No Whales In Warrnambool...

Hooray! Thank God for the fair weather during the long drive down the Great Ocean Road.. packed bread, ham, salami, yoghurt bars and fruits for the trip. After oooo-ing and ahh-ing at the cows, horses, sheep and cylindrical bales of hay (we debated on how the machine did that), we arrived at the Olde Maritime Inn at Warrnambool where we spent the night. Our room had an interesting rustic 'mezzanine' layout..with twin beds downstairs and a double bed upstairs. However, my two city slickers boys weren't thrilled about sharing it with a moth (flew out from the air-con) and a spider, leisurely winding down its thread from the ceiling..ha ha! Although they did enjoy soaking..and er..swimming in the Jacuzzi Spa..complete with water jets and bubbles!

(http://www.oldemaritime.com.au/newsite)

We drove down to Port Fairy which supposedly had a large fleet of fishing boats..but saw only a few by the river..maybe we were at the wrong end??? Hmmm...anyway, we had fish (Flake), calamari rings and hamburger with 'the lot' (plus bacon and egg) at the playground, under the watchful eyes of the many seagulls (reminded me of 'Finding Nemo'..Mine! Mine! Mine!). Justin and Jared were more enthusiastic about the the 'cool' playgrounds..there were mini excavators used to scoop and pour out sand, see-saw swings with disc T-bar seats (it was funny to see them hang on for dear life!), merry-go-rounds and the suspension bridge across the lake.

We took a short 'bush walk' at the Tower Hill Game Reserve..originally one of Victoria's largest volcano craters..but now teeming with fauna and flora. Justin turned positively pale when he read the information plaque that warned about venomous snakes on the trail..but turned braver instantly when given a swishing-stick to scare them away. However, the closest thing to snakes we saw, were the many lizards basking in the sun..Phew! We were rewarded for our 'sweat' at the end of the trail, by spotting 3 adorable koalas in the eucalyptus trees..1 was curled up fast asleep while the other 2 peered at us bemusedly, through unblinking, tiny black beady eyes!!!

And although it's not the right season, we still tried a bit of whale-watching at Logans Beach. As expected, no whales came to beckon and wave their tails at us..how disappointing!

(http://www.warrnambool.vic.gov.au/Files/2007WboolVG_web.pdf)