Discovery Bay Coastal Park - Near Portland, Victoria

11 - 12 March 2015

 

We drove south from Little Desert and saw the result of a bushfire not long ago - such a sight. We went through a number of small towns before arriving in Portland. As usual, we stopped at the visitor information centre. We had thought to stay at the Discovery Bay Coastal Park and wanted to get some more information. We were shown a "mud map" of the campground at Lake Monibeong and settled on site number 7. The next challenge was to get online to book the site. We were told there is a surcharge if you book over the phone so we didn't take the chance. Site booked - at a whopping $35.90 for one night - we headed towards Nelson and easily found the turnoff.

The road in is about 10km from the Nelson-Portland Road, and is listed on Parks Victoria website as 4WD only, so we put the car into 4WD for the first time and drove along the sandy track, but it wasn't really necessary. The campsite we had chosen was very well protected from the wind, and quite close to the lake, but we never did find the beach.

White-browed Scrubwren

Silvereye

For me, this was a disappointing place as far as birding goes. The only notable encounter was a distant view of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos near the turn off. This is not to say that there aren't birds around... I didn't try very hard really.  

We were greeted by a welcoming committee of Superb Fairy-wrens as we set up camp. These are endearing little birds and quite common down this way. They seemed unconcerned by our presence and hopped around under chairs and tables, ignoring us completely.

Also around the camp but keeping their distance were Red Wattlebirds. Small flocks of Silvereyes darted from one dense shrub to the next, rarely visible but always noted by their lilting, squeaky calls. White-browed Scrubwrens were also common around the camp and were attracted by the dead bugs all over the front of our car. Mick.


We decided to put up the awning as it was quite warm when we arrived. We went for a walk, but were most surprised to see a number of resident superb wrens hopping around the campsite. It's a beautiful spot, but the camp fee is rather large considering the basic facilities - toilets, and no showers. Compared to Qld and NSW National Parks,this seems to be a bit overpriced. I notice there are many negative comments being posted online about the charges.

Our camp amongst the heath.

We were woken during the night by the sound of rain, and fortunately the tent is leak-proof (so far). We had to take things slowly in the morning to allow the tent and awning to dry out as much as possible, so we left at about 10am to start our journey along the Great Ocean Road.