Port Fairy July 6 - 8 2012

Port Fairy is a charming fishing village at the end of the Great Ocean Road. Wide streets are lined by nineteenth century cottages, great Norfolk Pines, old stone churches, boarding houses and inns. Much of the 1800's architecture remains intact and more than 50 buildings are classified by the National Trust. They have been advertising a winter weekend escape over the next two weekends so l decided we should drive down and have a look at what's going on. We left Bendigo at 4.15pm on Friday after Craig finished work. During the day l had made chicken, bacon and cheese rolls which we had for dinner in the car by the side of the road at Scarsdale….l thought it would be easier and quicker than driving into Ballarat central trying to find a place to eat at. It was dark by the time we finished our meal and were on our way again. We had the dreaded GPS (one Mal had given us so it was new to us & we had to learn how to use it) giving us directions however we didn't really need it until we got to Warrnambool which we wanted to bypass. It felt like the GPS was sending us on a wild goose chase however we did reach our destination around 8.30pm. We chose to stay at Douglas on River in a garden suite which would have been good had we not had noisy neighbours which kept us up from early morning onwards. We eventually got a bit of sleep around 5.30am awaking at 8am ready for breakfast in the spacious, sunny shared living area. The accommodation is on the Moyne river (which runs out to meet the sea) in the grounds of historic Douglas House which was constructed in 1852 and over the years has served as Port Fairy's dispensary, post office, drapery store and shipping agent before it's conversion to guesthouse accommodation in 1901.

After breakfast we drove to East Beach to do a bit of whale spotting but we had no luck so instead l looked for some sea shells to take home. We then drove to the Warf area which at it's peak in the 1850's was one of the busiest in Australia. Wool, wheat and gold were loaded onto sailing ships bound for England. Back in the day warehouses and wharves fronted the river however only the Moyne Mill which was originally a five storey bluestone flour mill, remains today. The mill, built in 1863, is still used for its original purpose.

Victoria's coastline is quite treacherous and not all ships made it to port safely….there are 29 wrecks in the immediate Port Fairy area. We walked across to the other side of the wharf area via a foot bridge in search for the Lifeboat Station where there is supposed to be the oldest surviving self-righting lifeboat in the world however we could not see it….l don't know if it was in a shed or if it was supposed to be out in the open or what as there wasn't any info that we could see. So we continued on to Battery Hill and Powder Magazine. The hill first served as the Harbour Master's signal point for shipping. The gun batteries and fortifications were completed in 1887. The bluestone powder magazine was built in 1869 to store explosives used in the construction of the wall. There was a cute little wallaby looking at us as we walked up the hill but hopped away as we got closer. Due to the trees growing up the view of the ocean was almost obsolete but back in the day the views would have been fantastic. Driving a couple of blocks into town we parked the car in the busy town centre and walked around the street looking for a café for a coffee and light snack. The farmers market was on where you could buy fresh produce, have wine and cheese tastings or buy delicious treats. There was a wood fired pizza oven and someone was demonstrating how to make an oven as well as another cooking pizza in an oven already made. It all smelled delicious but in the end we decided to sit down in a bakery where it was nice and warm. The day was proving to be lovely and sunny however the wind chill factor was pretty cold.

Refreshed now we wandered into Sackville Street to have a look at Motts Cottage which dates from the late 1840's and is an excellent example of an early working mans home. The cottage is normally open however the National Trust is trying to sell it so the locals have closed it in protest. The next street along has about four privately owned cottages in it that also represent the early working mans home. From here we wandered back to the Wharf area to look at Moyne Mill but realised we'd already seen it so we high-tailed it back to the car and headed to the cemetery. I had heard that there is a haunted house in Port Fairy however upon getting a bit more info when we got here l learned that the house has been demolished but it's rumoured the ghost of Lloyd Rutledge still haunts his gravesite so l wanted to have a look. I'd forgotten to bring along his name so l said to Craig that we'll have a look on our way out of town tomorrow. By this time it was around 1pm and l had booked into the Time & Tide for High Tea by the High Sea at 1.30pm. We arrived just after 1 so asked if we could be seated early which suited them. Well, we ordered the Grand High Tea which is a 3 tiered plate full of sweet and savoury morsels of food, a glass of pink sparkling wine each (l drank Craig's) and tea/coffee to top it off. I was pretty full and couldn't finish my portions and Craig didn't want anymore so we asked if we could take the rest back to the motel for later on. The whole place was themed yellow and black and there were yellow butterflies on the walls, display cabinets and other places. It looked very pretty. So with very full tummies we made our way to a glass blowing exhibition. For $50 you could make your own glass paperweight so l was in! First the guy showed me how to do everything and then l had a crack at it and with a little bit of help from the glassblower, l produced my very own paperweight!! He then put it in an oven to cool down overnight and l can collect it in the morning before we leave. It was a really cool thing to do although the furnace where you put the glass onto the poker thing was extremely hot and l ended up putting a glove on one of my hands for protection - it felt like l'd got sunburnt! Craig didn't want to have a go at it 'cause he said he's want to get it perfect and didn't think he could do that on the first go. Anyway, after that very exciting experience we headed back to the hotel to get changed and then headed out to the Suade concert at the Regent Theatre which was at 5pm. I think the whole of Port Fairy turned up to see them. They're a group of 5 guys who do all their own harmonies, live looping and singing. They were an engaging and entertaining act but l wouldn't rush out and by their CD. The show ended at about 7.15pm and we were pretty hungry by then. Earlier we had called a couple of restaurants to make a booking but one we couldn't get in until 8.30pm and the other one was offering a four course meal with wine for $110 p/p which we thought was a bit steep, especially since Craig doesn't drink, so we ended up finding a pizza shop and ordered a pizza (it is Saturday night after all) and took it back to the motel to eat. It wasn't too bad either.

On Sunday we got up at about 8am, had breakfast, checked out and made our way to Griffiths Island. It's a small island at the mouth of the Moyne river and is connected by a short causeway to the mainland. A walking track circumnavigates the island with some beach walking to the light house and is a little over a 2.5 kilometres round trip. As well as the light house the other notable feature of the island is the Short-tailed Shearwater breeding colony. The walk really warmed us up and l had to turn the heater off in the car as we made our way into town to collect my glass paperweight and it looks really, really good! After collecting the paperweight we went back to the cemetery and found Lloyd's grave site but alas there was no sign of a ghost. I took some photos so maybe a spectre will show up on them. We left Port Fairy around 10.30am and decided to drive back to Bendigo via Ararat, arriving there in time to have lunch at a little bakery. We thought we'd have a bit of a look around the town but there didn't seem to be much going on so we just headed for home, arriving in Bendigo at about 3.30pm.