Blue whale blues

28th April 2011

Today was a bit bitty. We are staying around the Port Fairy area, having another night in our neat little kottage. This morning we went out to Portland, as it’s supposed to be a great spot for sighting Blue Whales who visit here for a few weeks every year around Easter. But when we arrived it was to learn that the last sighting was three weeks ago – given that plenty of fishermen are out in these waters every single day, this means the whales have gone.

So we went for a stroll through some sunny coastal heath and then finding little else to enthuse us in Portland we drove all the way back to Port Fairy for lunch. In the afternoon we rambled around the little town, which is picturesque but only briefly. An American backpacker irritated me, asking for free ice cream samples when she transparently had no intention of buying any. “I might pop back in later…” Yeah, right. I can’t explain why this irritates me. I never, ever ask to sample something if there’s no possible that I’ll buy some*.

Anyway, we went out again to nearby Tower Hill Reserve, which is set in a perfect volcanic crater that is some 32,000 years old and now contains an idyllic lake and forest. Aboriginal remains have been found among the volcanic deposits, graphically illustrating how long people have been in this landscape. We wandered until dark in order to look for Sugar Gliders – the Aussie equivalent of flying squirrels. But having got there too late for the park info centre to be open, we weren’t exactly sure of the right environment, the right time, the right way of searching. There were kangaroos, emus, koalas and rabbits about but no gliders.

So kind of a wrong-footed day really. But oddly pleasant nonetheless.

* – if someone is offering me a free sample from a tray, sure. I mean I would never go into a cheese shop and ask to try some cheeses if I definitely wasn’t going to buy any cheese

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