I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to take a road trip from Melbourne out to Phillip Island, Cape Liptrap Coastal Park and Wilson’s Promontory National Park (you can read my #MelbourneTouring itinerary).
There was an incredible amount to see in the area and surprisingly close to the city (Phillip Island under a two hour drive away), it was an opportunity for me to test out a few 360 photo spheres. I recommend viewing them full screen, so click on the icon on the top right hand corner of each photo sphere, you can also view a map of the location with the icon on the bottom right.
Wilson’s Promontory National Park
After visiting Cape Liptrap I drove down to Wilson’s Promontory National Park, one of Victoria’s most loved places and popular holiday location for locals. The Prom sits on the southernmost tip of mainland Australia offering stunning scenery consisting of breathtaking coastlines, rain forest, huge granite mountains and uniquely beautiful beaches.
After a quick cup of tea (I’m English!) in my wilderness retreat tent I set out on a bit of a hike starting out on Norman Beach, crossing the Tidal River then up to a look point. It was the perfect time to capture a shot as it was extremely quiet, so quiet in fact, that I did wonder what would happen if I got lost or injured out on my own (luckily I had a web connection so people knew where I was going).
From this photo sphere you can see Norman Beach, Tidal River, Squeaky Beach (named because the sand makes a squeaky noise when you walk on it), Mount Oberon and Mount Bishop.
The view was truly breathtaking, I sat for a good 20 minutes taking it all in.
I had already done a 1.5 trek up to Mount Bishop in the morning but thought I’d tackle another trek. It was taking longer than I expect to reach the lookout point but it was eventually as equally rewarding as the view from Mount Bishop. I semi jogged some of it to save time but was great to have the whole trail to myself.
Once I got to the end I was completely alone with the only sounds coming from the birds in the surrounding trees.
I managed to climb a granite bolder for a better view and sat in the sun looking out across the sea towards the small islands.
Phillip Island Koala Conservation Centre
I woke up early to visit the Koala Conservation Centre on Phillip Island, I’d recommend visiting when it opens to get the place to yourself.
The Koala Conservation Centre was set up to help educate people and protect the koalas on the island. There’s a special anti-koala climbing fence that spans a large area to ensure the koalas don’t stray and for their own safety.
Koalas are protected in this area but you can get up pretty close to them in their natural habitat. Apparently they were introduced to Phillip Island but their numbers were suffering due to changes to their environment, the centre has been key to saving the koala population and their bushland.
At the centre you get the opportunity walk on raised tree top boardwalks with viewing areas to get up close to the koalas.
Cape Liptrap Lighthouse
Being Australia, when you turn down a rough dirt track you never quite know how long you’ll be driving for before you reach the end (roads are much longer). The drive out to the light house was deceptively longer that I had anticipated or perhaps I was driving slower down the dusty gravel track but once at the end it was well worth the wait.
Cape Liptrap light house sits on top of a rocky clifftop on the South Gippsland coastline and warns ships of the dangerous razor sharp rocks in the Bass Strait. The current light house was built in 1951 a was the first automatic Commonwealth funded light to be put into service, the first light house was situated here as far back as 1913.
At the light house I sat alone without a single person in sight with the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks below, I admired the view out across the coast line for a while before attempting a couple of photo spheres to capture the peaceful scene.
Melbourne Graffiti
Hosier Lane on the southern edge of the central area of Melbourne is well-known for its high quality urban art and is a celebrated landmark. I wandered around the lane ways admiring some of the graffiti and watching a few artists at work, it seems it’s fine to paint the walls in this area.
I managed to take a colourful photo sphere of the area with one artist at work and a few onlookers admiring the work.
There’s so much to see and do within easy reach of Melbourne, it really is a perfect place for a road trip. These photo spheres are just a small number of many highlights from my trip to Melbourne, Philip Island, Cape Liptrap Coastal Park and Wilson’s Promontory National Park.
This post was brought to you as part of the #MelbourneTouring blog trip, created and managed by iambassador and in partnership with Tourism Victoria, Royal Brunei Airlines and 4BGB. TravMonkey.com maintains full editorial control of the content published on this site.
