Steam and Packet Inn in Portland – built between 1841 and 1842. Over the years, the building served as a hotel, a guesthouse, police barracks, and a National Trust house museum before becoming a private home. It is one of the oldest surviving timber buildings in Victoria.
The big woodchip pile at the port.
Two marsupials suffering from an oxidant.
Fawthrop Lagoon in Portland
Over 150 species of birds have been recorded here.
Little pied cormorant
Grey teal
Grey teal with ducklings
Chestnut teal
Silver gull
Can’t stop (Can’t stop), can’t stop the beat
I won’t stop (Won’t stop), won’t stop the beat, and go
Everybody….. move your feet
And feel united, oh
Everybody….. move your feet
And feel united, oh
Red wattlebird
Cape Bridgewater is just west of Portland. It was once a volcanic island and is now joined to the mainland.
Bridgewater Bay. I get a bit nervous watching surfers when there is a seal colony only 2.5km away.
Crested terns
Crested tern in flight
Pied oystercatchers
The face at Bridgewater
Bower spinach along the coastline.
A short drive leads to the rugged coastline. The vegetaton above the cliffs resembles that of country far north from here in the outback.
The Petrified Forest are actually solution tubes in the limestone
Volcanic basalt underneath limestone
While parts of the western Victorian volcanic plains feature rough A’ā lava, some slow-moving, fluid basaltic flows cooled to create a smooth, wrinkled crust known as ropy lava (Pahoehoe).
Columnar jointing in the basalt caused by cooling contractions.
The Blowhole
The swell wasn’t huge today but the waves reflecting off the cliffs created high energy wave patterns.
Tarragul Cave off the Bridgewater Lakes Road. We anticipated a tarragul time on the very steep path in the rain.
Bridgewater Lakes with farmland in the foreground and Discovery Bay Conservation Park on the far shore.
Emus at the edge of Discovery Bay Conservation Park
Bin Chicken at the Portland Waste and Recycling facility. Waste not, want not.
A wet drive into Warrnambool for a multiple night’s stay. We stopped at Port Fairy to see a good friend (who is also seeing the delights of south-western Victoria). Not a fairy – more angelic.
