Portland

It was a colourful coastal sunrise to start the day before a ride on the rail trail from Port Fairy to Koirot and back. The intermittent showers didn’t deter me and I managed to be back in the shelter of Delvy before the heavy stuff came.

 

Next stop was Portland to visit Cathy and Frank, a lovely couple we met by chance when we first started travelling in Delvy nearly two years ago. Gary and I were parked alongside the road in the middle of nowhere amongst the blue and green bush near a sign called Nulla, on the Renmark Road from Wentworth, when a car pulls up and its occupants invite us back to look at an enormous old sheep station they were minding for a week or two. That’s another story, but we spent a memorable afternoon together, and now finally have taken up another invitation to visit them on the south west coast.

Portland began as a whaling and sealing town, and was the first European settlement in the Colony of Victoria. It also features one of the world’s earliest sites of indigenous settlement, that of the Gunditjmara. The volcanic landscape is stunning, with beautiful bays, beaches and cliffs, making the 250km Great South West Walk a must for any avid bushwalker. Highlights of the area include the Petrified Forest at Cape Bridgewater, which doesn’t involve any trees but the natural erosion of the stone in the ground makes it look like an old forest.

Cape Nelson is a scenic place to take a picnic and enjoy the birdlife, and short walks around the cliff top and the grounds of the lighthouse, built in 1883.

The town has many fine examples of blue stone buildings, and the busy Port of Portland has many ships coming and going. I enjoyed watching the large trucks get tipped vertical to unload the woodchips. The one kilometre long Lee Breakwater is a popular spot for land based fishing, and if you have a boat, you can join the hundreds of fishermen on the hunt for Southern Bluefin Tuna. At this time of year the foreshore is packed with 4WD’s with boat trailers attached (we estimated 400), wanting to catch their quota of two fish per person.

The Southern Ocean waters are also a year round whale watching destination, and Portland has many vantage points to see the Southern Right Whale in the winter months, and the Blue Whale during summer.

Portland is a beautiful region, and I was lucky to be shown around by some locals and enjoy their warm hospitality and friendship. Thanks Cathy and Frank. I’ll be back!