Day 4 Friday 16/12/2022 Camperdown to Portland, windy some cloud 11 – 16

It’s a glorious morning, there’s a blue sky and no wind. What a shame we’re leaving.

We drive through more rolling pastures filled with contented cows, down through Terang to Warrnambool past Tower Hill crater to Port Fairy and Portland. There are a lot of road works, but the roads are good as they haven’t had the floods in this corner of the state that the rest of Eastern Australia has had. The dams are brim full.

NRMA Portland Bay Holiday Park is on the cliffs overlooking the wide arc of Portland Bay. Our site is grassy and against the fence. On tippy toes, we can see the town and harbour where 3 cargo ships are in port. When VeeWee arrives, we walk into town along the coastal parkland through what was the first field to be ploughed in Victoria. There’s a large basalt monument to the founding settlers the Henty Brothers, and to their meeting with surveyor and explorer Major Thomas Mitchell.

A little passenger tram trundles along the coastal path. Standing solidly with a view out to sea is All Saints Church and the Catholic College which was originally the Common School where St Mary MacKillop once taught. Another block and the shopping strip in Percy Street is busy and interesting.

Back at camp we are able to have happy hour outside using the motorhome as a windbreak. It’s then that we spot a large lump in a tree and realise that we’ve got koalas for company. The male is quite high up and the female with an almost grown joey on her back are on a lower branch. We go over for a closer look when a passing car stops. There’s now a curious audience and VeeWee, who used to be a wildlife carer, suddenly launches into ranger mode discussing koala mating habits, grunting, squealing and poo with a bunch of gobsmacked tourists.

VeeWee is having TV problems in the motorhome, so she books someone to call out tomorrow. Dinner is koala chicken schnitzels and vegies.

I must be catching the art bug lately because this morning I noticed some spilt Betadine antiseptic on the bathroom bench. As I mopped it up, I saw how the colour changed from reddish brown to yellow and thought “Wow I’d love to paint with that!” (yeah, I know, I’ve gone strange, but I tried painting with coffee a while back and it worked a treat).

Accom: $37.00

Towing Kms: 163kms