Buildings in Port Fairy, Victoria.

Back to the holiday photos of 2015.

Few buildings in Port Fairy, Victoria.

The above building built 1848 was a Hotel and still is.  Was the Stagg Hotel, now Seacombe House.

Back in 1873 it became a school, then a quest house.

Lovely wide footpath, part of the shopping area.

A Hotel

'Emoh'.  The earliest part of this building was erected for William Rutledge, the merchant known as the 'King of Port Fairy'. However his business crashed and the house was sold.
These days as the advertisement says - Two Bedroom self contained apartments for rent.

 Built 1865. This building was the Post Office, then the council chambers, now a Restaurant.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all  - be safe.

The sea at Boat Harbour. Tasmania, Australia.

A Tasmanian Bunny.  I took the photo a few weeks ago.

Good Friday.

Have a peaceful Good Friday.

Southern Ocean, Port Fairy, Victoria.

The video is my husband driving to the Independent Supermarket the other evening.

Wrong date on the DashCam.

Port Fairy, Caravan Park.

The council Caravan Park at Port Fairy was the one which we stayed at.  Due to lack of tourist for the winter part of the park was closed.  This park is on the banks by the Moyne River in Victoria.

Port Fairy is a coastal town in south-western Victoria, Australia. It lies on the Princes Highway in the Shire of Moyne, 28 klm (17 mi) west of Warrnambool and 290 klm (180 mi) west of Melbourne, at the point where the Moyne River enters the Southern Ocean.

Dead tree in the park.  Carvings below, unfortunately not shown too well.

You can see the power boxes plus the ones near the trees.  We parked ourselves in the clearing to get the warmth of the sun.

Well there are a few people camping.  A good place for summer to help keep cool.

Port Fairy on the left of the map, Melbourne on the right, so you can see back in 2015 we are not too far away from the ferry to come home.  That was September.

Port Fairy, Victoria

Port Fairy has a rich history and 50 buildings are protected by the National Trust of Australia. Griffiths Island nearby holds a breeding colony of the short-tailed shearwater or Australian muttonbirds.

In the early 19th century whalers and seal hunters used the coast in this region. The bay was named by the crew of the whaler The Fairy in 1828^.
John Griffiths established a whaling station in 1835 and a store was opened in 1839. In 1843, James Atkinson, a Sydney solicitor, purchased land in the town by special survey. He drained the swamps, subdivided and leased the land, and built a harbour on the Moyne River. He named the town "Belfast" after his hometown in Ireland. The post office opened on 1 July 1843 (the post office actually opened in 1837 as "Port Fairy" but was renamed "Belfast" on 1 January 1854 before reverting to the original name on 20 July 1887.)
Agriculture developed in the region, and Belfast became an important transport hub. By 1857 the town had a population of 2,190. In the mid-to-late 19th century, Belfast was one of Australia's largest ports, catering to the whaling industry. In 1887 the town was renamed Port Fairy as a result of an Act of Parliament.
 

 

East Beach, Port Fairy, Victoria.

 

The Church of England.

Note 'Belfast' name on Souvenir Shop and no one about again!

Port Fairy on the left of the map, Melbourne on the right.

Casterton, Victoria as we pased through.

At home here in Launceston, Tasmania - it's RAINING!  Wow, how wonderful after none all summer.

Heading for Port Fairy we passed through a town called Casterton, in Victoria, Australia, which is 42 kilometres east of the South Australian border.

Casterton is a pretty place with many rolling green hills in winter and one drives into town down the hill.

Prior to white settlement, Aboriginal people of the Konongwootong Gundidj clan lived in the local area. The first white explorers to pass through the area were the expedition led by Major Thomas Mitchell in 1836 who spoke enthusiastically of the landscape's green hills, soft soils and flowery plains, describing it as ideal for farming and settlement, naming it Australia Felix.

The first white settlers in the area were the Henty brothers who had landed in Portland, Victoria in 1834 and who claimed 28,000 hectares between what are now the towns of Casterton and Coleraine. 'Warrock' Station, a sheep farming settlement, was established in 1841, 26 km north of what would be Casterton.

The early history of the region was marred by violent clashes between settlers and Indigneous people, including multiple murders of Aboriginals that took place near Casterton in the late 1830s and early 1840s.


In 1891, a large number of Casterton women signed the Women's Suffrage Petition to be tabled in the Victorian Parliament to grant women the right to vote (which was not allowed until 1908). By the 1890s, increasing soil erosion saw wheat-farming around Casterton begin to decline and it was largely replaced by meat, wool & dairy farming. Casterton's population expanded in the early 20th century, especially in the 1920s with the arrival of large numbers of soldier-settler farmers and during the post-war era in the 1950s.
 
Casterton lays claim to be the birthplace of the breed of working dog known as the kelpie, a Scottish term meaning 'Water Sprite' and a name given to a black and tan bitch British working collie owned by Scotsman George Patterson, a farmer who lived north of Casterton in the 1870s.

