Feb 8, 2012 - A cooler weekend at Portland walking parts of the Great South West Walk

We have had a lovely weekend here in Portland and it has been quite nice to snuggle down under a douvet on a night when the temperature has been in single figures and in the day it has only been in the upper teens to low twenties so has been perfect for walking. The scenery and particularly the coastline is dominated by volcanic activity which occured 30000 yrs ago and there is an awesome walk round the coastline of the two Capes (Cape Nelson and Cape Bridgewater) and their bays.This is part of the Great South West Walk. We drove to...

Feb 6, 2012 - Fantastic scenery along the Great Ocean Road

After a wild stormy night with some short power cuts we awoke to sunshine again which was perfect for our trip along the coast west of Otway peninsula past the 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge to Martyrs bay of islands. Eventually we left the last lookout over the Ocean and left the Great Ocean Road to travel along the Princess highway to Portland. On the way just before Port Fairy we visited Tower Hill State Game reserve which is a geological oddity formed by volcanic activity. Molten lava encountered water-bearing rock 32,000 years ago causing...

Dec 18, 2011 - 90th Birthday inPortalnd

A great weekend at Portland with family & friends. Mum had a great day with everyone being there. She was a bit overwhelmed at times and got to meet lots of new friends every half hour! Stop it Glenn!!!!!!! Really mum is fit and well. Mum is pretty switched on 'in the moment' & enjoys a good conversation & laugh. Who wouldn't though watching Barb & other family members leading the 'sing a long' karaoke. It's amazing what they put in a cup of tea these days! It was terric seeing Brett's & Rochelle's kids and Lach & Marg(Glenn's nephew &...

Sep 27, 2011 - Aus - Day 145 - Goodbye South Australia

Woke up this morning at our camping spot right next to an extinct volcano named Mount Schank. This volcano last erupted about 5000 years ago and has retained much of the classic volcano shape you would expect to see. We hiked up to the top for an outstanding view of the surrounding plains and ocean. The inside of the volcano cauldron was filled with green vegetation and quite the sight to see. From here, we made our way to the town of Port MacDonnell, where we had a peak at Dingley Dell, which is the small home where the famous poet Adam...

Sep 26, 2011 - Day One - Heathmont VIC to Portland VIC

9:54 and we were leaving Heathmont and our lives as we knew it. We can now say we are officially homeless and jobless!! With both Elissa and Bridget still suffering from a headcold, Jameson mighty confused and Ben rushing around finalising last minute things it was a fantastic feeling to finally hit the road to achieve this dream yet it still doesnt feel quite real. We had a good first day drive, travelling the quickest route to Portland as most of this distance had been done before. With a couple of stops along the way for both kids, we...

Aug 21, 2011 - Mount Gambier to Portland

Arrived in Portland around 11am. Staying at the Portland Claremont Tourist Park. The cost is $25 2A per night, powered, off-peak season, if you are a Top Tourist member you get a discount of 10%. Due to a lot of rain, the grassed sites are too soggy, therefore we were offered an ensuite site at no additional cost. Lovely little park right in the centre of town but neatly tucked away from traffic noise. Sunday We went for a ride Portland Cable Tram — which is not exactly a cable tram. It is really powered by a four-cylinder diesel engine,...

Mar 29, 2009 - Grampians National Park - Ballarat - Melbourne

Die letzten Tage waren super. Der Nationalpark war wunderschoen. Wir haben Wasserfaelle, Schluchten, Fluesse, und Aussichtspunkte bestaunt. 3 Tage ohne Natelempfang war auch ganz gut. Wir haben uns sogar einen Campingplatz geleistet, damit wir mal wieder duschen konnten. Von da aus gings dann weiter nach Ballarat. Das ist ganz schoen dort. Ballarat ist eine Goldgraeber Stadt mit einem Park, wo alles nachgebaut ist, wie es vor x-Jahren war. Da musste man sich natuerlich einen Whisky im Salon goennen. Nicht gerade Whisky Zeit am Mittag aber...

Feb 17, 2009 - The Apostles

Last night the wind blew like crazy. We got back on the Great Ocean road. The first stop was The 12 Apostles, then The Loch and Gorge, The Razorback, The London Bridge and The Bay of Islands. We stopped at Cheeseworld in Warrambool for lunch and wine and cheese tasting. We stopped in Portland for the night.

Apr 12, 2008 - Portland

Adelaide to Portland, Hi again, Well on the road again. We picked up a Toyata Yaris....and without a GPS....sniff.... We left Adelaide around noon Bobby ,Shoshana and th boys. We had good maps to get to Princes Highway. We took Nadav in our rental car. Nadav was our personal GPS. "Grandma...it is 10 kilometres to Murray Bridge" ...."Grandma are we there yet?" , "How many hours?" As we drove along he was very patient and a good little companion though. He would say "I love nature" in a wistful voice as we passed the sea. This is a note from...

Jan 27, 2008 - Kingston to Portland

Kingston to Portland The road from Kingston to Portland passes through acres and acres of farmland producing wheat and barley, the terrain is quite undulating but boring in comparison to what we have been used to. We arrived at Portland around 3pm and decided to stay for a few days and catch up on some administration. Portland is situated on a bay of the same name on one side and Cape Bridgewater on the other. The bay is quite picturesque and the port handles the huge amount of grain that is produced in the area. Cape Bridgewater is...

Dec 30, 2007 - Portland

We left Apollo Bay early enough and went to the Otway lighthouse. This was originally used both as a lighthouse and to house the telegraph station linking Tasmania to Sydney. The grounds here were beautiful and the setup was was great with lots of information boards. It was a great way to start the day. We continued on to the Otway Tree-Top walk. This is a section of rainforest with a metal walkway winding through the trees. It was very impressive but very busy unfortunately. There were also a group with reptiles that you could look at and...

Mar 1, 2007 - Die "Great Ocean Road" und ein Wiedersehen mit alten Freunden

Wir erreichten unseren Campingspot am ersten Abend auf der Great Ocean Road erst spaet. Nicht zu letzt wohl deshalb, weil Jon und Ronny sich nicht vom Campingladen trennen konnten an dem wir anhielten, um unsere Gasreserven aufzufuellen. Alles erscheint so nuetzlich, die kleine Schaufel, der Fliegenschutz, die Windlampe, das Sonnenschutzhemd, die Bierkuehler, letztlich mussten Judith und Natalie uns aus dem Laden zerren, sonst haetten wir wohl unsere letzten Geldreserven verprasst. Neben unserer ersten Koalabaerensichtung in freier Natur,...