As we traveled southwest, the scenery changed considerably, and there was always something different and interesting to see as we moved from New South Wales toward the even wetter environment of Victoria.  One day, driving through the far southwestern reaches of NSW, we crossed the path of a spring storm which shrouded the landscape in almost night-time darkness.

    The clouds were drifting rather low to the ground, and created a unique atmosphere, combined with the stillness and silence of the area.  I wondered if perhaps somewhere among the hills visible in the distance, lay buried some as of yet undiscovered fossils of Thylacoleo and the other megafaunal marsupials with which it shared the Pleistocene - a time not so remote from our own, and the epoch from which came the beginnings of the modern world.

    We soon reached Victoria, and began our journey along the Great Ocean Road, stopping along the way at places such as Blackwood Gully Rainforest at Lavers Hill, and Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve near Warrnambool, which is situated in the crater of an extinct volcano.