Day 2/4: Beyond The Great Ocean Road

The main attraction in Port Fairy is Griffiths Island, which is linked to the mainland by a footbridge. In the morning I did the picturesque one hour walk around the island, passing the historic lighthouse. The sight of me in full bike gear walking on the beach may have been odd, but on this blustery morning there was only a wallaby to share it. He hopped along side me, looking curiously as if to say 'What the hell are you?'. I liked Griffiths Island.

I took in the amazing coastal views along the local Ocean Drive, then rode inside the disappointingly uninformative historical cemetery. With Port Fairy covered, I headed to Portland, stopping at the Codrington Windfarm viewing area along the way. The windfarm even does guided tours for pre-booked groups. I'm not sure what they would entail. 'Here's a gigantic windmill. And here's another gigantic windmill. In fact, there's about 20 of them. I hope you enjoyed the tour.'

Portland could have been the state capital had history taken a different turn. As I rode aimlessly about the town centre, I happened upon a vintage car museum. It had a few old bikes inside, including a four cylinder 750cc Honda that didn't look too dissimilar to my GS500. The guy at the museum had a hobby of restoring old bikes, and after an interesting chat I went down to Cape Bridgewater and the blowholes on the shipwreck coast (35 kms return). The end of the road bisected yet another windfarm; the sea was impressively tempestuous.

After lunch I set out for Mt Gambier on the slightly less direct but far more scenic Discovery Bay Road (C192), where pine forests stretch out in all directions. I hit the state border, denoted by an impressive South Australia sign and a less than impressive Victoria one. I had nothing to place in the quarantine bin, and I couldn't set my watch back half an hour since it went kaput the day before, so I ploughed on into South Australia grateful for the increase in speed limit (to 110 km/h) and the lack of useless Victorian signage ('sleep now or die imbecile').

A fairly early arrival in Mt Gambier meant a relaxing evening walking in town. I'm staying at the old jail, which is literally an old jail. It seems to be split into two areas: one for travellers and one for a purpose I can't determine. Weird. But weird is good.

Riding Distance: 250 kms