Our first night of four here in Dunkeld. This area, generally the eastern side of Gariwerd (The Grampians), is the lands of the Djab Wurrung people. We acknowledge the traditional owners, and their elders past, present and emerging.
We started off the day be heading back down the Great Ocean Road to Port Fairy. Last night while sampling a bit of local gin in Portland, the distiller mentioned the Port Fairy markets, and said they were well worth the trip if we could do it. Given the drive from the coast up to this part of Victoria is really only about an hour, we thought it was a great idea to head into the markets.
Debbie and I stopped at Port Fairy overnight way back in 2012, and at the time thought we probably should’ve stayed longer. And as we drove in again today, we remembered the same feeling. It’s such a beautiful little town! But we had such a great time in Portland, so there were no regrets. There were a pretty decent collection of market stalls – probably about 60 all up. A great mix of craft, clothing, fresh produce, and then a bunch other delicious things. The kids enjoyed some morning tea – a battered potato on a stick for Eliza and Alexander, and a sausage sandwich for Daniel. Eliza chose to use some of her holiday money to buy some really beautiful earrings as well.
I was again distracted by some very tasty local gin – today’s purchase was Koroit Gin, from Noodledoof. I’ve ended up with a few bottles from our Victorian travels. So far, all these small distillers that I’ve run into make little 200mL bottles – so I’ve felt ok just getting one little bottle. The only problem is collection is growing!
We hopped in the car and started the trip north towards the Gariwerd (Grampians) area. Along the road, we paused to look at the Harmans Valley Lookout – which looks out over what was a lava-filled valley from the eruption of Mt Napier some 8000 years ago. It was interesting reading for some of us… but for others, it was just a chance to try and catch butterflies.
As we drove on just a short way we spotted the sign for the Byaduk Caves, which we’d read about back at the lookout. Given we weren’t hugely pressed for time, and it was only a short way off the highway, we decided to visit. It was only a short walk from the carpark to these incredible lava-tube created caves. They were quite amazing to look at and think that they’d been formed 8000 years ago, and were still sitting here today for us to look at and admire!
We headed further north, and through Hamilton, before we got to our lunch stop – Nigretta Falls. I’d had this down on our list as something to do on the way into the area today. It had been mentioned that it was an awesome waterfall that was really easily accessible. And it was definitely really easily accessible… just unfortunately it wasn’t quite the incredible waterfall we’d been hoping for given there hasn’t been huge amounts of rain lately. It was still amazing to walk down and look at up close. And we had another round of holiday sandwiches, where we just grabbed our loaf of bread and spreads and made sandwiches there as we wanted them.
After that it was time to head back into Hamilton to do some shopping for the time here. We’ll be in Dunkeld for 4 nights, and there really isn’t much more than a small general store in town. So we stocked up on the food needed for meals, and headed the 20 minutes down the road to Dunkeld.
The Airbnb I found here is just perfect. It’s a beautiful little 3 bedroom cottage, but plenty of space and feels very cosy with a fireplace going. The kids are enjoying having a backyard again as well. As we drove through town, there does look like a beautiful few shops which will be fun to explore – they were already closed when we arrived mid afternoon, and will definitely be closed tomorrow! So Monday will perhaps be a Dunkeld exploring day.
Tomorrow though, we head into Ballarat to visit Sovereign Hill, which should be a great time!
