Phillip Island and Gippsland Discovery Attractions

49,000ha.With its wild, rugged scenery and good beaches, Wilsons Promontory National Park is one of the best-known national parks in Australia (438). Occupying the whole of the peninsula which forms the most southerly point on the Australian continent, it consists of an ancient granite promontory with an extraordinary landscape of forest-covered hills, valleys with patches of woodland, swamps, salt marshes and long sand dunes. There are bathing beaches with calm water and others more suitable for surfing. Parts of the peninsula (with sea caves, curious rock formations and inlets) are accessible only from the sea. The rich fauna can already be seen from the excellent access road to Tidal River (grazing emus and kangaroos, friendly wombats). Innumerable brightly colored lorikeets and seagulls congregate on the campsite. The road ends at the Mount Oberon parking lot, beyond the township of Tidal River. On the southern tip of the promontory is a lighthouse of 1859.In the Prom, as the park is familiarly known, there are more than 80km of walking trails. The National Park office in Tidal River provides information about the various routes and detailed maps of the park.

Port Albert (pop. 300), a tiny but historic township which was named after Prince Albert the Prince Consort, it was the first established port in Victoria. Sailing ships from Europe and America once docked at the large timber jetty here, and boats from China brought thousands of prospectors to the goldfields in northern Gippsland. Originally established for trade with Tasmania, Port Albert was the supply port for Gippsland until the railroad line from Melbourne to Sale was opened in 1878.Port Albert has preserved a number of old buildings - government offices, shops, the Bank of Victoria, the Maritime Museum, Christ Church (1858). Close to the waterfront is the Port Albert Hotel, first licensed in 1842, one of the oldest hotels still operating in Australia.

Korumburra (pop. 2770) is in a rich dairy farming region. Coal was formerly mined here for the railroad. Coal was discovered in 1872 but began to be worked only in 1890. The last mine closed down in 1958.Coal Creek Historical Park is a faithful reconstruction of a 19th C mining settlement.

3300ha.Baw Baw National Park is ideal country for long-distance walks in summer and a good skiing area in winter. The landscape is dominated by the precipitous slopes of Mount Erica (1524m) and deeply indented valleys. The vegetation is sub-alpine. Forests of snow gums with dense scrub undergrowth reach up to the summit regions of the hills at the south end of the Central Highlands, from which there are fine views.Outside the national park is the popular Alpine Village skiing area, a tourist center with accommodation and supplies. There is usually snow until September at heights above 1200m. There are numerous ski lifts to cater for the large numbers of skiers who come here at weekends and during the holidays, although the pistes are not so demanding as those of Falls Creek and Hotham Heights.Some of the trails in the park are strenuous. Within the park is the south end of the long-distance alpine trail from Walhalla to Tom Groggin on Mount Kosciusko (NSW).

Morwell (pop. 17,000) is one of the leading towns in the Latrobe valley. Founded in 1861 under the name of Maryvale, it prospered as a supply center for the gold diggers of Walhalla and Tanjil. The importance of the town and surrounding area now depends on the power stations of the State Electricity Commission (SEC), fuelled by brown coal from the opencast mines in the Latrobe valley, which generate over 85 per cent of the electricity produced in Victoria. Morwell also has some secondary industries such as the Maryvale Paper Mill (10km north), the largest in Australia.The main sights are the large-scale opencast coal workings, the power stations and the Latrobe Valley Arts Centre.

Foster (pop. 1010) is an attractive little town within easy reach of Corner Inlet, Waratah Bay and Wilson's Promontory National Park. Known during the gold-digging period in South Gippsland as Stockyard Creek, it was renamed in 1871 after WH Foster, chief inspector of the goldfields in the region.There is a good general view of the area from Foster North Lookout, 6km northwest of the town. There are beautiful beaches at Walkerville and in Waratah Bay. 12km south of Walkerville is Cape Lintrap (lighthouse), from which there are superb views of the rocky coast and the Bass Strait.

Moe (pop. 20,000), in Gippsland, is a coal-mining town occupied by workers in the opencast mines of brown coal in the area. Many of its inhabitants came from Yallourn, another mining town that had to be evacuated because it was situated over valuable seams of coal.The Yallourn power station with its three huge cooling towers, using coal from the Yallourn opencast mine, can be visited. On the Princes Highway is Old Gippstown Pioneer Township, an open-air museum in which old buildings of the pioneering period have been brought together.

The old mining town of Wonthaggi (pop. 6710) was formerly the main supplier of coal to the Victorian Railways. It began life as a tented town in 1909, when the government opened up the coal mines. Coal continued to be worked here until 1968. Since then Wonthaggi has become the center of a pastoral and dairy farming area.The town's main feature of interest is the State Coal Mine Historic Reserve, with a mining museum (conducted tours). The State Coal Mine Historic Reserve is featured on the National Register.

Sale (pop. 14,000), the administrative and commercial center of Gippsland, developed rapidly after drilling for oil in the Bass Strait began.The main features of the town are its situation on Lake Guthridge, an attractive pedestrian zone and a number of handsome old buildings, notably the Criterion Hotel with its wrought-iron verandahs. In the tourist information center there is an exhibition on the extraction of oil and natural gas.

Welshpool (pop. 760) is a small dairy-farming town. 8km from the town is Port Welshpool, with a deep-water harbor which is the home of a fishing fleet and a supply base for the oil and gas fields in the Bass Strait. The large drilling rigs are assembled here. There is now a catamaran ferry from Port Welshpool to Tasmania.The Maritime Museum in Port Welshpool has an interesting collection of material on the history of seafaring. There are also excellent facilities for water sports.