More about Casterton [ here ]

 

I borrowed this photo of the Kelpie dog from Wikipeadia.  A link [ here  ] for those wondering about this wonderful sheep and cattle dog.

On the way to Penola, South Australia.

On the way to Penola we stopped for lunch at Willalooka in South Australia.
It was here we encountered our first problem of our trip.  The *Anderson Plug from the Caravan to the back of the vehicle was broken, having come out when turning a very sharp corner.  So a trip back up the road some 20 klms to find an Auto Electrician who would fix the problem straight away.  We were very lucky, done in 20 mintues so off we went back down to have lunch at Willalooka.
*Anderson Plug carries power to the battery in the caravan and also for the breaks for the caravan.

Way back up the road we had done 14,000 klms (8,700 miles) thus far on this holiday.

  
After lunch we drove on and came across a Park in honour of Father Julian Tenison Woods who was the Catholic priest of the Penola Parish in the 1860s and with the Blessed Mary MacKillop, they formed the Order of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.

In his role as parish priest of the south-eastern district of South Australia, Father Woods was able to combine his devotion to God's work with his interest in science and nature.
This area of land on the original Limestone Ridge Station was a favourite stop-over during his travels across his parish, and he could often be found preparing sermons, celebrating Mass and rejoicing in the splendour of his natural surrounds beneath the shelter of the towering River Red Gums.

In Father Woods honour there are 7 tree stumps with carvings of people on them.
I did take photos of the 7 carvings but only showing a few.

Father Woods and Mary MacKillop who now is a Saint.

Next to the Park there were some grape vines.

You can see where is Penola on the map, it's the last black circle.  We were next heading for Port Fairy in Victoria.

Mannum morning Fog, SA

When staying in Mannum, South Australia it was foggy, sea fog to be exact one morning.  I grabbed my camera and the first photo is what I saw.  The photos were taken from the Caravan Park.

Yes, it's a Pelican - two -

Mannum has a population of just over 2,000 people.  The streets were bare of people, no one in the shops and one being closed for lunch.  A new supermarket up on top of a hill seemed to be always busy each time we visited it.

The first European settlement in the area was in 1840.  

Murray River at Mannum, South Australia

 Have returned from my short break and now continuing with the holiday of last year.

The Murray River is 2508 km long, (1,558 miles) is the longest River in Australia.
The Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains, and then meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows to the northwest into South Australia. It turns south at  [Morgan] for its final 315 klms (196 mi), reaching the ocean at Lake Alexandrina.
 
The water of the Murray flows through several terminal lakes that fluctuate in salinity (and were often fresh until recent decades) including Lake Alexandrina and The Coorong before emptying through the Murray Mouth into the southeastern portion of the Indian Ocean, often referenced on Australian maps as the Southern Ocean, near Goolwa. Despite discharging considerable volumes of water at times, particularly before the advent of largescale river regulation, the mouth has always been comparatively small and shallow.
As of 2010, the Murray River system receives 58 percent of its natural flow.  It is perhaps Australia's most important irrigated region, and it is widely known as the food bowl of the nation.

More information on the Murray River.

The Murray River is also used for many things, irrigation, River Cruising, fishing, water skiing and so on.  Of course not in all places.

From the lookout.

The Caravan Park at Mannum.  It's very busy in spring, summer, autumn, and holiday time.

In winter when we were there last year, no one about.  That's our caravan and we were so lucky to be parked right on the bank of the Murray River.

Below is the PS Marion built in 1897,  provides a unique opportunity to experience the thrills and mysteries of the golden years of the river boats. Undertaking short cruises throughout the year on the Murray River departing from Mary Ann Reserve in Mannum, PS Marion also conducts overnight passenger cruises, including the acclaimed Rockford Steam Powered Dinners as well as being available for private charter cruises.
Visitors are welcome to view PS Marion whilst she is moored at her home at Arnold Park Wharf (museum opening times) including inspection of the galley, dining room, lounges and cabin accommodation.

The Barge, there are two, one for large vehicles the other for smaller ones.  These two barges go across the Murray River at Mannum 24/7

Charles De Gaulle

 Having a short break from my blog - will be back later in the week.

A graphic I made with a rose called Charles De Gaulle from my garden.

Just had a fiddle. 

Scenery, SA

After Clare, SA we went through Gawler and no photos of that town due to no where to park, plus it was raining.  Headed towards Mannum, SA through the Barossa Valley Wine Region.
Photos below are of some of the things we saw.
Some photo were taken from inside the vehicle as we travelled.

Gum Trees

This area was hilly but lovely scenery.

There was a lookout on Randell Road in Pleasant Valley.

A weed, but I thought it was pretty.

Further down the road we came across these painted stone.

I have put the black dots on the road we came from Clare.