Cape Bridgwater & Port Fairy

Despite waking up at 4:30am needing a wee, our first night in our El Cheapo was surprisingly comfy. After rustling ourselves up some porridge, we headed into Portland to find a shower. By the looks of things, we are going to be having to brave cold outdoor showers for this week. You'd think that wouldn't be so bad in the hot Australian climate however the climate better resembles the UK at the moment. Somehow this morning though, we managed to stumble across free hot showers (yes free!). The ladies did have rather a large amount of poo smothered across various walls so I had to be extremely careful not to touch anything. That's the price you pay for a hot shower apparently.

Feeling a bit fresher, we drove further West to Cape Bridgwater for a nice 2 hour stroll to see the largest seal colony on the Australian mainland. It was an absolutely beautiful walk along part of the Great South West Walk. The path wrapped itself around the coastland and the views were incredible. Unfortunately there appeared to be some worldwide fly convention as we were pestered by flies the entire walk and had to constantly bat them away. The viewing platform for the seals was pretty high up so they were quite difficult to see without binoculars. We did however see a couple of playful seals close up playing in the water on the way back which was good.

Back at the car, we headed 10 minutes down the road to the Blowhole and the Petrified Forest. Despite the windy weather, the Blowhole gave us another perfect example of what a Blowhole looks like when the tide is out. As for The Petrified Forest, I didn't really know what to expect. We have seen lots of bare trees on our travels where they have conducted controlled burnings to prevent forest fires so I was perhaps expecting something like that. Instead The Petrified Forest wasn't actually a forest at all. It's name came from an early theory that sand engulfed an ancient forest of coastal trees, petrifying them for all time. What it actually is however is a collection of hollow tubes of limestone called 'solution pipes', eroded by millions of years of rainfall. It reminded us a lot of Valle de La Luna in Chile.

Our next stop on the itinerary was Port Fairy, with a quick little pit stop at The Crags and Dreaming Island. The Crags offers views of some very spectacular craggy rock formations whilst Dreaming Island is a very important part of Aboriginal culture. It's similar in some ways to the Maori culture and the tree at Cape Reinga and plays a pivotal part in there creation story.

Port Fairy is a quaint seaside town. We didn't really explore the town as it was already gone 4pm so most of the shops were already shut and instead pulled up by Griffiths Island for a walk. It's an absolutely gorgeous island boasting magnificent views as well as a cute little lighthouse.

Our campsite this evening was a roadside spot so was in no means as picturesque as last night. After cooking up some pasta and about 50 games of cards, we tucked into bed.Read more