Cavorting at Kilcunda

   One of the great things about being retired is the ability to get out and about during the week when everyone else is at work or school.

   Doortje and I have just come back from three marvellous days, Tuesday to Friday, at Kilcunda on the Bass coast a dozen or so kilometres from Wonthaggi.  We spent the time at the Kilcunda Oceanview Retreat in one of their "villas", a two-bedroom cabin with all mod cons.  (I worked out that a retreat is a resort without the conference facilities - basically it's a caravan park).  Anyway, we were virtually the only ones there, which was great because the villas were cheek by jowl and half the appeal was being able to leave the side blinds up for the 180 degree views without worrying about privacy.

   This shows the row of villas at the rear of the caravan park.  The only downside to having the place to ourselves as far as guests go, is that maintenance is carried out on the quiet days - there were a few tradies about, one banging on our wall at 8am!

   This is the view from the villa looking west towards Cape Woolamai on Phillip Island.

   This is the view east towards Wonthaggi.  We could also see the wind farm near Wonthaggi and the construction cranes for the desalination plant.

   One of the attractions of the area apart from Bass Strait and the beaches, is the rail trail from Wonthaggi to Anderson (near the Phillip Island turnoff), about sixteen kilometres long (there are plans to extend it north from Anderson to Nyora, when we'll have to do it again!).  We rode to Wonthaggi on Wednesday and then to Anderson the next day - the wind changed around completely in 24 hours but the distances were short enough for it not to be a worry.

Here's Doortje on the trail east of Kilcunda.

   We had lunch at the Wonthaggi Club and Archies on the Creek at (you guessed it) Archies Creek, and an evening meal across the road from the retreat at the Kilcunda pub.  Otherwise we were very happy to put our feet up in the villa and enjoy the view, or take exploratory walks along the beach.

   The sunsets improved during the week as it got less cloudy.  Wildlife we saw included two echidnas and two blue-tongued lizards, sooty oystercatchers, Pacific gulls and a white-faced heron.  

   We took plenty of photos.  To get  a good sense of the adventure, you can see a selection in the Kilcunda set at 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob_james/sets/