Nelson

Yesterday, we left Killarney Beach and made a few stops on our way to Portland.  First stop was The Crags. Second stop Port Fairy, where we stumbled on a marked, so stocked up the caravan with fresh fruit and vegies.  Third stop was Portland strawberries farm where we did some wine tasting and we bought a couple of bottles of strawberry wine, which were made using only strawberries instead of grapes.  We also got a 1kg punnet of strawberries for $8.





As we headed away from the coast, the change in landscape was marked by flat dry land.








We heard that Port Fairy was renound for its lobsters, but when we were there they said the fisherman were no longer allowed to sell from the boats, and we had to go to a retailer.  They recommended Portland and PortMacDonnall, so why we were in Protland, we went to the seafood shop at the wharf, and he had just finished cooking some 1kg lobsters, and they were being iced down.  We picked up one of those bad boys, and some squid and scallots, for a reasonable, but not boast worthy price..

We left Portland for Cape Bridgewater which was beutiful.  The weather was pouring one minute, then sunny the next, so we spent the day dodging showers.  We took a walk to the seal colony, which boasts 600 seals, but when we got there we saw 5 lounging around in the waves at the beach, and another handfull at the colony location.  Dont know where the other 590 were?  We did see an echidna on the way back and got close enough to touch it (if we wanted).






Walking trail to Seal Colony

Cape Bridgewater beach

 

 



Petrified Forrest

Although you can walk around the coast to the blow holes and petrified forrest, we decided to backtrack and drive the car to avoid a 5km return walk.  The petrified forrest was pretty good, but the southern ocean and cliffs took the prize.  The massive seas were unbelievable, and although the tide wasn't right for the blow holes to be working properly, the sea smashing against the rocks was mismerising.



Huge seas and landscape

Freshwater Springs

We continued walking around the coast to the Freshwater Springs, where they used to water cattle, right on the ocean rocks.  The fresh ground water seeps through the limestone cliff and fills rock pools. Even during these heavy seas, the salt water was not splashing into these pools..

 

 

We decided to push on to Nelson, even though it was getting late.  We found the GPS loved to use dirt roads when there was no need to.  One choice was so bad we turned around and headed back for tar.  (Lidias job now is to screen the GPS road choice)  We saw plenty of  kangaroos on the way to Nelson, which made me a litle nervous driving but we made is without incident.

 

We leveled and set the van, only to find the fridge would not start on gas.  It had not been freezing properly since we left, so we were using the freezer as a fridge.  With a minor adjustment it was working prefectly.  With all that sorted it was time for a strawberry wine and lobster dinner..

 

TODAY,  we decided we would stay in Nelson another day, just to take a break from travelling.  We had an easy breakfast, and tok a 10km return Gorge walk along the Gleneig river, which is a small section of the Great South West Walk.

 

The walk was very scenic, and there were wallabies everywhere.  Didn't notice kangaroos, but the black boy's (grass tree) were everywhere - almost plague populations.  I have never seen so many of these.

 

 

We drove a loop thought Lower Glenelg National Park, I threw in a line for half an hour without even a touch.  It was approaching beer o'clock, so we headed back, and being St Pats Day, polished off a few Guinness's.