Victoria, home to Melbourne, the largest city in southeastern Australia, is a natural travel destination where you can walk in the great outdoors, meet wild animals, and enjoy wine and cuisine. Gippsland, which stretches 542km east from Melbourne to the New South Wales (NSW) border, is a representative wine region and a gourmet travel destination. I encountered the wonders of nature at Wilsons Point, which overlooks the ocean, a vast lake where black swans swim, and Tarrabulga National Park, which is covered with fern forests where dinosaurs used to live.
● The forest where dinosaurs roamed
In areas with a lot of rain, a jungle with thick forests all year round is called a ‘rainforest’. Usually, ‘tropical rainforests’ are developed a lot near the equator. However, there are some areas on Earth where ‘cool-temperate rainforests’ are formed. Since they are more suitable for human survival than tropical rainforests, they are not easily seen because the forests were cleared early on.
![Sunset bathing on the lakeside… Happiness in an oak barrel [전승훈 기자의 아트로드]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/09/01/126789456.1.jpg "Sunset bathing on the lakeside… Happiness in an oak barrel [전승훈 기자의 아트로드]")
However, Tarra-Bulga National Park in South Gippsland, about 180km southeast of Melbourne, Australia, is a place where you can see the original temperate rainforest that has not been touched by development. The dense forest covered with ferns has a roof of eucalyptus, giant zelkova, and myrtle beech trees at the top, and tree ferns, mushrooms, and mosses grow in the forest below.
Among the many trekking courses in Tarabulga National Park, ‘Corrigan’s Suspension Bridge’ is a famous course that allows you to enjoy the view of a valley covered in tropical rainforest and ferns in about 30 minutes.
The royal eucalyptus tree standing tall at the entrance is about 74m tall and is estimated to be over 200 years old, as it was still there when the British arrived in Australia in 1840.
Looking down the valley from the Corrigan Suspension Bridge, you can see giant ferns filling the valley like umbrellas. In Korea, ferns grow like grass, but here, they are ‘tree ferns’ that grow tall like palm trees. This is a forest where the landscape of the Mesozoic Era, when dinosaurs walked around, is still alive.
Crossing the suspension bridge and going down the valley, you will see the beech trees that flourished on the ancient continent of Gondwana, revealing their roots that wriggle like giant snakes. Gondwana is a supercontinent that is thought to have existed in the southern hemisphere from the late Paleozoic Era, about 300 million years ago, to the mid-Mesozoic Era, about 100 million years ago. Some of the descendants of the vast beech forests that flourished throughout southeastern Australia about 20 million years ago remain in the national park. Moss and mushrooms grow on the forest floor.
On the way out of the trekking, I met a ‘Superb Lyrebird’, an Australian native bird. It is a beautiful bird when it spreads its wings like a mini peacock. The lyrebird, which is featured on the back of the Australian 10 cent coin, is famous for its various vocal imitations. When the male is courting the female, he imitates various bird sounds, and the lyrebirds that live in the city are famous for accurately imitating the sounds of electric drills, hammers, camera shutters, and even babies crying.
There is a large lake developed around Wilson’s Point in Gippsland. On Raymond Island in Gippsland Lake, you can see wild koalas, Australia’s representative marsupial, up close. It is a small island, about 6km long and 2km wide. It is located only 200m from the coast, so you can get to the island in 5 minutes by ferry from the town of Painesville.
A few koalas were brought to Raymond Island in 1953, and it is said that koalas have since bred and spread. The island has been protected from rapid development because there has been a ferry service since 1889 without a bridge. It is a true ‘koala paradise’ where koalas live peacefully on each eucalyptus tree.
On Raymond Island, you can enjoy the ‘Koala Trail’ by walking or riding a bike. When you pass under the eucalyptus trees, look up and up into the trees. There is a large doll-like koala sitting on each tree. The koala is sleeping, eating eucalyptus leaves, and if you are lucky, you can see a koala stretching out its hand and holding onto a branch, moving slowly, or doing yoga.
The island is also home to many other wild animals, including kangaroos, echidnas, and birds. It was amazing to see kangaroos jumping over the fences of private houses and playing in the yards.
I’m waiting for the ferry after leaving Raymond Island, and the sunset is setting. There are many black birds floating on the golden lake. They look exactly like swans, but they’re black. They’re the Black Swan I’ve only heard of. In Act 3 of Tchaikovsky’s ballet ‘Swan Lake,’ there’s a scene where the black swan ‘Odile’ disguised as the swan Odette seduces Prince Siegfried. This is the scene where Natalie Portman plays two roles in the movie ‘Black Swan’ that she wanted to perfectly portray.
In economic terms, the term ‘black swan’ refers to ‘a phenomenon in which something that seems impossible actually happens’. Black swans are an endemic species that only live in Australia, so it is a term that makes you understand how surprised Europeans must have been when they first came to Australia and saw black swans.
