Day Eight Wednesday 12th Feb 2014 Paradise Beach – Port Albert, Vic

We had such a peaceful night away from traffic and towns. The only sound is that pounding surf. The air is less smoky. Walking on the beach before breakfast we meet a couple from Amsterdam who are camping their way up to Brisbane.

We return to Yarram via Longford. Yarram is much busier than it was during the weekend heat. A lot of historic buildings still remain here. We drive the few kilometres south to Alberton and Port Albert and pull into the parking area to find M & E setting up. The free camp is a parking area for cars, boat trailers, and RV’s right on the seafront by the boat ramp. There is supposedly parking space for six RV’s. We all stand around debating how and where we are supposed to park. We later find the parking instructions and discover that we have parked incorrectly, but at least it isn’t busy and we aren’t blocking anyone. We should have parked the van on the lawn with the car on the asphalt.

  The town is so pretty with tall Norfolk pines and cottages facing the wide arc of the inlet. We wander along the walkway past dozens of fishing boats and yachts to the fish cafe. Buying a brown paper bag full of fish and chips and sitting gazing at the boats and feeding the gulls is heaven. There is a two-storey pub which we must visit before we leave, an upmarket general store cum coffee shop, a museum and the cafe called Wild Fish. That’s it a mere shadow of its former glory when it was Victoria’s largest port. Sadly, there are a lot of homes for sale.

There is a stiff, cool salty breeze blowing and thankfully it is dispersing some of the bushfire smoke. The maritime museum is a real charmer with lots of bits and pieces from the old port days, fishing paraphernalia and lighthouse communications gear. The museum is housed in the bank that used to store the Walhalla gold prior to shipping it to Melbourne. We have drinks with M & E until the wind drives us indoors. Damn we forgot to pop into the pub!

Towing Kms: 102Kms

2022 Note: 5 days later the Port Albert pub burnt down! We’ll have to put that one on the list of those we missed. But we did have a giggle because it seemed at the time that pub fires were following M & E’s visits with regularity. We revisited Port Albert a year ago and the town seemed to be growing again. And no wonder it is a picturesque spot.