BACK TO SYDNEY ONCE MORE

Hello there everyone.  The latest news and happenings since our last blog are as follows:

We’ve rented a house at Holsworthy – one station further south from our old address at East Hills.  It’s around the corner from where the girls are renting and very handy for the station. It took us over a week to find somewhere suitable.  Some of the places we looked at were really old, run down and very expensive.  This place was by far the best we looked at for the money.  It was soul destroying and so tiring looking around all the time.  We also needed one that was immediately available.   Not too many places allowed dogs either. The one we chose is a fairly new 3 bedroom townhouse with a small courtyard/ garden (not much maintenance thankfully). Daniel left some of his furniture and household things that he couldn’t take to Perth with him, so we’ve been able to put them in the house.  We had all the cooking things, linen etc in the caravan so that’s all been unloaded into the house also.  We’ve borrowed anything else we needed from friends and the place is looking reasonably homely now (we don’t want to make it too comfy).  It’s a much smaller house than East Hills and fairly easy to keep clean.

We miss our caravan so much.  It was just so sad unloading it.  It’s now looking very bare and lonely.  We parked it outside a friend’s place in Sydney whilst we were house hunting, in the hope we’d get a place where the caravan would fit also.  Alas, there’s barely enough room for our big Landcruiser in the driveway.  Off street parking is limited and the streets are quite narrow, so parking the van here just wasn’t an option.   We’ve left the van at “Camp Cox” – our very good friends at Warnervale have once again given up part of their driveway so that we can leave the van there until we’re ready to head off once more.  We’ll spend some weekends up with them and also go away for short breaks on the Central Coast work permitting.   Yes, I did say work permitting.  Unfortunately we both have to work as much as possible over the next 6 months.  Richard’s been offered a 6 months contract back at Invocare – the company he was at before we set off on our travels.  They’ve also very kindly agreed to lend him a car for the duration of the contract which is fantastic as both of us trying to work at different places with only one car wasn’t going to work out too well.  He’ll probably start back next week.  I‘m going back to the club Panania Diggers as a casual and am waiting for my uniform to come in and a phone call to start back.  Unfortunately we’re back into the rat race for at least 6 months.

Our aim is to get Adam back to work and finish his apprenticeship in June.  At least then he’ll be earning better money as a qualified tradesman and will be in a better financial position to decide what he’s going to do. It’s also his 21^st birthday in September and we’d always intended to come back to Sydney for it (didn’t expect to be actually living here once more at that time).We’re committed until mid-November now and will reassess everything further down the track.  Adam may join Daniel in Western Australia next year, so time will tell.

In the meantime Adam’s having physiotherapy 3 times a week and has a specialist appointment tomorrow.  He’ll probably start back to work on light duties next week 5 hours a day.  He’s still got a long road to full recovery and has had one third of his cartilage removed from behind his knee as it was too badly damaged to repair.  This means he’ll be more prone to arthritis later in life and shouldn’t (but probably will) go back to trail bike riding and jumps. He’s living with us as he just can’t live with his 2 sisters any longer (it was a nightmare waiting to happen). KIDS!!!!!

Thanks for joining us during our travels.  The blog will now go into hibernation for 6 months until we resume our trek around Oz and head back to South Australia that we absolutely loved and then on to Western Australia.  

Love and best wishes to you all.  Please keep in touch and there’s  a good chance we will catch up whilst we’re based in Sydney.  

Marian, Richard and Sally

VICTOR HARBOUR SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Tuesday 27^th March   -   Victor Harbour Beachfront Tourist Park  - We left Port Willunga with our next destination Victor Harbour.  In just under an hour we were there.  The caravan park was very large and the accommodation was pretty full with a Probus Convention being held there for the week. 

We parked next to a Winnebago that Richard straight away said looked familiar.  The owners were out in their car.  We got set up and had a look around the park and it was a few hours later before our neighbours returned to their van.  They were just as surprised as us when we realised we’d been parked next to them in Bowen (Far North Queensland) last October.  They’re a lovely couple called Ros and Rob and their staffie dog Molly.  We’d all got on very well when we first met.  Straight away that called for a happy hour to celebrate meeting up once more and catch up on our news.  They stayed for another 4 nights and we had a great time with them and went to the local Indian restaurant on their last night.  It’s really quite amazing how many times you bump into people again on the road.

We really liked Victor Harbour, although the beach was hard to walk on as it was almost completely covered in dry clumps of seaweed which made walking diffucult.

It was only a 10 minute walk into town to the shops, restaurants and coffee shops which we loved.  It was a lively town with plenty to see and do.

