Nelson is our last stop in our journey across the Victorian southern coastline. We are only a few kilometres from the SA border set up in a van park, overlooking the estuary of the Glenelg River. Very small camp ground, only about 20 sites but they are well positioned to catch the westerly winds whipping along the coast! Nelson is only a small town with a petrol station, kiosk, boat shed, information centre and of course the old hotel from the 1800s.

Campsite by the Glenelg River

An old pine plantation , not having long been replanted.

Boatshed from which we hired our small boat.

We suspect the population of a few hundred is mixed up in the timber industry or is retired. Not much else to do here, except go fishing.  Which Allthego did, not even a little bite in the promising river. Wildflowers were much easier to catch but hard to identify without the necessary book to guide one.

This is a Chocolate Lilly.

This is a yellow flower

This is another flower

The main attraction here is the Glenelg River and the National Park that lines either side of its banks. The river cuts through a limestone watercourse, with dramatic cliffs lining its banks. Also along the banks are numerous shacks with their associated boat house, generally underneath the shack. These appear to be weekend retreats for those who like to hang out by the river. Fairly basic and subject to inundation during flood times but probably great fun. We hired a small boat and went for a cruise up the river for several kilometres, an hour and half up and the same back. It was mostly cloudy but we did get some sun to illuminate the limestone walls of the river banks. Homealone took the wheel for a while to allow  Allthego to take the odd photo or two of the passing scenery.

Homealone at the wheel

Limestone cliffs along river

Some of the riverside shacks and boat sheds

Also visited the Princess Margaret Rose Cave in the Park. This is a limestone cave discovered in the 1930s but only named after Princess Margaret in the 1960s, she never came here. The cave is a little unusual in that it is actually an eroded fault in the limestone host rock, quite narrow but is home to numerous cave features of stalagmites, stalactites and pillars etc. Quite impressive, as were the 68 steps we had to descend to enter the cave and later ascend to return to the surface. It seems that we were about 25-30 metres below the surface. Tree roots had also penetrated  down into the cave. The roots of one tree have been traced to the actual tree above ground by inserting dye into the root and then testing trees above ground for the dye. It has a ribbon tied around it and is well visited.

The roots coming down this pillar were traced to the tree above ground

An intricate pillar and stalactites beside it.

There is a ‘half face, centre photo behind the stalactites; eye, nose, mouth and beard.

After our 3 nights here in Nelson we are now turning for home and will work our way up through western Victoria and into central NSW.