The Warrnambool Seal has been a popular feature of the city centre since 2018. It was crafted by Dave Jones so it really is out of Davey Jones Locker.
Lake Pertobe is a wetland between the city and the coast. We were not at all pertobed to walk it’s many tracks.
Yellow lichen
Melaleuca
“The chicken dance (duck style). “I have never danced in public before but I’m going to wing it!
Everyone join in!
Swamphen
That’s a real headscratcher.
Mallee gum
I finally caught up with the elusive Black-tailed native hen.
Hoary-headed grebe
Superb fairywren
Warrnambool pier
Merri Bridge on the coastal walk
Middle Island is the site of a conservation project which started in 2006 in which Maremma sheepdogs were used to defend the penguins from foxes. The Maremmas originally protected chickens from fox predation. The story was dramatised in the movie Oddball (name of the original Maremma).
Tower Hill is an inactive volcano with a crater 3 kilometres wide and 80 metres high.
Within the crater, a series of later volcanic explosions formed a number of scoria cones surrounded by a crater lake. The Dhauwurddurrang name for the volcano is Koroitj. Tools of the Koroitgundidj people have been found under volcanic ash layers dated at 30 000 years old. Creation stories include the volcanic eruptions have been passed down through the generation by oral histories.
Yatt Mirng vegetated scoria cone crater
Female Superb fairywren
Tower Hill walk
Koalas are common in the Wildlife Reserve.
White-backed magpie
Aww, look at the cute emu…
…with its beautiful feathers……
…. and …. voracious appetite!
It was very keen to get my travelling companion’s lunch.
As in, very keen.
I decided to have my lunch inside the car.
I hope this guy doesn’t get bird flu – at least it’s emu-nised.
Yellow-rumped thornbill
Red-browed finch
Another koala
Lava Tongue Boardwalk
Grey fantail and below – the fantail.
Silvereye – Zosterops latifolia pinarochrous – race from south-east South Australia, south-west New South Wales and western Victoria.
Tower Hill Lake from the Lava Tongue Boardwalk . The lava tongue is a twisting outcrop of dark basalt.
Eastern grey kangaroo
Black swan
Causeway exit from the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve
Our momentum was slowed by this emu family.
Dad was doing a good job
Von Guerard Lookout
A famous painting by Eugene Von Guerard from 1855 was from this vantage point.
Tower Hill Lookout
Griffiths Island at Port Fairy from Tower Hill. The island’s geology is basalt over limestone; formed by lava flows from Mount Rouse, the volcano inland from here near Penshurst. The lighthouse was built in 1859.
Koroit is a historic town just west of Warrnambool located on the northern side of the Tower Hill volcanic complex. The Post Office was built from local volcanic stone in 1858.
Tower Hill Common School opened in 1857. It now houses the local historical society.
Mickey Bourke’s Koroit Hotel, (our dinner venue), is an Irish pub inside.
The Koroit area is a major potato growing area with its rich volcanic soil. This is the local Fish and Chips store. I asked this fella on the roof what his philosophy on life was. He told me, “I think, therefore I yam.”
Bega Cheese factory – there were a lot of mature workers here.
A potato farmer’s bike on display in the hotel. More forks than the average bike.
Irish stew for dinner inside – stewpendous!
A short drive back to Warrnambool.