The park was slowly filling up with school holiday families and Easter visitors.  The amenities block was absolutely spotless and very well maintained.  There was also a small swimming pool.  The park was surrounded by wire mesh fencing throughout with a cycle/walking path on the other side leading into town or further along the coast. There were some beautiful walks which we did twice a day. 

Victor Harbour has a long pier stretching 632 metres going out to Granite Island.  Until recently, a horse drawn cart took tourists along the pier to the Island.  The pier is now being repaired so the 2 old dray horses were sadly confined to their stables on the esplanade for the tourists to look at.  It’s quite a long walk to the island so now the elderly or impaired can’t get there which is sad as it’s a very pretty island with coastal walks and a café/restaurant and a penguin interpretive centre to visit.  Granite Island is about 62 acres and is a recognised ecological attraction.

Captain John Blenkinsopp set up a whaling station on the island in 1837 and in April of that year guided Captain Richard Crozier into the harbour who named the harbour after his ship the Victor. When whaling came to an end the island was used to graze sheep. 

The day we went to Granite Island we spotted a lone seal swimming on the harbour edge.  Unfortunately he’d swam away before we could take his photo

We also visited the Penguin Interpretive Centre to see the 7 Little/Fairy Penguins that are living there. Their handler knows them all by name and their individual characteristics.  We instantly felt sorry for one with a big blue balloon on his foot and discovered it was to keep the dressing on his injured foot dry.  They were all squawking for their fish feed as it was feeding time.  Some of them hid in their bunkers and we discovered how they swap and change partners constantly.  They’re so small and cute and are moulting at this time of year.  One of the penguins looked like he had a woolly scarf around his neck.  The rest of his body was bare as he had almost finished moulting.  2 of the penguins are permanent residents of the Centre as they’ve lost an eye by being attacked by fish.  Some are only there to recover from an injury until they can be released into the wild again.  Every night there is a tour out to visit the penguins coming in from the ocean onto land.  There were only 7 this time of year and we were told they all look quite scraggy due to them moulting.  The Little Penguin is only found in Australia and New Zealand and is the world’s smallest species, averaging about 35cm and weighing 1.2kg.  They can dive to a maximum depth of 60 metres and have excellent eye sight. Each bird has around 10,000 feathers.  During the moulting season in late summer when breeding is finished, their coats are not waterproof so they are very vulnerable to land predators. They stockpile as much food as they can before they start to moult as they can’t hunt for food.  It takes about 2-3 weeks for their new feathers to regrow.

Monday 2^nd April -   Adam out youngest son (20) had an accident at work 3 weeks ago and is having an operation on his damaged knee tomorrow.  He’s living with his 2 sisters and all is not going well for the trio.  We got a phone call late in the evening that decided us to return asap to Sydney and try to sort the situation out.  Sadly, alas our travel plans are now on temporary hold and I’m booked to fly back to Sydney on Wednesday 4^th.  Richard will drive the caravan with Sally the 1500km back to Sydney and we’ll take it from there.

Trivia Facts:   From 1^st July when we set sail in the HMS Jayco we’ve clocked up 33,500 kilometres, spent $5,300 on accommodation and $7,300 on petrol.

PORT WILLUNGA - FLEURIEU PENINSULA SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Monday 12th March  We left Beachport with our next destination 4 hours away at Port  Willunga Big 4 Tourist Park.  We passed though Robe, Kingston (where we saw The Giant Lobster), Tailem Bend and on to Port Willunga on The Fleurieu Peninsula.  The scenery was stunning with a back drop of the Adelaide Hills along the way.  The colours of the landscape were amazing – yellows, browns and greens of the valleys and undulating fields and the striped tiered effect of the surrounding hills.

The tourist park was very big with large sites. There were lots of permanents living behind the casual area.  It was very well maintained with beautiful tubs of flowers on the verandah by the office.  There were 2 peacocks and 4 peahens wandering freely around the park plus a penned area for ducks and geese.  Several times we had to stop the car as there was a peacock in the way not taking a blind bit of notice of us.  They came right up to the caravan, so we had to make sure they weren’t around before we let Sally out.

Our nearest beach was Maslin Beach – a 10 minute walk across the pathway opposite the caravan park to steep winding concrete steps down to the beach.  What a stunning view standing at the top of the steps and looking across the ocean with the hills to one side creating a calm bay.  This was the “clothing optional” end of the beach which was in fact the first unclad beach in South Australia.  We drove further along to the next car park which led on to the dogs on leash area and further along the dogs off leash any time area.  Sally loved it there as there were plenty of stones to throw for her and she had lots of doggy friends to say hello to each visit.

