After spending a couple of weeks in Myanmar, we flew to the southern coastal state of Victoria, a new Australia destination for us. We stayed there two months, with the first month in Warrnambool and the last four or so weeks in the Morwell area. Warrnambool, a small city on the SW coast with a population just over 35,000, features many kilometers of interesting, well maintained walking paths. Our goal was to go on a walk every day and we mostly achieved that objective.

Foreshore Promenade – This award winning, scenic, coastal track extends almost 6 kilometers from the ocean breakwater to the mouth of the Hopkins River. We quickly discovered that it’s a popular path for walkers, joggers, and bikers, even though the ocean or beach view is obstructed by tall brush along most of the promenade. But we still appreciated the warm sunshine and ocean breezes during our walks on different segments of the pathway. We noticed the colorful snake warning sign pictured above and no reptiles ventured onto the promenade to greet us.

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Granny’s Grave – After moving to the future Warrnambool area from Tasmania in the early 1800s, James, a fisherman, and Agnes Ruttleton lived in a tent followed by a hut, both situated on a hillside not far from the ocean. As she grew older, several townspeople affectionately gave her the nickname of Granny, and when she died in December 1848 she was buried in the sand dunes because there was no cemetery in the town at that time. Almost 40 years later a headstone was finally added to her gravesite, identifying her as the first white woman to be buried in Warrnambool. Unfortunately the 100 year-old, engraved burial marker displays the wrong last name of deceased Granny Agnes. Fortunately this error was corrected in 2014 when a plaque was added to the gravesite identifying the woman as Agnes Ruttleton, not Agnes Raddlestone. This historical burial site is adjacent to the Foreshore Promenade, so we stopped to read the posted story about Granny and take a few photos during one of our promenade treks. 

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Lake Pertobe Adventure Playground – We visited this 8 hectare park quite a few times because we enjoyed walking along the path around the lake. As you can see from the photos below, we saw many beautiful and entertaining birds during our treks. We should have played on the giant slide, ridden on the swings, and found our way through the large, wooden maze like the many other little kids and big kids (adults) we saw at this family-friendly place. Maybe next time. 

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OK, maybe we went a little overboard with Lake Pertobe bird pictures. 

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And just for fun, here are two pictures of each of these types of fowl.

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Merri Marine Sanctuary – Warrnambool features two rivers that empty into the ocean, Hopkins River on the east side and Merri River on the west end. The Merri River joins with ocean water to become the very blue Stingray Bay and we saw people of all ages enjoying the calm, cool waters and the small sandy beach. An important part of the marine sanctuary is Middle Island where penguins come to breed each year. In 2000 there were over 500 penguins on the island and just five years later there were only about 10 penguins because of fox predation. During low tide the four-legged hunters can easily reach the island. Starting in 2006 the island was closed to visitors and two Maremma guardian dogs, Eudy and Tula, were trained and placed on the island to protect the penguins. Just seven years later the penguin population had grown to 180 birds. While standing at the mainland viewpoint, we used our binoculars to search for  penguins or the large dogs on Middle Island. We didn’t have any success.

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Hopkins Waterfall – Fifteen kilometers before the Hopkins River enters the city of Warrnambool, the water cascades over dark basalt rocks for a 12 meter drop. During June through August the falls can extend up to 90 meters in width and for just a few days in winter baby eels can be spotted jumping up the rocky ledges during their upstream migration. Since we visited Hopkins Waterfall in mid summer we did not get to see the eels and the curtain of water only partially covered the full width of the impressive rock face. But we still enjoyed the impressive site. It is not a very well-known tourist destination and the surrounding dairy farmers are probably thankful for that. 

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Warrnambool Botanic Gardens – We walked to the botanic gardens and hoped to see many beautiful flowers. Unfortunately not many flowers were blooming, but we did get a chance to enjoy one of the benches, plus walk on the winding sidewalk to see the ancient trees, band rotunda without a band, lily pond, bats hanging in a tree, and several varieties of birds in the park designed almost 150 years ago. 

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