Tower Hill & Warrnambool

I moved on to Koroit which is right on the edge of an extinct volcano, Tower Hill. I’m staying in the council caravan park which is next to a small botanic gardens. Koroitj is the aboriginal name for Tower Hill, a crater 3 Km by 2.4 Km across and 90 metres high. It last erupted 30,000 years ago and is of national geographical significance. It was made a reserve in 1961 but the bush is still fairly degraded with lots of weeds. I put the drone up and this is a panorama assembled from those drone photos, you can just see Bass Strait in the background.

I had the drone up at 400 feet the maximum allowed by CASA regulations, I would have liked it to go higher. I can’t see the drone at that height so I just put it straight up and bring it straight down. There is a viewing area where I put the drone up and this photo was from ground level.

The is another viewing platform to the east of Tower Hill that also gives good views of the crater.

You can drive over a causeway to the “island” in the centre of the lake and there is a delightful picnic area and a number of walks that spin out from there. Parts of the bush are in good condition and there are emus, kangaroos, koalas, echidnas , and lots of birds and reptiles (reportedly and thankfully!). This is a view of the picnic area, lots of BBQs and tables.

Warrnambool is only 15 Km from Tower Hill so I drove there to check out the water tower artwork. The water tower is set on a highpoint near the coast and celebrates the contribution that migrants and refugees have made to Warrnambool and Australia. I decided to put the drone up to see what the tower looked like from a height.

While in Warrnambool I learned that there was some street art in the city centre and a few other places around the town. So I went back to Warrnambool the next day and went to the info centre to get a map. While there I noticed the restaurant next door and determined to go there for lunch. So I headed off on foot from the info centre and walked around the CBD and found that most of the street art was disappointing and more like graffiti than works of art, at least to my taste. But there was some good stuff. There was no information to explain the artwork which was also disappointing.

These cockatoos were along a laneway so I could only photograph two at a time, there were five in all and they were all very well done.

After walking the CBD, I drove to some artwork around Warrnambool and the best of that was on the abutments of a couple of railway bridges.

So back to Pippies for a lunch of calamari and green salad, which was excellent. The salad dressing was unusual and delicious, but based on palm sugar, so that was a pity as I thought I might try to make it.. The restaurant overlooks Bass Strait and a bay behind the breakwater, a delightful outlook.

I have extended my stay at Koroit for another day (fourth day only $15, bonus!) and will now head off on Monday. Tomorrow I will go to Port Fairy and look around there and probably force down some fish and chips on the wharf.