We spent the next 2 days enjoying the sunshine and beaches and going for lots of walks.

Thursday 15^th – Tuesday 16^th  I flew to Sydney and caught up with friends and family and had a wonderful evening celebrating Paddy and Mary Joyce’s 50^th Wedding Anniversary on  17^th March held in The Officers Mess at Victoria Barracks, Paddington.  What a magnificent place with dark wooden paneling and leather chesterfield lounges in the Ante Room.  The dining room had silver place mats and 3 crystal glasses at each place setting.  The tables had silver candelabras which all added to the magnificence of the place.  A perfect historic venue for their celebration.  It was a real honour to be part of their special occasion.

Wednesday 21^st March   We went for a drive around the surrounding areas of Port Willunga, stopping off at Myponga Reservoir.  We went up the winding roads leading to the lookout across the entire valley looking down onto the dam.  It was quite a view and much larger than I imagined. It took 4 years to build and was completed in 1962.   It holds 26,800 megalitres of water and is presently at 71% capacity. It provides 5% of the water needed by Adelaide.  The Dam was searched in the early 1960’s for the missing Beaumont children and 2 other missing women.

We also drove through Sellicks Beach, Normanville and Second Valley, stopping off at Rapid Bay to check out the place as we were going to stay there for a few days.

Maslin Beach our local at Port 'Willunga

A Visiting Peacock

Another stunning view of Maslin Beach

Myponga Resevoir

Peacocks wandering in the park

Rapid  Bay

We were struck by the beautiful coastline literally stretching for miles in front of us and by the intense colours of  the water.  The landscape was also amazing with undulating fields and hills and changing greens, browns and yellows everywhere.  From Rapid Bay we drove to Cape Jervis where the Sealink Ferries go across to Kangaroo Island where lots of people go camping to see all the seals, birds and wildlife on the island.  Dogs aren’t allowed on the island, so unfortunately we can’t visit there.

We took Sally to Aldinga Beach every day which was a beautiful spot  with plenty of doggie friends to play with. 

Friday 23^rd March   We left Port Willunga and headed south with an hour trip to our next destination Rapid Bay.  It’s a big park by the ocean run by the local council where you can stay for $6 per person per night.  It’s got very clean toilets that are maintained daily and the grounds looked after by a caretaker that also collects money from you each evening.  There are undercover bbqs and a playground and its a popular weekend attraction for fishing off the recently built $3,000,000 jetty, boating and scuba diving to see the rare Leafy Sea Dragons a big attraction for the divers.  The beach is mainly fine stones.  When the tide is out there’s flat sand to walk along.  The park is surrounded by pine trees and dark stone hills with a few caves in one corner.  It’s a very peaceful place away from the hubbub as there’s nothing around, except for The Old Mill pub about 15 minutes drive onto the main road. You have to bring in all your own supplies and water.  People still live in the area.

The park has a replica anchor set in a stone monument to commemorate the first landing by Captain William Light on 8^th September 1836.  He landed in the bay in his ship “The Rapid”.  He stayed in the area for a few days and planted a garden plot that flourished.  The soil was very rich and supported many of the new settlers to the area.

The first white male child to be born on mainland South Australia was at Rapid Bay on 7^th November 1837 and the first while female was born on 2^nd January 1837

In the1950’s the area was a flourishing limestone quarry where 150 men were employed and it was necessary to work two shifts each day to ship the 60,000 tonnes of limestone that the quarry produced, until 1981 when it closed.    It’s sad walking up the street to the quarry and looking at the deserted houses where the quarry workers used to live.  It’s almost like walking through a deserted film set.

We’re really enjoying our time here and chatting to other people staying here.  There are about 12 other caravans and campers around.  Richard’s been fishing a few times and caught a few squid that we’re going to have for tea tonight..

Next Week:  We’ll be going to Victor Harbour for 7-8 nights, then on to Snow Town where bodies were found in vats inside a bank a few years ago (should  be an interesting visit).  We have to go there as it’s Easter and everywhere is fully booked/overly expensive with a 4 night minimum stay/don’t take dogs over Easter (after Easter they’ll be very glad for us to stay!!!).  

Thanks for reading our latest blog.  Hope everything’s going well in your lives (email us and let us know) and that you’re not working too hard.  Bye for now Marian, Richard and Sally.

