Wilsons Promontory National Park Off The Beaten Path

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If the ocean was awe inspiring, some of the cloud patterns weren't far behind. Cirrus formations started to drift in, and cirrus somehow always manages to be a bit special. At first wispy, then more all encompassing, they make for enchanting art in the sky, don't you think?
My personal favourite is pic 2.

I wasn't sure how to categorize this photo, animal or beach.
An echidna on the beach. Not an ant in sight. What was this all about? I feared he (or she, I wasn't going to check) may be unwell, so far removed from the bush.
I took the photo and continued on. It had moved freely and seemed OK but I still had lingering doubts so, a few hours later I made an enquiry at the National Park HQ.
The girl told me it wasn't that rare for one to be seen there and, as she explained to me, they use it like a highway. It's much easier to get from place to place along the hard sand of the beach than ploughing your way through the scrub. Obviously they're not entirely stupid.
The echidna is a true rarity in the animal world, it and the platypus are the only two monotremes in existence - egg laying mammals.
I've handled a couple (wrapped in a towel to get them off a road) and I have a sort of affection for them.
It brings to mind the fight I saw between and echidna and a snake.
Who won?
The echidna, on points.

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All the time as I neared my destination, I couldn't help but think how stunning the azure ocean was on this balmy day. The spring flowers and the red rocks (pic 4), the dramatic hills behind (pic 3) with charred remnants of the previous year's bushfire and the contrast of them all together (pic 5).
How fortunate was I to be there on this special day. With the word "sublime" ringing in my brain I soaked up as much of it as time would allow.
It was the sort of day that brings people back to Wilsons Promontory again and again.

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This gives you some idea of what the walk around to Little Oberon was like, from the exquisite colours of the ocean, to the remnants of bushfires (pic 4) to the granite that underlies all this area (pic 2).
The special view back to little Mount Oberon (pic 3) and the classic windblown vegetation as I turned around the headland (pic 5).

In Australia, beaches are used for lots of things so I am rarely surprised these days when I stroll along the sand.
This windsurfing chute was giving its owner a couple of nice jumps as he practised on the sands of Norman Bay the morning I walked to Little Oberon Beach.

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Australia generally doesn't have large flowers. In the springtime in the bush it's like someone sprinkled the salt all over the table, only it's in colours.
Yellow and blue predominate in this area, particularly your basic daisies for the former but the latter involves many plants, including bush orchids (pic 2) and kangaroo apples (pic 5).
If you keep your eyes peeled it really is surprising just how much diversity there is and how surprising that some that seem so fragile can survive at all.
The walk around to Little Oberon Beach was full of such scenarios.

The next morning I wandered off alone, aiming for Little Oberon Beach.
At first the sand was my focus, and the wonderful shapes of the seaweed littering the beach, particularly at the southern end....

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Rosemarie used to come here a lot in her youth. I sometimes think she was hoping to recapture some of it but, as often happens with these things, the carefree nature of our younger days is generally lost when ageing.
We opted to go for a pleasant afternoon walk, along memory lane for Rosemarie. Little Mount Oberon tantalized with its reflection in the sand, or more correctly the water left in the small depressions in the sand.
It was a lovely day with little wind to disturb the rhythm of the walk so we wandered to the end of Norman Bay and sat on a rock and reminisced.