Purple excrement: a clue!

One of the most intriguing things I learned while researching Charles Darwin (for a children's book I was asked to write called 'Charles Darwin's Big Idea') was the way everything in Nature is interconnected. Life on earth is like a web.

On our walk to the beach I've been noticing that the seaberry saltbush (Rhagodia baccata) is bursting into bright reddish-purple berries, brought on by warmer days. Set against the green-grey of the coastal vegetation, this splash of colour is a welcome sight.

Birds are feasting on the berries, as evidenced by the splashes of purple excrement left on the boardwalk and along the bush track.

PS
I've included a photo taken from Opal Point, the furthermost part of our daily walk with the dogs. You can see the distinctive hump of The Nobbies, which was the feature of my past two blogs.

Coin-in-the-slot seals: Phillip Island

The afternoon we spent at Point Grant and The Nobbies, we shared with many other people from all around the world. In fact, one could be forgiven for thinking we were in a country other than Australia.

Coin-in-the-slot telescopes, positioned along the Point Grant / Nobbies boardwalk give visitors the opportunity to view more closely, the Australian fur seals that live and breed at Seal Rocks, located to the left (south) of The Nobbies. Alternatively, visitors can take a ferry that offers tours of Seal Rocks, leaving daily from the Cowes jetty.

A modern boardwalk with rails and steps gives about 1 km of easy access to lookouts, and also gives views into the burrows of breeding penguins, mutton birds and seagulls.

You may also see a swamp wallaby nibbling New Zealand spinach, a copperhead snake sunning itself, or Pacific gulls soaring in the wind.

This is a dramatic sea and landscape. No matter what time of day you visit, or the season, there's always something interesting to see -- and the mood is different.

Nature dramatic at Point Grant and The Nobbies

Point Grant, The Nobbies and Seal Rocks have been described as 'the extended bow of a ship endlessly breasting Bass Strait rollers'.

Situated on the western tip of Phillip Island, Point Grant is the second most popular place for locals and visitors alike. From here, the large hump of rock (about 30 m in height) known as The Nobbies is prominent, with low-lying Seal Rocks located a little to the left (south).

Rounded black boulders of basalt; steep cliffs clothed with tussocks, New Zealand spinach, meadows of pink flowering pigface and pussytail grasses; dramatic waves; rock platforms, pools and caves; a booming blowhole, all these and more make up this dramatic coastline.

One of my photos shows a perfectly round rock pool, created through the action of rocks being tumbled round and round by waves.

Looking down to sea level, it's possible to see steep winding pathways -- splashed with excreta -- created by penguins who tumble out of the waves and then clamber up the cliffs to their burrows. Some burrows are man-made; however, most are natural.

When we visited it was late afternoon, so young penguins in the burrows were anticipating the arrival of their parents at dusk. Every now and then we saw a face peeping out of a burrow.

Tomorrow I'll show you more about this amazing place.

Lava flow, oyster catchers and no dogs: Ph. Island

Without dogs you can walk right around Phillip Island; with dogs, you're allowed to walk west to Opal Point, or east to the small town of Cowes. The reason for the westerly restriction is the protection of penguins and hooded plovers.

Late yesterday afternoon 'our' beach was crowded with people sun baking, building sand castles, digging forts, swimming, playing ball games -- -- --. Therefore, we took the opportunity to walk west, towards the distinctive hump of the Nobbies and onto beaches reserved for the birds -- a walk of about 6 kilometres. Our dogs stayed at home; each with a bone.

Within 15 minutes we had the beach to ourselves and soon discovered a unusually large shell resting in a tangle of seaweed (in the photo you'll see the shell along with four others that are the normal size for this part of the world).

I had the feeling I could walk forever; eventually though, we came to a place where black stones 'flow' from a headland out into the sea, remnants of an ancient lava flow. In amongst the 'flow' of black stones, a pair of sooty oyster catchers fossicked for seashells, their long orange bills contrasting sharply with the black of the stones and the silver glint of the sea. After five minutes, they took flight, their eerie calls echoing out to sea.

We turned back towards the east, our eyes drawn to Grossard Point, and the new boardwalk leading to our home on the hill.

Walking in unspoiled places is one of my greatest pleasures, and always I'm rewarded with the discovery of something that inspires me; that lifts my spirits; that frees my soul.