PORTLAND TO SOUTHEND TO BEACHPORT

 

Monday 5^th March  We left Mount Gambier heading back to Portland for a 2pm appointment with Victoria Roads to get the caravan registered in Victoria. We stopped off in Dartmoor to see the wood sculptures.  What an amazing little place.  We were really quite taken aback by them all.  We parked in The Avenue of Honour and were quite awestruck by the sculptures done by chainsaw artist Kevin Gilders who created a row of masterpieces from the remains of 9 atlantic cedar trees planted in 1918 as a memorial to those that served in WWI.  The trees were going to be cut down as they were a safety risk, until Kevin worked his magic turning them into permanent memorials.  They were all sanded by hand and depict a nurse, soldiers, grieving mother with a telegram in her hand, guns and are a very impressive feature of the town and now a popular tourist destination.  They are so smooth that they look as though they're made from marble.

Further along on the village green Kevin created another masterpiece with his nursery rhyme tree, featuring over 20 fairytale characters which is just stunning, along with smaller sculptures of animals on the posts by the bridge and on the grass verge of the village green.

We also checked out a free stopover listed in the Camps 6 book.  It’s a huge area at the end of the town by a river and it was pretty busy there.  We were told there’s a freshwater spring on the other side to fill up your water tanks and that there’s no restriction to how long you camp there.  Most spots are 24-48 hours maximum stay.  We will definitely keep that spot in mind if we’re that way again.

We got to our appointment in Portland and everything went very smoothly with very friendly and helpful people in Vic Roads.  Our caravan in now registered in Victoria for $38 per year instead of the exorbitant $650 in NSW.  With our saved money we headed straight for Aldi to stock up on beer and wine as there aren’t any Aldi stores in SA or WA.  Richard’s very happy with their Smith and Clyde beer at $29.99 per carton and I’m equally happy with their Precious Earth range for $2.49 per bottle.  We’ve saved heaps of money being in Victoria.

We had time to spare and went to visit the Botanical Gardens in town that we’d missed on our previous trip.  There were rows and rows of gorgeous roses and dahlias of all sizes and colours.  It was really quite a spectacle.  We didn’t know there were so many varieties and colours, some very vivid and others magnificent two-tone. The town was hosting a Rose Dahlia Festival that weekend and it was great to see them in all their splendour.

We were thrilled to learn that The Endeavour came into Portland Harbour the day before and we went down to the harbour to admire her.  It’s a recreation of the original ship sailed by Captain Cook and is doing a tour all over Australia.  Tours were available from 1 – 4pm.  We arrived there after 4pm and were disappointed not to be able to go on board.   We couldn’t imagine anyone having to climb the rigging to unfurl the sails as it’s just so high up.  Not for the feint hearted.

We also learnt that the Queen Mary had sailed past Portland the previous day.  What a busy place Portland is at the moment. 

We stayed overnight again at Henty Bay Caravan Park and Sally was in her element chasing rabbits straight away.

Tuesday 6^th March  - We left Portland for a 2 ½ hour trip to our next destination Southend-On-Sea Tourist Park.  We couldn’t wait to get there to compare Southend in Australia to the one in England (we knew there would be many differences) and it was a bit of a giggle that we just had to stay there to tell all our pommie friends and share the humour of it all with them.  We knew it was going to be pretty laid back when Richard had tried to book it a few days before we got there (it was a long weekend in Vic/SA so we thought we should pre-book).  The owner said “no worries mate don’t bother we’re not that busy – just rock up when you’re ready”.  We did just that and what a character the owner was – very chatty and friendly and told us straight away “we get a lot of you blokes here taking photos by the sign”.  He also told us the owner of the caravan park in England had emailed him jokingly wanting to swap beaches.

It was a fairly small caravan park with a standard $26 per night flat rate all year.  We had a choice of either the caravan park with power or the foreshore grassed area opposite the park with no power for $16 per night.  We loved the foreshore area as there was a terrific, unobstructed view of the beach.  We booked in for 2 nights and went to the far end of the foreshore area and parked the van looking straight out onto the ocean with an access walkway opposite us.  It was like our own private oasis and it was just gorgeous.  I could lay in bed and watch the ocean!!!

A sign we passed by on our  way into the town told us the population of Southend was 283!!!

We went for lots of lovely beach walks admiring the clear turquoise water.  There was absolutely nothing at Southend except for a general store cum post office/garage on the corner of the road.   We absolutely loved it there and will definitely go there again.

Thursday 8^th March  We left Southend for our next destination Beachport Caravan Park.  This was our shortest drive between destinations so far.  It took us a total of 20 minutes to get there.

