Gippsland roadtrip: Tarra Bulga and Mt Baw Baw NP

Here is the first part of our spontaneous road trip through the Gippsland Hinterland — a story of greedy possums, failed platypus spotting, and ferns in abundance. After we shortened our overnight hike at Wilsons Promontory, we had a couple of spare days and decided to keep on driving inland to the heart of Gippsland. Our first stop was the Tarra Bulga NP, a rather small park that is known for its beautiful rainforest. There are several walks in the park leading to giant mountain ash trees, prehistoric myrtle beeches, and uncountable ferns everywhere.

We camped right before the park at the Fernholme campground hosted by David, a multi-award winning scone baker! We came for the scones and stayed because of the occasional platypus that lives right next to it in the small creek. We spent all of dusk trying to spot one but without success. So, in the next morning I got up at 5 to test my luck again – sadly with the same result. We only managed to find one of their caves. Here is my travel companion concentrating to spot one of the rare mammals.

During dinner we met the most annoying possums ever. It tried to still our delicious lentil-tofu burgers which we prepared in the windowless BBQ shack. The little critter even approached while we were eating, so we ended up walking around the shack, munching the burgers and trying to scare and shoo the possum away. It must have been the fastest dinner we had on the whole trip. Here is the possum approaching me and my camera.

The next day we took off into the direction of Baw Baw NP. However, while it must be a vibrant ski resort in winter, it seems to be completely deserted in summer. After talking a quick look from the top, we continued the drive towards the Alpine Trail with the famous mushrooms rock.

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