Behind the scenes of the Summerland peninsula lies a unique history of tourism, development and wildlife conservation. Linda Cuttriss reports.
 Ellen Cuttriss A family gathering at Inverloch Pioneer Cemetery marked the end of a quest to find the long-lost grave of a young mother and son, buried 125 years ago. Linda Cuttriss reports
 By Linda Cuttriss
THE Woolamai dunes rise behind lines of rolling surf on the south-east coast of Phillip Island. These massive hills of sand stand up to 30 metres high. They sprawl from Woolamai Surf Beach to Cleeland Bight and stretch from The Colonnades to the granite upland of Cape Woolamai.  “I scarcely know a place I would rather call mine than this little island,” Lieutenant James Grant wrote of Churchill Island in 1801.
 The sight of a beach freshly eroded by a storm can shock, but the sand will return in the natural order of things. At least it has till now.
 All photos by Linda Cuttriss By Linda Cuttriss
I CAN hear the ocean rumbling, telling me there’s a big swell running. The sky is blue, the wind is light. It’s a perfect day to visit The Blowhole at the south-west tip of Phillip Island. A boardwalk hugs the side of the bluff, past penguin boxes and views of The Nobbies, Seal Rocks and out to the big blue sea. Although I know this swell is here for the day, I find myself walking briskly, glancing quickly at the massive waves crashing and rolling across the rocks that separate Point Grant from The Nobbies. The tide is dropping and I don’t want to miss The Blowhole’s dramatic show.  Cartoon by Natasha Williams-Novak By Linda Cuttriss
THERE’S something very comforting about the “bing” of an incoming email on a Saturday morning, the sound that announces your arrival again. I love those few moments of anticipation, wondering who you’ll bring into my world this weekend.  By Linda Cuttriss
CAPE Woolamai is the great-great grandmother of this coast. She sits at the south-east tip of Phillip Island and is seen from far and wide. She is always there, watching over her coastal waters, keeping an eye on the cliffs and dunes and beaches, guarding the eastern entrance to Western Port Bay.  By Linda Cuttriss
I HEAR no roar of the ocean, no sound of waves pounding the coast. I am standing on the sheltered side of Phillip Island, on the bluff above Rhyll Inlet, listening to the north-westerly wind whispering through the she-oaks.  The wreck of the Speke By Linda Cuttriss
I AM standing at the top of the steps overlooking an empty Kitty Miller Bay. At high tide waves lap the back of the beach but now the bay is drained. Low tide is when hooded plovers scamper along the shore and oystercatchers wander among the shallow pools that remain on the rocky floor.  Swan Lake, Phillip Island By Linda Cuttriss
IT IS a wild and windy winter’s day and I am on my way to Swan Lake. Nestled behind high dunes at the western end of Phillip Island, Swan Lake is a sheltered place to go when the cold winds blow.  Pyramid Rock to Berry’s Beach By Linda Cuttriss
A SLIGHTLY corrugated dirt road takes me past big old sheoaks and on through open farmland to Pyramid Rock, where the two gentle arcs of Phillip Island’s south coast meet.  Phillip Island Nature Parks’ Ecoboat Tour By Linda Cuttriss
THE brand-new 47-seat ‘sea sprinter’ pushes back from Cowes Jetty and is soon speeding westward towards Australia’s largest seal colony. I’m on board Phillip Island Nature Parks’ Ecoboat Tour. The monitor at the front of the boat shows we’re travelling at 27 knots but the sea is calm and the ride is smooth.  A local food swap, one of several in Bass Coast At a local food forum, Linda Cuttriss discovers that the future of healthy, affordable food may be closer than we know.
 December, 1974. Darwin, after Cyclone Tracy hit. Photo: Australian Emergency Management Institute By Linda Cuttriss
NERVOUS memories of cyclones this morning as I listen to the news from Queensland and Northern Territory. My younger brother has been in Bundaberg on a camping adventure with his partner, just south of where Cyclone Marcia is predicted to hit the coast. I rang him yesterday and he'd just packed up camp and was on the road heading down to his partner's son's place on the Gold Coast. They are near the Tallebudgera River, which is prone to flooding so it won't be smooth sailing there either – but at least he'll be safe from potentially 250-plus-kilometre winds.  Forty years after she helped to harvest the hay on the family farm, Linda Cuttriss still feels a primal pleasure in seeing those fat rolls of hay and silage in the paddocks.
 It's just a game for now, practice for when the prize is the prettiest doe in the paddock.
 Oswin Roberts Reserve By Linda Cuttriss
THERE is a little signpost on Rhyll Road, not far from Cowes, that for many years has attracted my eye every time I drive by. The sign says ‘Walking Tracks’ but from local knowledge I know it points to Oswin Roberts Reserve. I've been promising myself to stop one day and explore the world that’s hidden there beyond the little blue sign.  Pandanus trees, bush chooks and paw-paw salad ... Linda Cuttriss finds herself being seduced by the charms of the tropical north all over again.
 For over 150 years, Phillip Island has been a natural haven for weary city folk, writes Linda Cuttriss, but there are dark clouds on the horizon.
 From Phillip Island to Inverloch, from the lowlands to the hills, this is Linda Cuttriss’s country.
 When the gales blow from the Southern Oceans, Linda Cuttriss finds observing her fellow creatures a sure cure for the winter blues.
 When the heat is on, a birdbath is a constant source of entertainment, for animals and humans.
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