Day 14: A pancake brekkie and Warnambool highlight

Sunday morning is free pancake breakfast morning here at the Big 4 Port Fairy caravan park. We all wandered over to the camper's kitchen with our plates, and joined the queue for pancakes. I think Andrew managed five and Callum squeezed four in. It was quite a sociable occasion and we had a chat with other campers who had emerged for feeding too.

After breakfast we headed off to Warnambool (a big city - it has a Coles and a Safeway) to have a look at the Flagstaff Maritime Museum. This is a particularly interesting place to visit, as it is set out in much the same way as Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. A maritime village has been recreated so that you can see what it was like in it's hey day. There was a boat in the 'harbour' called the Rowella, which was built in Hobart and was the main transport for goods (and people) in and out of Launceston in the 1800s. It was fascinating to read about it's history. I have never really thought of Launceston's past, and so this has given me a new perspective on the Tamar and it's importance in those early days.

Callum and Andrew had little bags of food to feed the pigs, chooks, ducks, etc. Andrew soon discovered that enthusiastic, hungry little piggies BITE if your hand gets in the way! Never let it be said that this trip is not educational.

It took a couple of hours at least to wander around the village. Later we drove on to Tower Hill, the site of a volcano that erupted most recently in Australia (7000 years ago), where there are a variety of walks. By this stage Andrew was pawing and poking me (a sure sign of tiredness) and Callum was making references to his various aching body parts, so we decided we can do the place more justice if we come back tomorrow. We did see a couple of koalas lounging in a tree, which is the first time that we have seen live koalas outside of captivity. It was cool.

A drive around Port Fairy and a swim in the pool to finish off the day.

Observations from the driver:

1. In Victoria road signs warning of rough surfaces do not mean loose gravel or an uneven surface but are in fact a euphemism for disintegrating road.
2. There is surprisingly little road kill on Victorian country roads. I am not sure if this is because they have killed all their native animals or if Tassie beasts are just slow and stupid? (I must confess to running over a duck outside Apollo Bay).
3. Never park under a gum tree at night! I have had my car cream-pied by galahs and it is a bugger to get the stuff off.