The Southern Ocean - Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Wed 17 Mar 2010 04:56
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38:23.283S 142:14.444E
On February 5, we left Dunkeld and the Grampians
behind and drove south to Port Fairy, a small town settled in
1835 by Southern Ocean whalers and sealers. This time Don and I rode in
the expansive back seat of Helen and Ray's Land Rover. This is the
vehicle they use for their extensive camping trips into the outback and is
fully equipped for any eventuality. Luckily for us, the
only eventuality we had to worry about was a collision
with one or more road-crossing kangaroos. We never hit one, but
did see at least three or four dart out in front of us. Hop out in
front of us would be a more accurate description. The near
misses caused brief flashbacks to deer dodging incidents of our own on the
country roads of upstate NY. If pitted one against the other, the kangaroo
would probably win the damage-done prize over the deer. Some of these
critters are mighty big. Sorry, no kangaroo pictures - the big
buggers were too quick for the camera.
We arrived at the Merrijig Inn in Port Fairy that
afternoon with enough time for a long walk along the coast for some of us, and
for others, enough time for a long nap (Don). The town of Port Fairy and
the Merrijig Inn (said to be the oldest inn in the state of Victoria) could have
been airlifted out of New England and set down completely intact on this piece
of the Southern Ocean coast. The entire town has that quaint, fishing
village look about it with small, solidly built homes of sandstone,
bluestone and timber closely packed along both sides of a few tree-lined
streets. The fishing boats are tied up on a long wharf that lines the
Moyne River just before it runs into Port Fairy Bay. Small Griffiths
Island with its picturesque lighthouse forms the southern end of the bay and has
been turned into a protected mutton bird colony. We walked around the
island, didn't see any mutton birds, but saw plenty of other
creatures.
Picture 1 - Huge stingray meandering along the
break wall at the end of the wharf. The picture doesn't do it justice, but
its 'wingspan' has to be three feet or more.
Picture 2 - Saltwater pool formed between Griffiths
Island and the Port Fairy coast.
Pictures 3 and 4 - Front and side view of
a not-in-the-least-bit-shy wallaby (smaller cousin of the
kangaroo).
Picture 5 - The picturesque lighthouse. Looks
fake, doesn't it?
Picture 6 - View of the Southern Ocean from
Griffiths Island.
Picture 7 - Happy hour at the Merrijig Inn.
Clockwise from Don, that's Sue, Ray, John, Helen and Kate.
Anne
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