Just Keep on travelling: Back in Victoria

Friday, November 25, 2011

Back in Victoria

As soon as we passed the Farewell to South Australia sign the Welcome to Victoria was upon us. To think we had now returned, via a different route, to our home state of Victoria. Since our trip commenced on 4 July we had left Victoria, visited ACT, NSW, Queensland, Northern Territory and South Australia. At the border there was information on how the borders were surveyed and the survey instrument was on display.

Info on the borders

Surveying the borders

The survey instrument

We had a short stop at the Princess Margaret Rose Caves. We had planned on taking the cave tour but the timing wasn’t right for us. Instead Peter decided to have a cook up of bacon and sausages for a late lunch. He was soon very disappointed when he found that for some reason either the case cylinder or the gas cooker wasn’t working.

Victoria Motor Inn, Portland

We continued on and booked into a motel in Portland for the night. Like the other towns we had called into, Portland was settled as a port for the coastal ships transporting grain and other goods. It is still a major port today and the township supports the large rural area. There is a lot of dairy farming.

Portland

Sunday morning we commenced the last segment of our trip back to Melbourne. We made the decision not to take the Great Ocean Road as we have travelled that route a number of times. Instead we took the inland road through Colac. Firstly we stopped off at “The Crags” which is a coastal area and very similar to some of the inlets on the Great Ocean Road. The sausages and bacon that Peter had planned on cooking the day before were still in the Engel fridge so as soon as he found a roadside area with BBQ’s and tables etc we pulled over the he cooked up a treat.

Jetty at Portland

The freeway now bypasses Geelong and soon we could see the skyline of Melbourne in the distance. A quick stop on the freeway allowed me to take a photo of the “Welcome to Melbourne” sign. We do love Melbourne and it was great to be back. We are staying with Sandra and Richard and the family, and it was great to see them, and we had a glorious welcome when we arrived in Frankston.