We carried on the short distance to Port Fairy where we checked into the Gumtree Caravan Park. This is located a few kilometres from town and is quite a small caravan park with only about 20 van sites. The sites were lovely and green with lots of grass. Would be fairly tight for a large van when busy but luckily it was quite slow for the duration of our stay. The washrooms were dated but lovely and clean. I'll give 3.5 Stars. We had a bit of trouble hooking up to water before we discovered our taps were located behind a hedge against the back fence. The young family the runs the park is very friendly and welcoming. If you are looking for a quiet stay off the beaten track I would highly recommend this park. We got a stay 4 pay 3 special which brought the price down to about $25/day.
The Ransleys found out that their son Brett had a date scheduled for his back surgery later this week so are making plans to head home to assist with his recovery. We will miss our travel partners but carry on without them. Best wishes with Brett and his recovery.
Once we got setup we ventured into Port Fairy for a look around. We did a walk along the breakwall before we carried on around Griffith's Island and out to the lighthouse. Was a nice warm day with a bit of wind. Lovely area but it did have quite a strong seaweed smell.
We then explored East Beach and the downtown retail area before returning to the caravan park for a relaxing afternoon. I managed to get a bit of computer work done while Sandra did some cleaning.
Tuesday morning we travelled into Warrnambool with the Ransleys to explore. We did another walk along the breakwall there before a short walk around looking across to Middle Island where there is a Penguin colony guarded by dogs. Apparently since they started using the dogs they have gone from a Penguin population of 4 to over 100. It is a beautiful area with a great place to swim.
We did another stop along the coast at Thunder Point before heading out of town to the Warrnambool Cheese Factory. We did a small museum on site there before some cheese tasting (and purchasing) The Warrnambool Vintage or Great Ocean Road Vintage is our favourite.
Back into town where we grabbed a nice lunch at "The Hut" before some grocery shopping at Coles. Our last stop was at a Woollies' Petrol station to top up the Ransley's Ranger. An older couple had got their caravan stuck against a pump and we assisted with disconnecting/rolling it back so he could get through. We would highly recommend that caravan drivers avoid most Woollies' stations as are very tight and difficult for manoeuvring. The $.04/litre discount is not worth the risk in most of them. We always try to check them out without the caravan before going. We then returned to the caravan park for an easy afternoon.
Wednesday was the Bewell's turn to drive and we headed off to Tower Hill between Port Fairy and Warrnambool. This is a wildlife reserve located within a dormant volcano and was Victoria's first National Park in 1892. Sad to say while there is a lot of potential and a lot of work done/money spent the park is in rather poor condition. We found a parking spot near the office/visitor centre before taking the Peak walk to the highest point in the reserve. It was a fairly short walk but challenging as involved a fair climb which was a combination of stairs and rough pavement. We were somewhat disappointed when we reached the top as a number of sheoak trees block much of the view. You can see out to the ocean and down to the Visitor Centre but probably wasn't worth the effort required to get there. We did spot a "Stumpie" lizard on the way down lazing in the sun.
We gave up on the rest of the walks and stopped in for a visit at the Visitor centre. This was nice and modern with quite a few local and aboriginal goods for sale. All in all not a location we would recommend very highly and a bit disappointing. We completed the one way road out of the reserve where we decided to explore around the northern edges of the reserve. We did get a couple of good photo opportunities from the lookouts on the edge of the volcano near the Irish town of Koroit.
We took a tour through the town of Koroit but besides a good Op Shop that the girls found there wasn't much to see. Most of the shops in the downtown were closed and/or run down. We returned home with a quick stop to check out a campground at Killarney. Rans and I took a drive into Port Fairy in the afternoon and had a swim at Easts Beach. The sun was shining and the water temperature was the best on our trip. No surf to speak of but a nice relaxing way to spend some time. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and preparing a big baked dinner as was our last night with the Ransleys this trip. Great meal with lots of laughs. The weather has been somewhat cooler (25C)with winds coming up in the afternoon but still better than earlier on our trip.
We set our alarms so we were up early to wave off the Ransleys. They had everything hooked up and ready to go the night before so we had a quick goodbye before they headed off before 7AM. Safe travels. It was a cool morning so Sandra and I cuddled back into bed and had another hour of rest. Once we were up and about again Sandra got a bit of laundry on the line before we headed back into Warrnambool for a bit of shopping. Stops at Coles, Woolworths, Dan Murphy, Bunnings, and SuperCheap Auto took up most of the morning. Topped up with diesel before heading back to the caravan park for a late lunch. Did some computer catch up in the afternoon while Sandra finished off the laundry.
Later we took a drive into Port Fairy and did a nice walk along the foreshore/estuary. Some lovely old cottages and holiday rentals along the wharfs. We crossed over a bridge and walked along the other side to Battery Hill. As you might guess it was a gun battery from years gone by. From there we walked around the beach before returning via the walk along the estuary. Got up close with a seal near the fish cleaning area who was a bit flatulent and he was posing for photos! Not sure if it was the dead fish or him that smelled worse. We spotted a boat name the "Silver Fox" on the way back to the car which I thought I would look good captaining!
We returned to the caravan park and enjoyed a lovely meal of leftovers from the night before. The wind was picking up so we did quite a bit of our pack up before turning in for the night. Lucky we did as was quite a windy night and the van was rocking enough even with the awning rolled up!
All in all Port Fairy and the Gumtree Caravan Park was a lovely relaxing place to spend a few days. Warrnambool is a major retail centre so you are close to everything you need/want. A nice place to spend some time!
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