Pakenham to Sorrento Pier, Ferry across to Queenscliff Harbour and Great Ocean Road to Skenes Creek via Split Point Lighthouse and Hopetoun Falls, Victoria.

Travelling back west by car and boat.

Australia, Day Fourty Five.

 

Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus).

We set off from the hotel early as we had to cover some ground today and needed to be South of Melbourne to catch a ferry, around the hotel we started the day list with Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus), Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides) and Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca).

Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus).

Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus).

As we headed South West towards Sorrento we picked up Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala), Little Wattlebird (Anthochaera chrysoptera), Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula), Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius), Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis), Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa), Australian Wood Duck (Chenonetta jubata), Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa), Galah's (Eolophus roseicapilla) and Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina).

Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae).

We arived in the Sorrento area early so we stopped and checked out the beach, out on the sands we had the only 2 Kelp Gulls (Larus dominicanus) of my trip along with masses of Silver Gulls (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae) and 2x Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica).

Australian Gannet (Morus serrator).

We continued on to the Ferry Port adding Straw-necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis) on the way and from the beach near the Ferry I had 2x Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia), more Silver Gulls and the first of a few Australian Gannets (Morus serrator) whilst Deb went and sorted out the Ferry ticket.

Australian Gannet (Morus serrator).

One we were on the Ferry I went out side and scanned the water but only managed to see lots more Gannets before we arrived on the far shore and then headed out on the Great Ocean Road West.

 Split Point Lighthouse.

From the lower view point at Split Point Lighthouse.

As we headed west we had Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles), New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae), Black Swan (Cygnus atratus), White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) and Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides) before we had a break and a walk at Split Point Lighthouse.

Rufous Bristlebird (Dasyornis broadbenti caryochrous).

We parked and walked to the Lighthouse and then out to a couple of viewing platforms, we didn't stay long as the area was absolutly full of people / tourist but before we left we had Pacific Gull (Larus pacificus) do a fly passed, Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens) and a rare out in the open view of a Rufous Bristlebird (Dasyornis broadbenti), a species I had seen along the Coorong but this time it was subspecies caryochrous.

Renate holding me up during the climb back to the car.

Part of the walk down to Hopetoun Falls.

Hopetoun Falls.

At the View point, Hopetoun Falls.

We returned to the car and continued on South West to Skeenes Creeek where we checked into the Ocean Road Motel before going up into the mountins to Hopetoun Falls where we were hoping to some Robins but apart from Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis) we failed.

Swamp Wallaby (Wallabia bicolor).

We parked and walked down to the waterfalls which were worth the walk anyway, on the way we saw White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis), Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla), Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans), Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa), Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus), Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax) and as we drove back down to the accommodation later we saw a couple of Swamp Wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) in a roadside field.