Beachport is a pretty big caravan park, facing the ocean and is very popular with golfers as the golf course is the other side of the road. It has a few shops, cafes and a pub at the top of the hill.  We were hoping to find some live music or entertainment over the long weekend, but were disappointed. The cafes and eateries offered very basic menus so we cooked at home every night and saved our money for the next place we visit. 

There are some lovely coastal walks by the light house and a cycle path to the surf beach.  There are also 2 very pretty coastal drives with stunning scenery and lookouts.

Beachport has the second longest pier in South Australia and took about 15 minutes to walk along it.

This caravan park also had the $26 per night flat rate and takes dogs year round.

Next Week:  We will be going to Port Willunga about 4 hours drive from Beachport.  This is 45 minutes drive from Adelaide Airport.  I’m flying back to Sydney on Thursday for a 5 day stay with Hayley, Karina and Adam to go to our dear friends Paddy and Mary Joyce’s 50^th Wedding Anniversary celebration on 17^th March (also Paddy’s 72^nd birthday and St. Patrick’s Day).  I’m really looking forward to being there.  Port Willunga is near a beach where “clothing is optional”.  I’m sure Richard and Sally will keep themselves amused whilst I’m away.

Stay tuned to hear all about the 50^th   

PORTLAND TO MOUNT GAMBIER

The Petrified Forest

Cape Nelson Lighthouse

The Gannet Colony

The Blue Lake

Mount Gambier Rose Garden

Umpherstons Sunken garden

Looking up from Umpherston's Garden

Another View of the Garden

Portland Harbour





Tuesday 28 February   We left Port Fairy at 9am.  Our next destination was Henty Bay Beachfront Caravan Park in Portland, Victoria.  It was a very quick 55minute trip to Portland.  Henty Bay is located 15 minutes from town and was a small park, part of the Family Parks Group.  When we pulled into our spot there were only 2 other caravans already set up.  We had a beautiful beach view from our front door.  There was only a small area of sand to walk along as the water reaches up to the big stone break wall.  It was a very pretty spot with a grassed walking area behind the rocks.  The area was full of rabbits and we lost Sally many times scurrying off into the bushes in pursuit of bunnies. She was having fun and enjoyed chasing them and sniffing around their scents.

Once we had set up and had lunch we went into town to look around the harbour and visit the Tourist Information Office to find out the local attractions.  We got some maps and drove around to Port Danger to visit the only mainland Gannet Colony where you can see over 6,000 pairs nesting in the colony.  You really need binoculars to view them as close access is restricted by a fenced area with guard dogs on the other side.  There were lots of birds perched on the point.  The first thing we noticed was a very strong smell which wasn’t particularly pleasant. Gannets have a big wing span and make quite a ruckus all together.

We then went to Cape Nelson Lighthouse.  Its 32 metres tall and dates back to 1883.  It’s still in operation today and offers daily tours inside.  There were many revamped cottages that you can rent out. There’s a 5km coastal walk around the lighthouse.  We stopped at Isabella’s Café which was quite an experience, like a time warp.  It’s run by an elderly very camp theatrical type man.  The walls were adorned with old musical show posters and the background music was very “Broadway”.  Very quirky, but fascinating.  I had the best prune, apple and coconut home made cake (minus the recommended cream and ice cream).

On the way back to Henty Bay we stopped off at Portland Strawberries to buy a 1kg box of freshly picked strawberries for $13.  We also sampled strawberry wine that tasted very much like sherry.  They also have a range of local chocolates and products.  The strawberries were yummy and sweet and we couldn’t help ourselves pigging out on them on the way back to the caravan.

Wednesday 29^th February   It was a really windy day and we drove to Cape Bridgewater hoping to see the fur seal colony by boat, which was the major reason we wanted to visit Portland.   Inflatable boats go out to visit the seal colonies.  As it was such a windy day with big swells we decided against taking the trip.  You can do a walk down to the colony along the cliffs going to a viewing platform 70 metres above the seal colony  This takes 2-3 hours return and there’s no guarantee the seals will be there.  Yet again, reluctantly, we decided not to do the walk. The weather forecast was the same windy conditions for the next few days.

We took a drive out to Bridgewater Lakes which was very pretty.  It’s used for water sports and fishing.  We had morning tea overlooking the lake accompanied by two Aylesbury ducks.   We also stopped off at Tarragal Caves and took a 50 metre climb up to the main biggest limestone cave.  There were lots of smaller caves beside it – quite an unusual sight.

Thursday 1^st March (first day of autumn)    We went to The Petrified Forest. At first glance it looked like rows and rows of stone statues.  In fact it’s the remains of tree trunks that have a fossilized appearance over time.  We commented that it looked like the moon surface full of craters or a set from the movie Mad Max.  It stretched for a long way and was a different local attraction, quite eerie really.

