Once a Yolly Yambuk

A few days ago - the days run into each other when you don't use a watch or a calendar - I spent the day in Warrnambool and took a tour. Well, it was actually a private introduction to the city as there wasn't a tour going but Bob took me anyhow. It is always great to see a place through the eyes of an insider and Bob gave me a great overview of the city. (If you are there, go to the Information Centre and book one of his tours. It is well worth it.) Bob is retired principal of the high school, so we also talked a bit about our working lives.

He recommended a few days in the area and suggested the Yambuk caravan park where I have stayed for the past three days. It is a lovely quiet spot - or it was till the school holidays started yesterday! The park is on a lake, quiet and serene. Over the sandhills is the ocean and it is quite disorienting to look at the still  lake and hear pounding waves at the same time. (And yes, I know it was the jolly swagman who camped by the billabong. I have since met Jos - pronounced Yos - yet another cyclist, this time from Holland. I thought it tied in nicely with the Yambuk theme)

I did Warrnambool the easy way, mainly in Bob's little bus, followed by a drive around to have a closer inspection of some of the areas I had just seen. It is a city of contrasts with the very old buildings intermixed with brash new modern designs but it seems to be true to its origins and clings to its historical roots.

This restaurant was once
the Post Office

I spent most of the day yesterday in Port Fairy, the end of the Great Ocean Road and another day in Portland. This area was the first to be settled in victoria and was a very busy entry port for thousands of Chinese who came to the goldfields.

I love the gabled windows

The Notorious, replica Portuguese Caravel
soon to sail around the world

Hundreds of wind turbines on wind farms

Guess how far I walked on the Great South West Walk

Cape Nelson Lighthouse
Are you there, Josee?