Our drive in the morning takes us from Penola, in South Australia, to Port Fairy in Victoria. Along the route is ‘Blue Lake’, near the town of Mount Gambier, a remnant of the area’s volcanic past. The lake is large, deep, and incredibly blue. Mount Gambier is an attractive place with well-maintained buildings and residences all adorned with beautiful metal trimming. Later, our drive passes through a farming region with small farms & towns down to the coast at Port Mac Donnel. We join the Princes Highway in Portland which is South Australia’s extension of the Great Ocean Road. Technically, the Great Ocean Road itself is only in Victoria.
Our drive for the day ends in Port Fairy, a historic fishing village on the South Ocean in Victoria. Our lodging, the Merrijig Inn, is quite famous and is the oldest inn in Victoria. What a neat place – our room is fine (wifi!) and there are gardens, sitting areas, and an outdoor ‘bar’ to relax in.
Across from our lodging is ‘Griffiths Island’, an island nature preserve, complete with lighthouse! It’s a short and rewarding walk along the trail which circles the preserve. Some very nice coastal and lighthouse views plus a few sightings of the elusive ‘black wallabee’.
Dick
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Dick and I are still joking about the scenic “ocean” drive. It is a nice drive and we stop along the way to have our cheese, crackers, olives and some leftover steak from the night before as a picnic stop with an ocean view.
We arrive in Port Fairy, a very quaint town and check into the Merrijig Inn, the oldest Inn in Victoria. We take a nice walk over to the Nature Preserve and get a peek at a black wallabee. They seem to be quite shy creatures, but you could observe them if you were quiet.
When we return to the inn, the Garden Bar is open and we partake of a beverage whilst looking at the vegetable and herb gardens planted, and the unusual looking chickens. They are quite hairy…
We have dinner at the inn’s restaurant – the inn is a 6-person operation and everyone does everything. Everything is fresh, local and may be from their property. I asked for artificial sweetener for my coffee and was told it was not available, no worries.
Mary