The Blowholes are beside the Petrified Forest and are similar to the ones at Kiama where the sea foam spurts up through the rocks at high sea.  Although it was a very windy day, they weren’t spurting very high.

Friday 2^nd March   We left Portland at 9am.  Our next destination was Mount Gambier – 2 ½ hours further along the coast and into South Australia.  We stopped at Nelson for morning tea. It was a beautiful small town along the river where you can hire out huts right on the water.  5 minutes on from Nelson, we crossed over the border into South Australia and had to get rid of any fruit and vegetables we had left into the collection bins.  There’s a fine of $5,000 if you’re caught so it’s just not worth taking the risk. When we got into the town of Mount Gambier we stopped at the local Mobil garage to try and get a site at The Showground.  They don’t take advance bookings, so it’s a case of first come, first served. They were fully booked that day as the town was hosting a big rodeo show on the weekend.  Powered sites are only $20 per night, so it wasn’t hard to understand why they were booked out.  (We later kicked ourselves as Richard forgot to ask about unpowered sites as we now have a generator). The Showground is within walking distance to town.  We booked in at Kalganyi Top Tourist Caravan Park, supposedly 4 stars, 15 minutes from the town centre.  We were right on a main road, next to a dusty building development and we weren’t very impressed.  We were thankful we were only staying for 3 nights.  The park was quite small and laid back with older style accommodation, painted in dark, drab colours.

We came to Mount Gambier specifically to see The Blue Lake.  It’s one of the lakes in the three craters of a volcano that last erupted over 5,000 years ago.  We thought it was a bit of a beat up that the lake is supposedly so blue and were very amazed by the vivid azure blue crystal clear water that we looked down on from the viewing platform.   Our first impression was that someone had dropped tonnes of “blue loo” into the water.  Each November to late March the water mysteriously changes from a darker steel blue to the bright blue we saw.  It’s thought to happen because of special algae that grow in the lake.  We were very grateful to see it before it went back to its darker colour.  The lake is about 70 metres deep and holds 36,000 million litres of water, enough for at least 10 years water supply for the city.

In the centre of town we saw The Cave Garden.  It’s a sunken garden that’s floodlit at night.  It’s a popular picnic area and has a beautiful rose garden around it.

Saturday 3^rd March  We visited Umperston’s Sinkhole.  It’s also known as The Sunken Garden.  It was owned by James Umperston, a local grazier and his family in the 1880’s.  When he retired in 1886, he started the massive refurbishment transforming it from the lake that he used to take his family on, to a beautiful sunken garden.  It fell into disrepair and about 30 years ago volunteers from Friends of Mount Gambier uncovered some of the tiers that James had started and set about the daunting task of completing James’s vision.  There are huge hydrangea bushes planted throughout the garden and the top walls are covered with long dangling blankets of ivy.  Going down the steps underneath the canopy of hanging ivy, there’s a lookout platform with spectacular views over all the terraces of magnificent hydrangeas and tall tree ferns.  There is even a bbq and eating area at one side with a small waterfall running to the bottom.  It was definitely worth visiting and staggering to imagine how the workers actually transformed the area into such a tourist attraction.

At night the gardens are floodlit and you can come and feed the possums.

We had intended going to the rodeo in town but the weather turned really cold, wet and windy and we decided against it.  Shame as I’ve never been to a rodeo before.

Sunday 4^th March   We visited Englebrecht Caves.  There are tours of the caves every hour for $12 per person.  They are a series of caves under the city and were first explored in 1884.  Until 1979 the area was mainly used as a rubbish tip, until the Lions Club restored and beautified the site.  There are floodlights and viewing platforms inside the two chambers that are open for tourists.  The caves are visited by many cave divers and the Cave Divers Association helped to map the cave system.  The tour lasted about 45 minutes and was very interesting and informative.  The caves are surprisingly big inside and very quiet and cool.  It’s hard to distinguish where the water level starts as the water is so clear.  They are “dry” caves so don’t have any stalagmite formations growing.  They are too cool for bats to live in or spiders.  Many fossils and artefacts have been unearthed there.  It’s quite interesting to see the different colours in the strata levels inside and the number of “solution holes” of varying sizes formed by acid water eating through the limestone.

