Exploring Portland – Day 6 Trundling around town

Day 6 Sunday 18/12/2022 Portland, sunny windy 12 – 19

While Woody goes for a walk VeeWee and I catch the little tram that has a tram stop just out front of the caravan park.

With poodle in hand, we perch on the seats at the front as it trundles along at walking pace to the Water Tower war history museum. The beautifully restored cable car carriages (one was from the old Melbourne cable network) turn back to run along the foreshore parklands and up to the botanic gardens. The tram depot is beyond the cricket ground where players know they must halt play whilst the tram goes by. We pay our fees at the tram depot and have a few minutes to view the small museum there which includes a model railway and an original Henty family horse coach (built in England around 1880). On the return journey, we sit inside the rear polished wooden carriage. We’d been recommended by friends to do the tram ride and it was a most relaxing and fun way to tour the town.

After lunch we walk out along the very long breakwater and watch a ship leave port. She’s the bulk carrier ‘Handy Inclusivity’ built in 2022 and she’s just unloaded bauxite for the aluminium smelter. Being so close to this busy port I’ve downloaded a shipping app and can’t stop monitoring the activity.

Paragliders float above the park. Woody cleans up VeeWee’s leveling ramps that are caked in Camperdown soil. And VeeWee discovers that she has an outside shower on her motorhome. That will be handy after beach walks with little Nic.

Fishing and ship watching are popular around here

As VeeWee will be leaving tomorrow, we have dinner at Mac’s Hotel (1855). With 3 storeys of Western Plains bluestone (basalt) decorated in delicate wrought iron lace verandas, Mac’s is a fine example of early Portland. Country pubs always bear wonderful photo collections of early life and this one is no exception. We dine in the Admella Room, so named because in 1859 the survivors of the Admella shipwreck near Carpenter’s Rocks in South Australia were cared for in this very room. The meal is excellent, and my Hollandaise Schnitzel is topped with Hollandaise sauce, bacon, and cheese with twice-cooked chips on the side. We treat our chips with reverence as there’s currently a potato shortage due to recent floods.