The Bass Strait




Between the southern coast of the mainland and Tasmania lies the Bass Strait.  It can be treacherous and ships coming from England would be at sea for two or three months before arriving near Melbourne at Philips bay.  They had to “thread the needle” to get there navigating through the cape of Otwsy and Kings Is. That is a small passage in the wind and fog and many lost there lives.  So the Ard Loch was a ship that had 2 lone survivors and this cove is named after them.
The caves here are full of stalagmites and graffiti from former visitors like “Cesar”.  


Kangaroos and wallabys were out at dusk.  I have had fun asking about the vocabulary of baby animals and the baby echidne’s is a puggles.
Further down the coast is the Twelve Apostles of which there are only 7 left. It reminds me of Cannon beach.
Many grottos are carved into the cliffs.
This is a koala, the mass up in the tree.  They like the Wombat have a cartilaginous plate on their butts so they can lodge hemselves between a fork in the tree for hours without a problem. But they are so much more unintelligent than the wombats because they say they have dedicated much to digesting the poisonous eucalyptus leaves and their brain shrunk. As a result the wombat that eats herbs on the ground, is of the same family as the koala but has a brain 3 timcs bigger.
Kelp on the beach.  There is the same problem here with kelp being eaten by sea urchins.  They are promoting large lobsters that eat sea urchins.

Here is a pademelon and a potoroo in the gloaming. Like a kangaroo it hops.  Most marsupials hop here.  I asked the guide why we have one marsupial in the USA?  Well it arrived at the time of the dino’s in South America when it was joined to the Australian continent and survived.  Pretty crazy!
A 
Ard  Loch gorge where that ship sunk.
Treeferns are magnificent here.

 Stalactites at the coast hanging off the cliffs.

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