Next Week:  We’re heading back to Portland overnight to register the caravan in Victoria for $38 per year, as opposed to $700 in NSW (the difference being Government taxes!!!).  Then we’re back in South Australia at Southend-On-Sea for 2-3 nights (for all you Pommies reading this blog that will be interesting to compare the differences to Southend On-Sea in England).  After that we’ll be heading to Rapid Bay for 5 nights free camping.   Stay tuned for another interesting blog.  Love Marian, Richard and Sally

PART 2 THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD

 

BEAUTIFUL PORT FAIRY 

 

TOWER HILL



THE GROTTO



THE 12 APOSTLES



THE BAY OF ISLANDS



LOCH ARD GORGE



PORT FAIRY HARBOUR



PORT FAIRY TO 12 APOSTLES

Tuesday 21st February   We left Anglesea at 8am.  Our next destination was Port Fairy Gardens Caravan Park, another 3 hours drive along The Great Ocean Road.  We had to call into Warrnambool to get a wheel alignment on the caravan wheels, which took longer than anticipated.  Whilst we were waiting for the wheel alignment we spent a few hours looking around the town.   We had lunch by the ocean and drove along the coastline coming to the Tourist Information Centre at Flagstaff Hill where the Maritime Village is located.   By the time we picked the caravan up again, hooked on and got to Port Fairy we were pretty tired as it had been a long drive having to wait around in Warrnambool.  The caravan park was located along the Moyne River and had a garden beside the footbridge into town.  It’s quite a large park but much of it is closed off now that it’s not peak period.  We set up, had some dinner then went over the footbridge into town.

PORT FAIRY   We instantly liked the little port town and thought it was just so pretty, with boats on either side of the harbour.  It’s an historic port town that has been kept pretty much intact.  It was originally known as Belfast but was renamed Port Fairy in 1887 by Captain James Wishart when his cutter named Fairy was caught there in a bad storm.  In the early 1800’s it was an attractive place for sealers and whalers.  A whaling station was established on the island.  Whaling was so successful that by 1840 there were no whales left to capture, so the whaling station closed.  It had very rich soil and was populated by famers and many Irish immigrants.

Wednesday 22^nd February  We drove back towards Warrnambool to explore Killarney and Killarney Beach and admire the little stone walls along the road that you find in Ireland.  Many of the roads have Irish names.  There was a large Irish community of potato farmers living there when the town was first settled.  Behind Killarney Beach there is a cheap camp where you can stay for $17 per night (unpowered) and $22 for a powered site.  It’s run by Jamie O’Brien.  It’s very popular there and was quite crowded with vans and motor homes.  We’ll definitely stay there if we’re back in the area.

 Further on is the historic Irish town of Koroit that holds a big Irish Festival every April. William Rutledge an important Irish landowner took up 5,120 acres of land in the 1840’s and imported fellow Irish labourers to work the land.  These poor fellows were suffering during the potato famine in Ireland and were eager to look for opportunities abroad.  Many Scots and Yorkshire folk also lived there, but the Irish dominated and set the lay of the land.  Koroit soon became known as a major potato producer.

Later that night we came back to Warrnambool for the Shipwrecked laser light show at the Maritime Village.  They hold this show nightly.  It’s so popular that they had to have a second show that night, starting at 9.50pm – a bit late but we really wanted to see it.  Entrance was $26 per adult.  We had a guided walk through the village by lantern and were taken to an auditorium set out like the inside of a ship.  We sat down and saw a re-enactment of people telling their story of how they were on the Loch Ard ship that sank in 1878 in Victoria.  One was the captain of the ship, one was Tom Pierce an 18 year old ship’s apprentice and the other 18 year old passenger Eva Carmichael.  The Loch Ard set sail from Greenwich in England on 1^st March 1878 with 81 passengers, 51 crew and valuable cargo.  During the 13 week voyage they did the great circle route through hot temperatures to the freezing cold arctic temperatures.  They had days of bad weather and fog and couldn’t plot their course accurately.  Consequently, they hit a reef off of Loch Ard Gorge and sank in 15 minutes because of the cargo of heavy lead they were carrying.  There were only 2 survivors – Tom Pierce and Eva Carmichael.  The captain who was only 6 weeks married perished with his ship.  The most famous piece salvaged was “The Peacock” which was going to an exhibition in Melbourne.  It’s current value is $4 million, but was purchased by the town of  Warrnambool for $4,000 at a salvage auction.  It is now proudly displayed in The Maritime Village for everyone to admire.  It was a fantastic show well worth looking at.  It gave us a great insight into the cramped conditions aboard the ship and the hopes and expectations of the immigrants wanting to start a new life or visit relatives already settled in Australia.  The laser show was projected over the water in the harbour and our seats rocked with the motion of the boat and we could really imagine what it felt like to be shipwrecked.  Afterwards, we walked up the cobblestone roads and hills to the top of the village and couldn’t help thinking about what we had just seen.

