Port Fairy was founded as 'Belfast' and wandering around town you can still trace a lot of Irish 
names (even the Festival hosts mainly 'Irish' Folk) , but as nice as the town might be the best thing about it is the river side and Griffith Island, which parts the mouth of Moyne River, town and the sea from each other. 
There are shearwaters breeding there, a huge colony, but most of the birds were already out when we arrived and all we could see were the little pits and holes they lay their eggs in. The seagulls and albatrosses seem to be after the fledgelings, we found fresh blood on the way and saw some of them feeding on dead shearwaters that were not completely feathered yet. Flocks of tiny birds feeding on red berries, circling over the bushes and settling down again as soon as we had passed by. We spotted a few wallabies peacefully sitting right beside the path, almost completely ignoring us apart from a curious glance now and then.
It felt like they were as much interested in us as we were in them; 'oh, look, more of those strange, two-legged creatures passing by!' I wouldn't let anybody interrupt me breakfasting either, and they were busy grazing and reaching for the higher branches of some bushes that had purple berries on them. A beautiful place to spend the early hours of morning at.
Then we headed north towards the Grampians. Now that was some change in landscape. We had seen a bit of dry grasslands when we left Melbourne, but apart from that so far all had been fairly green and lush. But now we were passing over golden dried country, absolutely flat as far as you could see. Reaped wheat fields, pastures with sheep and cattle grazing, some lonely emus wandering round. From far we could at last see some blotches of woods, but when we approached sure enough those were no forests but tree farms, large plantations of quick growing trees for wood chips.
Then the outlines of the Grampian appeared in the distances, an impressive sight as they stand out from the flat country and have a very distinct shape, rising slowly in the west and falling down steeply on the east side. Ragged cliffs and interestingly shaped rocks everywhere. The Grampians are somehow divided into three different ranges with broad, flat valleys between them, which makes for a fairly easy access. We were staying in Hall's Gap, the main town of the Grampians, in a hostel called Tim's Place, run by Tim Walsh and his dog Pudding, both extremely cuddly guys and at least Tim is as friendly and helpful as you could wish for. One of the best hostels we ever stayed at! He pointed us towards the Geriwerd Visitor Centre, run by the local aboriginal tribe where they show movies about their creational myths, the sacred places they have in the area and have an exhibition about the native plants, animals, history of their people. A very nice building as well, the gathering place is shaped in the form of a cockatoo and got the same price for outstanding and innovative architecture as the Opera in Sydney, something they are really proud of.
We have booked a tour with them tomorrow morning to the rock arts in the area and I'm much looking forward to it.
names (even the Festival hosts mainly 'Irish' Folk) , but as nice as the town might be the best thing about it is the river side and Griffith Island, which parts the mouth of Moyne River, town and the sea from each other. 
There are shearwaters breeding there, a huge colony, but most of the birds were already out when we arrived and all we could see were the little pits and holes they lay their eggs in. The seagulls and albatrosses seem to be after the fledgelings, we found fresh blood on the way and saw some of them feeding on dead shearwaters that were not completely feathered yet. Flocks of tiny birds feeding on red berries, circling over the bushes and settling down again as soon as we had passed by. We spotted a few wallabies peacefully sitting right beside the path, almost completely ignoring us apart from a curious glance now and then.
It felt like they were as much interested in us as we were in them; 'oh, look, more of those strange, two-legged creatures passing by!' I wouldn't let anybody interrupt me breakfasting either, and they were busy grazing and reaching for the higher branches of some bushes that had purple berries on them. A beautiful place to spend the early hours of morning at.Then we headed north towards the Grampians. Now that was some change in landscape. We had seen a bit of dry grasslands when we left Melbourne, but apart from that so far all had been fairly green and lush. But now we were passing over golden dried country, absolutely flat as far as you could see. Reaped wheat fields, pastures with sheep and cattle grazing, some lonely emus wandering round. From far we could at last see some blotches of woods, but when we approached sure enough those were no forests but tree farms, large plantations of quick growing trees for wood chips.
Then the outlines of the Grampian appeared in the distances, an impressive sight as they stand out from the flat country and have a very distinct shape, rising slowly in the west and falling down steeply on the east side. Ragged cliffs and interestingly shaped rocks everywhere. The Grampians are somehow divided into three different ranges with broad, flat valleys between them, which makes for a fairly easy access. We were staying in Hall's Gap, the main town of the Grampians, in a hostel called Tim's Place, run by Tim Walsh and his dog Pudding, both extremely cuddly guys and at least Tim is as friendly and helpful as you could wish for. One of the best hostels we ever stayed at! He pointed us towards the Geriwerd Visitor Centre, run by the local aboriginal tribe where they show movies about their creational myths, the sacred places they have in the area and have an exhibition about the native plants, animals, history of their people. A very nice building as well, the gathering place is shaped in the form of a cockatoo and got the same price for outstanding and innovative architecture as the Opera in Sydney, something they are really proud of.We have booked a tour with them tomorrow morning to the rock arts in the area and I'm much looking forward to it.
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