ve spotted at least 7-8 so far and the trail leaves the houses and follows a bush track to the other size of the small island. Here we finally see one a bit active, and she seems to have a baby. So, lots of photos taken.
We spot a few more and we finally hit the other side, not sure if it’s wind or the type of trees but along this section there don’t seem to be any more. Speaking of wind, heaps of branches are down and limbs are broken here, so you can see the impact of yesterday’s wind.
We reach the end and start following the track back inland and immediately more Koalas. I finally spot my first (No. 21!), I’m arguing that it’s because I am the back of the pack….. Back through a few more streets and we’ve counted 25 as we reach the boardwalk near the jetty. Not a bad haul at all.
We follow the boardwalk and only need to wait 5 mins or so for the water taxi to arrive.
Lunch at a local bakery, this time for Justine and Liam as they do Scallop Mornay Pies!. They’re pretty good, but not up to Apollo Bay standards.
We drive along the foreshore and the water is so much calmer than the soup it was yesterday. We saw a bunch of Swans yesterday hunkered down, we thought because of the wind, but it seems many of them have young cygnets so might just have been nesting.
Back to the van for a bit of a break.
Later in the afternoon Justine and I take a bit of drive, we figure we’ll check out the other three van parks, but it’s just an excuse to get out for a bit.
The other parks seem a bit crap, which lines up with the reviews. We go to look at the final one out need the marina, and I see a house. “That house looks familiar!”, then I realise it was a house on Grand Designs Australia, boy does it look different (and a little more crap) in real life. Out here in a kinda industrial area too.
Anyway, this last van park is down a battle axe entrance so is behind all the house, it’s hard to tell what it looks like, but none of them where likely to have any decent views, so a good pick by Justine here.
The wind has really died down so the late afternoon is really nice and the lake is so peaceful. There’s only a few vans here now, so it ends up being a relaxing and quiet evening.
