We took things slowly this morning, enjoying a drive around Warrnambool's coastline and stopping at the whale viewing platforms at Logan's Beach, hoping we'd be lucky enough to see the Southern Right whales that return to the beach to calve at this time of the year (June - September).
But sadly, we weren't lucky enough to get a sighting this morning!
But we learnt a lot about Southern Right whales in the process (and the even rarer Blue whales) .......
Next stop was Tower Hill (Koroitj), an inactive volcano about 15klms NW of Warrnambool. We were lucky enough to see the Rachel Griffith Art program on the ABC the previous evening and so knew all about the Eugene Von Guerard painting of Tower Hill (completed in 1855). Being a botanist, Von Guerard's painting was accurate enough to guide the massive revegetation project undertaken in the area from 1961 when the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve was developed in partnership with the local Worn Gundidj people.
We loved our visit to beautiful Tower Hill and the adjacent historic village of Koroit this morning.
And it looks almost the same today as it did in Von Guerard's painting around 170 years ago!
It was only a short drive then to the beautiful town of Port Fairy. Established as a whaling station in the 1830s, it shows its early European history gracefully while attracting well-heeled holiday makers and retirees in more recent times. The pics below are of where Port Fairy's Moyne River meets the Southern Ocean (looking less wild than usual today).
We enjoyed the best coffee and late breakfast ever at Bath St + Co at Port Fairy, before taking a look at the very mild and gentle East Beach .........
... and the historic (and picturesque) port area on the Moyne River.
Although the sun was out today it was still freezing cold whenever we ventured outside our beautifully heated car, so no time to stand still. Next stop was at Mount Gambier, over the border now, but without the trauma of our last SA venture into the Clare Valley (resulting in a $400 fine for our unaccounted apple!).
We had to stop and admire Mt Gambier's Blue Lake (Warwar) which fills one of the craters of another extinct volcano (they're common in this region apparently!). The lake is famous for its vibrant cobalt blue colour during the summer months. In today's conditions it was steely grey but still quite luminous - a stunning sight!
Away from the coast we drove through miles and miles of plantation timber forests all around Mt Gambier. There were quite a few big lorries loaded with cut logs on the highway too. We also passed at least one big sawmill in Mt Gambier and the distinctive smell of freshly milled timber was everywhere too.
We got to Robe a few minutes before 3.00pm (so we thought) in a rush because this iconic seafood supplier closes at 3.00. We were after fresh rock lobster - the beloved product for which Robe is most famous!!
Lucky for us, we'd forgotten that we'd gained half an hour when we crossed the border so there was plenty of time for them to prepare our amazing picnic lunch of fresh locally caught rock lobster.
We tried setting up our picnic at a sunny table on the waterfront - but it was blowing a gale and FREEZING, so we ate this luscious and memorable dish at our (very ordinary) Robe motel and "loved ourselves sick" as the young ones would say (and yes it was even better than it looked!)!
Later we walked down to Robe's Lake Butler Marina ..........
.. and paid our respects to the fishermen about to head out for the night's catch - hopefully more rock lobsters for the markets tomorrow.
Factory Bay, facing out to the Indian Ocean ......
... and a very futuristic looking lighthouse ........
Robe has a lot of historic buildings from its early days as a significant port. These are now mixed in with a diverse range of simple beach cottages and motels from the 1960s and very contemporary and expensive contemporary homes. It's an intriguing mix.
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