Sunday 6th April

What a splendid day we’ve had! It started off with brilliant sunshine and WARM! (The clocks went back an hour so we got an extra hour in bed too.) We left the motel after chatting to the proprietors, who told us that blue whales had been seen a couple of days ago basking just offshore near Cape Nelson, which is about 90kms west of Warrnambool.

I had read that Port Fairy (!!), about 30kms west, was worth a visit for the old cottages – it is one of Victoria’s oldest towns. We arrived at the town to find that there was a bike race being held and the centre was heaving, so we turned the car and were just about to leave when Tom pulled over, muttering “I think I may just regret this” and turned the car into a side street. He’d noticed a sign, which I hadn’t, “The Wish House – scrapbooking, gifts and patchwork” so the nice person wot he is brought it to my attention! It looked like a tiny little cottage,

but was chock full of all sorts of goodies – I got paper and fabric and a koala punch while Tom talked to Finlay, Jenny’s husband. They were so welcoming and chatty. Their cottage had belonged to Finlay’s parents and is packed with all kinds of lovely craft bits and bobs. Jenny’s making a sunshine quilt, which she took me to see, in all bright yellow fabrics. Her shop has so much in it, it was difficult to decide what NOT to buy. We met their 2 cats - a white one and a lovely pale grey (who reminded us of Moppet, only not so raggy!), some chooks and a cockatoo, none of which we met. We told them how impressed we were with the 12 Apostles we’d seen yesterday and they told us a funny story about the London Bridge formation of rocks, which we hadn’t visited. It used to be joined to the mainland, but one day in 1991, the narrow spit of land joining the Bridge to the land just fell into the sea. It was very unfortunate for the couple who were on the Bridge at the time, not only because they had to be airlifted off, but they weren’t a “couple”, if you get my drift!! I wonder how they explained that! It was good to start the day with a laugh.

When we left them, we carried on along the Princes Highway, and turned off to the Crags. We didn’t know what they were, but we had to explore. They are sheer cliffs, eroded by the sea and wind and are very craggy! More photos were taken! On we went, passing the Codrington Wind farm, which is causing a bit of controversy, but has created quite a lot of jobs in an area which doesn’t have a huge number of jobs on offer. It’s quite big but not nearly the size of the one we saw in NZ.

We reached Portland at 12 noon and found the Tourist info down by the Marine Park by the Harbour. The very nice man there gave us a map to guide us to Cape Nelson where the whales had been sighted, but did warn us that they might not still be there, which we realised anyway. He also told us there was a nice café by the lighthouse at Cape Nelson so we drove straight there and had our usual halfway-through-the-day repast. But there were no whales I’m sad to say – more exciting waves and cliffs, but not even a seal. We drove on to Cape Breakwater, 22kms further along the coast where there is a petrified forest and some blowholes – and the possibility that the whales could be there. Well, the petrified forest isn’t – neither petrified NOR a forest that is! The tubes were created underground and then exposed by erosion of the softer ground around them. There is a scientific explanation for it and the photo will tell you if you’re interested! And the blowholes didn’t, and only do when the sea is very high and the winds are fierce, which they weren’t today!! Nor were there any whales here – but I got some more atmospheric photos of crashing waves and foaming water so all was not lost. Then it was back onto the Princes Hwy and through some very flat land with lots of cows and no more sight of the ocean. Several cars coming the other way flashed us at one point so we made sure we were sticking to the speed limit as this generally is a warning that there’s a cop car with a recorder ahead – and sure enough, there he was waiting for us. It must be a very boring job on a road like that on a Sunday afternoon as there was hardly any traffic.

About 15kms from Mount Gambier, we crossed over into South Australia and into that odd half hour time difference (we’ll never get the hang of this, it’s confused us all evening so far). It was like we’d stepped into an alien land – the road verges became suddenly wider and the trees are all pines of some sort. The whole area is being replanted with trees so we saw tiny seedlings no more that 3-4” high, then all sizes up to very tall. We had no fruit with us as we knew how strict they are about keeping the fruit fly out of the state. Also within half a km from the stateline we saw wild emus by the road, and shortly afterwards, several dead ‘roos on the verges. (I forgot to tell you that when we were on the way to Ballarat the other day I saw my first wild ‘roo sitting on a bank and Tom had seen an echidna crossing the road some days before.)

Anyway, here we are in Mount Gambier in the Arkana Motor Inn, in a very palatial room, with wireless internet, just for Tom. I’ve caught up with the laundry again and am just about ready to hit the sack so night, night once again!