Robe to Port Fairy

The weather has taken a turn for the cold side as a mass of air has moved north from the Antarctic. For most of today, it was overcast with just a few light showers but the temperature only made it to 18C for a brief time. My first non-shorts day in Aussie!

We took the coastal route south from Robe. This is a tree lined two lane highway that traverses the huge tracts of managed forest land of pine trees destined for the local timber mills or for bulk export to China. We were attracted to a large flock of birds perched on the power lines similar to the crows at home. Here, they are the common Rose-Breasted Cockatoo. Just as noisy as a crow. There were about 100 of them in this flock.

After an hour or so of driving, we stopped at the town of Mount Gambier for a break and to pick up some more travel information at one of the iSites. One of the unique features of Mount Gambier are some crater lakes that were formed from some recent volcanoes. Not quite as spectacular as Crater Lake in California but they had some deep blue coloured water and are actually used as the water reservoir for the town.

The other geological feature of the town was a large limestone sinkhole that was transformed into a splendid garden.

We continued on past the town of Nelson with an ever watchful eye on the sides of the road for roaming kangaroos. The young lady at the tourist info centre cautioned us that we would see lots on the road because it was cool and overcast. It managed to keep both of us alert but we only saw one all day.

Our next stop was Bridgewater Bay which had a really nice looking beach and surrounding bluffs.

We continued on to Cape Bridgewater which had some good overlooks to watch the surf pounding against the limestone bluffs.

This feature was called the "Petrified Forest" because it looks like tree trunks but is actually eroded limestones pipes.

This area is a National Park and look at how the wind farm enhances view of the environment!

As we were leaving here, I noticed a typical modern version of a South Australia farm house. We have seen so many similar styled buildings.

Our next stop was Cape Nelson to check out the lighthouse. Unfortunately, it was closed for tours and we only had a chance to get a few photos and watch the surf pound the bluffs.

Our destination for today was Port Fairy, a town of 2,500 that grows to 40,000 during peak tourist events. We had time for a brief stroll to the river esplanade to look at some boats and check out some of the shops.

On the way back to our motel, we stopped for a nice supper at a Mediterranean restaurant.