Portland

A long weekend means a break away from our Melbourne base. We loaded up the caravan and headed away on Good Friday. The traffic was light. Breakfast in Colac at 10am was good. Small towns are friendly and welcoming. Onto Portland by 1pm through the area devastated by bush fires 2 weekends earlier. The smell was still around. An easy drive with light traffic. Apparently the travellers who arrived before us had heavy traffic all the way. Camp set up in 30 minutes at the tourist park. Lots of large boats in camp as there's a tuna fishing competition on. Also the "grey nomads" are prevalent with their massive rigs towering over our tiny Avan. Nearly always advice being given when setting up camp.
A walk down into the town centre via the cliff top gave great views. It's a 2km walk and did it again on Saturday as the local Easter market was on. Very busy town with lots of elderly and almost as many dogs being dragged through the hordes of people. Portland was first settled in 1832 and is the oldest town in Victoria. It's natural harbour sure helped. The large Port and aluminium smelter are the main industries now.Read more