Day 81: Mount Gambier to Killarney (21/08/12)

It was not raining when we got up at Mount Gambier in the morning. Having said that, it was going to, that was clear. Would we get away before the next deluge? Well, we did, although rain was never far away. We drove to Nelson, just inside the Victorian border, then drove the Portland-Nelson Road to Portland. This road winds through fairly hilly country covered in pine plantations. We should have known: pine plantations mean log trucks! Sure enough, we passed many of them – or rather they passed us, both ways. As the road was only about 1.8 truck-widths wide in places this meant a tight squeeze from time to time, with the driver of our vehicle closing his eyes and only opening them when it was clear that we had not touched the truck thundering past. Not only was this narrow, winding, rain-plagued road a favourite with the log trucks, but the general freight semi-trailers were also present in large numbers. After weeks of road trains they looked so puny and small, but they were big enough to bump us off the narrow road if we were not careful. So we minded our p’s and q’s  and wended our way carefully until we broke out into agricultural land and wider roads near Portland.

By now it was clear that we were travelling the same way as the weather, and were stuck in a particularly bad part of it. We hatched a plan to stop in Portland and have lunch there, tricking the cloud front into moving on, and leaving us behind. 

Portland harbour: yachts and woodchips

That may well not have worked – it was still raining when we left the Portland Information Centre – had we not refined our plan by doubling back to the west to visit Cape Bridgewater, 15 kms away. 

Bridgewater Beach - note how we are now behind the clouds!!

The very pretty settlement at Bridgewater Beach

This fooled the clouds completely and we broke into sunshine at the Cape. We visited the petrified forest (which were not really petrified trees) and the blowhole (which was not really blowing). 

The Petrified Forest which wasn't

The Blowhole which didn't

But the area was pretty and in the sun, and we had a bracing walk across the cliffs. Then we had lunch in the caravan. These points of interest are on the coast and are next to an enormous wind farm. If the fairy tales we heard in Queensland are right there will not be a single chicken in the area who does not lay yolkless eggs.

The next cloud front was looming closer, having been called in as backup by the one whose grip we had evaded, 

Looming cloud front

so reluctantly we moved on, back through Portland and on towards Warrnambool. The whole area around Portland is extremely pretty and well worth another visit in the future. We drove through Port Fairy (now there’s a place name to conjure up word associations with!) and on a little way to the Victorian/Irish town of Killarney. They have a municipal caravan park there next to the local sports field which is nestled against the dunes. Low cost, pick your own spot, power for our little heater, working showers and toilets. What more did we want? 

Killarney Caravan Park

Oh yes, and a beach to walk on as well!

Why is the little woman smiling? Why, because there is a beach to walk on, of course!