Going to the Prom!

After taking up the generous offer from Tony & Anne-Marie (friends we met in Nelson Bay) to let us park our camper at their place in Venus Bay we ventured a huge 30 minute drive from Foster to their place and setup camp on their block of land. Anne-Marie had prepared lunch for us and Tony was keen to demonstrate his home-made wood-fired pizza oven in his front yard.

The afternoon was spent preparing pizza bases, getting the toppings ready and sampling coffee from Anne-Maries fancy coffee machine. It was weird being in a house and sitting on a lounge again for the first time in 4 months. Cooper was in heaven again as he watched a few movies on their huge plasma screen tv.

We had a ball the first night we were there. Making, cooking and eating pizza’s was great fun. Tony took his pizza making seriously and was pretty careful to make sure each pizza was cooked to perfection. If we ever settle into a “real” home one day, I wouldn’t mind one of these pizza ovens!

Day 2- It was a plan to visit Wilsons Promontory. We got a nice sunny day too which was a bonus. We headed back towards Foster and turned right and headed to “The Prom”. Wilsons Promontory is the most southerly point of Australia’s mainland. South East Point is actually the most southerly point but reaching there is quite a hike. The closest we can get by car is Tidal River. Basically it’s a huge camping area with an information centre, picnic area and a kiosk. We scoffed down some leftover pizza for lunch at the picnic area and then took an hour or so stroll along the riverbed of Tidal River to the mouth. It was low tide and there were plenty of little pools for Cooper to play in as we took in the stunning views of the beach, surrounding islands and Mt Oberon.

Wilsons Promontory is over 50,000 hectares of wilderness and is treasured by Victorian locals and boasts some magnificent natural scenery. To get the most from “The Prom” you would need to venture out on some of the many nature walks and hikes ranging from easy to down-right challenging. We kept our visit simple and took leisurely strolls around the place.

Due to fires and flood over the past few years there has been significant damage to the certain areas including infrastructure and roads. They were busy still doing repairs in some places and some roads were still closed.

The campsite at Tidal River has over 400 powered and non-powered sites and would get very busy in the holidays. In fact a ballot system is in place for peak season. There is really something for everyone here at “The Prom”. Beaches, fishing, walks/hikes, canoeing, wildlife- and the list goes on! We had a blast and it’s a real credit to Parks Victoria for protecting and maintaining such a natural asset.

We had only intended to stay at Venus Bay for 2 nights, but that stretched out to 4 nights. We were having a great time. On the Saturday we took Tony’s kayak out onto the river and he took Cooper for a paddle and that afternoon we went looking for Pipis on the beach. Venus Bay has one of Victoria’s largest Pipi colonies and is very popular for people who like to collect them for bait or even eat them. We were told that in particular Pipis were considered a delicacy in a lot of Asian cuisine and we saw plenty of Asian families making a day of it all collecting their quotas. We took some back to Tony’s and cooked them up in a garlic butter (they cooked similar to Mussels). They were ok but I think we will stick to using them for bait!

Wilsons Promontory

We had a great time down here!