We all awoke feeling rather 2nd hand, but not too bad and decided to book in for another night to recover fully before heading off. We hadn't seen any sights of Portland so Leonie and I ESCAPED and went down town to have a look around and take some photos. Portland is a lovely spot, the weather was picture perfect. This row of trees along the foreshore at one end of the esplanade, overlooking Portland Bay.
A memorial wall to early pioneers. One chap John Wilzon from Prussia arrived on a ship in 1852 as a steward and deserted. He married in 1853 as John Wilson and he and his wife, Elizabeth had 13 children.... I guess that was pretty common back then. The other wall was memorial to past diggers.
This little tram goes the whole way along the foreshore from the harbour. Portland is the most westerly of Victoria's major coastal towns and the only deep water port between Melbourne and Adelaide. It was the first permanent settlement in Victoria, founded by the Hentys in 1834. There are more than 200 historical buildings around town, many National Trust classified. Leonie and I enjoyed strolling around the streets, happily snapping away.
One of the many many vintage cars, parading around town, part of the Fly the Flag Tour 2012 on from 17th to 23rd March. Veteran, Vintage and Classic vehicles are participating. This includes motorcycles and commercial vehicles. All pre-1982 registered and club permit vehicles are invited to enter. The itinerary starts at Keilor (Melbourne), then to Colac, Warrnambool, Port Campbell, Port Fairy, Portland, Nelson, Mt Gambier, Penola, Hamilton, Ballarat and back to Keilor... Leonie reckons they have seen these cars all along the Great Ocean Road.
Leonie on a couch. Kind of reminds me of our time in Margaret River, WA - when we went on the search for several painted couches throughout the district. This one is a beautiful mosaic done by local students with an ocean theme, fish, coral, seals, sea horses etc. 
Leonie in the shell. Another beautiful artwork by local students.
One of two chairs made in honour to Vida Goldstein. Vida Jane Mary Goldstein (13 April 1869 – 15 August 1949) was an early Australian feminist politician who campaigned for womens suffrage and social reform. The other chair is in the Parliament gardens, in Melbourne.
Old letter box, there is a couple of these around town. It was about now that the boys called up, "we're hungry, pick us up something for lunch" - they really meant to say "we missing you girls, hurry up and get home". Time did get away on us a bit and it was 3 o'clock when we got back to camp. It was a great day out.
This little fella showing off, look no hands! Just resting on a broken branch. He tried getting higher in the tree, but just couldn't manage it. One of several Koalas living in the trees at the van park we are staying at. We also saw frog mouth owl and Leonie got a photo of the barking bird...well it sounds like a dog barking.
The girls blogging. It was great to exchange tips and hints and try to solve some little hiccups, some we did, some we didn't. And yes we are having a quiet drink or two.
Unlike last night we are actually eating tonight. The girls cooked and the boys washed up. We had run of the camp kitchen and made use of 3 of the 4 tables, we like spreading ourselves out, lucky no one else was using the camp kitchen.
Killer.......Killer..........get your beady little eyes off Leonie's dinner! Funny enough we continued on with a few more QUIET drinks. No dancing or playing games tonight, but we yakked on till after midnight. 
20th morning - We've discussed the pros and cons of our different camping methods, each has good and bad points. Sometimes I do wish we could just pull up and not have to worry about setting up camp, but we haven't seen too many Winnies go the places we have. What a great 2 days we spent catching up - Leonie was giving me crap cause I was fading and not in too much of a drinking mood last night. Guess who isn't feeling too flash this morning cause she normally doesn't do 2 nights in a row?? Catch you guys when we get home.
No comments:
Post a Comment