On Sunday the 10th we were in Port Fairy, a quaint town with many 19th century buildings. We walked around Griffiths Island, John Griffiths established Port Fairy’s whaling industry on the island in the 1830’s. The 1859 lighthouse was built of local bluestone and stands at the eastern end of the island. The island is home to a large colony of mutton-birds, these birds arrive here late September from Alaska and leave again for the Northern Hemisphere in April.

We then took a walk around the wharf area before heading for Mt Rouse, an ancient volcano which rises 120m above the surrounding landscape to a height of 30m above sea level. At the foot of the mount, is Penshurst, a small village of 485 people. We spent that evening at a rest area outside Dunkeld, the gateway to the Grampians. The temperature dropped radically, when we awoke the following morning there was frost everywhere and icicles hanging from the tree leaves.

We spent the day in the Grampians and it turned out to be a beautiful day. This massive sandstone mountain range rears up from the eastern end of the Great Dividing Range reaching more than 1000m’s above the surrounding fertile plains. About 80% of Victoria’s Aboriginal rock art is found in the Grampians. Highlights we visited were the Reed Lookout (views over Victoria Valley, Lake Wartook and the Mt Difficult Ranges); The Balconies (two sandstone rocks jutting out from a cliff face nicknamed the Jaws of Death); MacKenzie Falls; Boroka Lookout (views of the village of Halls Gap, Lake Lonsdale, Lake Fyans and Lake Bellfield). We did the steep climb to the Pinnacle Lookout passing the “Grand Canyon” and the “Silent Street”, at the top you are greeted with beautiful views over the valley. T

he following morning we headed to Dadswells Bridge to see the 14m high sculpture of a Koala. We met up with an ex South African who runs a small motel there, he gave us curry and rice, curry spice mix and seeds to make good curry pots, he is an Indian so good curry for a change. We stopped in Horsham for supplies, this area is one of the richest farming areas of Victoria.

On Wednesday we arrived in Swan Hill, situated on the banks of the Murray River. This river travels for more than 2756km’s, weaving its way through 3 states and is the 3rd largest navigable river in the world. We took a stroll along the River Walk, various interpretative boards and bollards are posted along the walk, the bollards were put up to celebrate 150 years of paddle steamers on the Murray. We decided to do the paddle steamer trip in Mildura. The road to Mildura takes you through many vineyards and orchards. We setup camp at Pyshe Bend Camp, on the banks of the Murray River.