●Foursome at Miteng Hot Springs
The Gippsland Lakes region of Victoria, Australia, also has mineral-rich hot springs that spring from 500 meters underground. The highlight of the Metung Hot Springs is the opportunity to soak in an open-air oak barrel while looking out over the vast Gippsland Lakes at sunset, which turns the waters pink.
In Korea, many people enjoy hot springs in large tubs, but Australians enjoy them in their own oak barrels. Inside the barrels, hot spring water of about 38 to 40 degrees Celsius gushes out, and when you put your body inside the barrel, the water overflows to match its volume. This is an experience that recreates the moment when Archimedes realized the principle of volume while saying “Eureka” in a bathtub. In addition to individual oak barrel hot springs, there are also open-air baths that can accommodate multiple people.
In Victoria, Australia, there is also Peninsula Hot Springs, which opened in 1997 on the Mornington Peninsula. In the early 1990s, brothers Charles and Richard Davidson experienced dozens of hot springs while staying in Japan and wondered, “Why don’t we have a tourist attraction with these facilities when we have hot springs in Australia?” and developed a state-of-the-art open-air hot spring.
The Peninsula Hot Springs Group has developed a new hot spring in Gippsland, and it is said that the culture of enjoying hot springs is spreading among Australians, with the number of hot spring tourists exceeding 500,000 per year.
Mitung Hot Springs has a glamping accommodation with luxurious facilities on the lakeside. On one side of the tent’s terrace is a personal oak barrel hot spring facility that is identical to the one in the open air, so you can enjoy a private hot spring at the accommodation.
On the way to the accommodation from Mitung Hot Springs, I met another marsupial, the Possum. It is a fast-moving animal that moves quickly, wagging its long tail and making a swooping sound. It looks like a combination of a cat and a meerkat. It has a mouse-like face, clear eyes, and a pink nose, making it a really cute animal.
However, it was as big as a cat. It looked at people with curious eyes for a while, and when I approached it slightly, it quickly waggled its tail and disappeared.
●Wine and Gourmet Tours
Lightfoot Winery, perched on the Mitchell River Valley in Gippsland, boasts sweeping views of the vineyard from its terrace. The Myrtle Point vineyard is spread out on an ancient limestone ridge with rich red soil. Inside the winery, you can sample a range of wines including Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Chardonnay. Pair the wines with cheese and olives produced on surrounding farms.
Australian wine began to be made in the mid-to-late 1800s when European pioneers planted grapevines. It was produced before Australia was founded (1901). The representative grape variety of Australian wine is ‘Shiraz’. This is because one out of three grapevines growing in Australia is a Shiraz variety.
Syrah, a variety mainly produced in the northern Rhone region of France, was brought to Australia and called ‘Shiraz’. Although it is the same variety, it produces a distinctly different taste depending on the land. While Syrah produced in the northern Rhone region of France is mainly dry and strong with red berry and pepper flavors, Australian Shiraz is characterized by a soft and dense taste mixed with dried berry, chocolate, and earthy flavors.
But Australian wines are not limited to Shiraz. Pinot Noir, famous for its French Burgundy wines, is also widely grown. Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Valley, and Gippsland produce Pinot Noir with a more splendid fruity aroma.
Gurney’s Cider, located on a hill overlooking Wilson’s Point in Gippsland, is a cider distillery that produces cider using the traditional British method. Cider is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting apple juice. Gurney’s Cider Farm has over 5,000 cider apple trees imported from France, England, the United States, and Ireland.
This brewery has a cider cellar that it claims to be the “world’s largest cider cellar.” When you open the door to the cellar, you can see ciders maturing in oak barrels. Here, you can sample cider with an alcohol content of 16 percent and brandy with an alcohol content of 41 percent distilled from cider. The Great Southern Rail Trail, a bicycle path made by remodeling an abandoned railway line, passes below the brewery, making it a resting place for cyclists.
I saw a circular rainbow after the rain cleared on a helicopter ride to the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. It was the first time I realized that while rainbows appear as semicircles when seen from the ground, they can appear as circles when seen from the sky.
At Apollo Bay, in the middle of the Great Ocean Road, there is a place where you can go on a ‘Wildlife Wonders’ tour. There, I met an ‘Emu’, a wild bird that resembles an ostrich.
The emu is the national bird of Australia and is a large bird that lives only in Australia in the world. It is a large bird, reaching a length of 1.8 m and weighing between 35 and 54 kg.
The label of the Spotted Ale beer bottle sold here features a cute spotted wild animal. It is called Tiger Quoll, or “pocket cat.”
There is a sign next to it that says, ‘If you drink this beer, 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the protection of the endangered tiger quelch.’ I drank a glass of cold beer to make a small contribution to protecting the unique marsupials that can only be found in Australia.
2024-09-01 09:12:49