So it was up and away from my lovely little country pub in rob and onto my next stop, the very prettily named Port Fairy. I wasn't planning on stopping too much on this leg of the trip - the Great Ocean Road does not start unitl after Port Fairy so it was just going to be a drive down and then a chill out evening.
The scenery was a wonderful as always, mainly through farmland and forests, with cows and sheep a plenty. This is logging country as well as farming and I found myself behind two 3 wagon road trains - one carrying logs and the other carrying hay. I could see them in the distance pull out in front of me and I wasn't worried as there are plenty of places to overtake on this stretch of road. Well, these buggers were outrunning me and the Ute! I was doing 100k and they were outrunning me! At one point they both overtook 2 caravans! Mad men, I just let them get on with it......
I travelled through the towns of Mount Gambier (there is one of those in WA too!) then Nelson and onto Portland, all quite nice but not really worth a stop. I then finally arived in Port Fairy. And very very pretty it was too. Loads of old heritage buidlings and cottages, much like Robe (again my mum would love it!)
Then I came to my YHA Hostel for the night. A very quaint little building with lovely flowers up the path. good start I thought. The managers were lovely and helpful and gave me lots of information on the local area. Then they handed me my key and my sheets for the bed. Off I went to inspect. My room was in 'The Coach House' upstairs and across the coutyard from the amenities. It was very quaint but to say it was basic would be a bit of an understaement. Now, all of you that know me well are aware of my little issues with showers and bits and bobs and I though I could just about manage the little room with metal frames bolted to the walls, but the amenities were another matter. Bless the place, very well cared for but just not my scene when I was very tired and needed a good hot shower and a chill in bed with the TV! At this point I had no real intention of finding somewhere else to stay (the room had only cost me 30 quid) but that was to change.....
I headed to the visitor info centre and got some idea of things to do then headed for a cafe on the main street called The Hub that advertsied tea and cake for $5.50 and free wifi. Done. So I ate and sipped and updated facebook, before taking off to explore the sights. Port Fairy has a great little marina on the river and as I was wandering up the banks a gorgeous little holiday home caught my eye - Maisie's Cottage!! It was sooooooo cute nad quaint and had vacancies......I rang the number and a lovely man named Norm answered and said that Maisie's was booked but they had another little unit perfect fot the single traveller.......He met me there are showed me round and I was sold and it was gorgeous! Thankfully I hadn't left any stuff and the hostel so I decided to just take the key back in the morning. They will never know........ Bumped into a couple that had been on the Ghan to Alilce Springs too, can you believe it! Bert and Beryl from Manchester (not their real names but you get the picture.....) They were headed the same way as me in the morning and I am sure I will see them again!
So now I knew that I had a fabulous place to stay sorted it was time to explore. There is a lovely little conservation island called Griffiths Island that you get to via a footbridge that has wallabies and a colony of mutton birds, so I decided to explore. It's only about 3 km all the way round and I ended up walking all the way round. Saw 5 wallabies right at the start, just sitting in front of me! So cute. After a little detour onto the beach I came to the lighthouse (they do love a lighthouse) and a beach where the rocks were jet black and the sand was made up of millions of the tiniest shells I have ever seen! When my lap was complete i decided to take myself off the find a sunset spot. the best spot was taken by a couple of bogens (Aussie chavs) but they soon left when the beer ran out so I settled myself down to wait. I was soon joined by a girl that had been checking into the Hostel at the same time as me and we got chatting. She had walked from Warrnbool that day, it had taken her 7 hours! Mad woman! She was from Florida and over working for a year. When the sun had set, very nice it was too, she said she was off back to the island to see the mutton birds come back in (they do it every night apparently!) and I said I was meeting up with some people I had met for a drink!!!!! Christ, I don't know why I try to get out of things, who cares if I don't go back to the hostel, certainly not her!
Anyhoo, i gave her a llift the 500 yeards to the bird arriving platform as she had huge blisters on her feet from her walk and I headed for the Kung Fu Kitchen to get a chinese takeaway and home to The Overnighter for a well earned rest! This travelling lark is bloody tiring! My little home was so cute, I just wanted to move right in. Chinky, beer and bed where sleep came very quickly. Big day ahead tomorrow, Port Fairy to Apollo Bay and the most dramatic and famous part of the Great Ocean Road. Done it once before but unfortunately it was dark.............!! Night! xx
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