Thursday 23^rd February   We set off at 9am eager to see the rest of The Great Ocean Road.  It took us over an hour to get to the first stop The Bay of Islands.  It was just breathtaking and we were in awe of what we were looking at.  Every lookout we stopped at was magnificent with deep turquoise clear water and changing colours of  the cliff faces.  We stopped at The Bay of Martyrs, The Grotto, Port Campbell and many more along the way. Loch Ard Gorge was quite a poignant stop, having just learnt its history first hand the previous night.  We saw the actual cave where Eva and Tom sheltered on that fateful night. It was almost impossible to imagine how Tom had clambered up the cliffs barefoot to get help.  We had lots of steps to help us up and down the steep cliffs.  Each lookout just got better and better as we went up and down steps and pathways to the viewing platforms.  There were lots of 15 minute helicopter rides over the area from different starting points.  The 12 Apostles was the biggest stop with a visitor’s centre, helicopter rides, huge car park and café.   The views were superb and magnificent and it was hard to absorb just how phenomenal it all was.  I would say it should be a must on everyone’s bucket list of things to do.  It would probably rate as our number one destination so far in our travels.

To cap it off we stopped at Cheeseworld at Allensford on the way back.  They have free tastings every hour and a café famous for its milkshakes and ploughman’s lunches.  Entry is free and the museum there was full of interesting artifacts from the past, machinery, woodworking tools, china and photographs.  We really enjoyed the cheeses that were made in the factory across the road.  We had a yummy Devonshire tea and bought some of our favourite cheeses for future happy hours.

Friday 24^th February   We went on a half hour Bay Cruise that left from the harbour at 10.30, costing $10.  We were greeted by “Captain Jane” and her border collie Molly (a 5 year old rescue dog).   Captain Jane was a fascinating local character who had been sailing in various boats for many years (she had previously been on cray fishing boats).  She has been operating the tour boat for the past 17 years and informed us we were on her 10,897^th trip over that period. We knew her trip was going to be different to what we had expected when she informed us she had to “fill up with fuel” if no-one objected or was in a hurry.  Well that turned out to be quite an episode of bowsers not working, cards not being valid to operate the bowser and a longstanding battle with port officials being unhelpful towards her.  Just as we were heading off up the river, without having refueled, there was a miraculous recovery with the bowser operating. We had to back around into position again and got 2 tanks filled with diesel (thankfully).  We learnt as much of Captain Jane’s history as we did of our surrounds and our 30 minute trip stretched out to 1 hour and 10 minutes.  She was having fun and was enjoying our company as much as we were enjoying listening to her tales.  We thought it was the best $10 of entertainment we’d spent.  Molly balanced on the gunnels through the waves and was steady as a rock the whole time.  She’s never once yet fallen off the boat.  She was as entertaining as her owner, running up and down and barking when she saw fit.

After lunch and a good laugh talking about our boat trip, we drove to Tower Hill an inactive volcano with a crater lake.  It is part of the State Park system and was used for pasture for stock, crop growing fields, a stone quarry and an unofficial motorcycle racing venue.  The area has been reforested with over 300,000 native trees.  Koalas, kangaroos magpies, geese, echidnas, possums and waterbirds can be found there.  Small quantities of gold were found from time to time and it soon developed into a town and tourist destination.

There are lots of walks you can do of varying lengths.  It’s a very quiet, restful place where you feel so peaceful.  We saw wild emus walking past.

That night we went to “Wishart’s” fish restaurant by the harbour and had “Catch of The Day” blue grenadier.  It was a huge serve of 2 pieces of fish, chips and salad for $25 each.  We were going to have an entrée until we saw the size of the serves coming out to other customers.  It was very nice and we had a window seat alongside the harbour, despite the fact that I asked for grilled fish but got fried, the waiter ignored my request for extra lemon and when I ordered a bottle of wine he brought me a glass – he later came back with a bottle and said I may as well have the extra glass as he’d poured it out and couldn’t do anything with it!!!

The rest of our stay at Port Fairy was very enjoyable.  There’s a beautiful beach 5 minutes walk from the caravan park with really soft sand and we walked there every day.

Next Week:  We’ll be going to Portland (an hour from Port Fairy) for a few days as we both want to do a boat trip out to the seal colonies.  We’ll then be heading to Mount Gambier to see The Blue Lakes.

Don't forget to log on the blog for another exciting episode.  Thanks for your company so far.  Take care Love Marian, Richard and Sally.