4/28/10 (port fairy)
Annie Lin
Port Fairy – Grampians – Ballarat
We started the morning with a continental breakfast downstairs in the hotel’s restaurant. I had been telling Jon about vegemite made from yeast, which the Aussies spread on their toast much like peanut butter. The first time I had vegemite was when I lived in Japan and my Aussie roommate, Jean, had me try some. You are supposed to spread butter and then a thin layer of vegemite on the toast. Jon tried some but I don’t think he’ll be having any more of it. It is definitely an acquired taste.
Today we headed to the Grampians, which is a mountain range that is part of the Great Divide. There are supposed to be great hikes and lookout points. It was sprinkling and a bit foggy but we hoped it would clear away in a few hours since it never seems to rain long here. However, when we got to the Grampians it was still raining and getting pretty cold. We stopped at the Brambuk the National Park and Cultural Center and behind it was the Aboriginal Cultural Center. It was interesting to learn more about the Aboriginal culture but sad to hear how they have been marginalized. As we walked out of the center we spotted a big grey kangaroo. Jon crept up on it to take a picture but the kangaroo hopped away right it front of me. It was very quick on its feet. We were excited to see a kangaroo in the wild and little did we know that we would spot more of them down the road. We saw some behind a motel so we drove into the motel and walked out to the field to where the kangaroos were hanging out. But we were quickly called back to our car by the owner of the motel telling us we were on private property. We spotted some more kangaroos and this time they were just alongside a street. There was a mother kangaroo with her kiddies. The mother was quite big and was probably around Jon’s height. It had massive biceps and its chest was huge! If the mother jumped toward us we would have been in trouble. We were very excited to see so many out and about. They hopped in and out of people’s yards. Can you imagine seeing a kangaroo outside your back door?! It reminded us of the deer that would visit Jon’s mom’s house on Lake Huron in Michigan.
We drove to a lookout point but it was really foggy and we couldn’t see anything. We were a bit disappointed since it was our last full day in Victoria before flying to Brisbane and we weren’t going to be able to see the Grampians. We decided we might as well head to Ballart where we were staying the night.
Once we got to Ballart I had found a motel that offered internet and a free light breakfast as well. I was really hopeful that it was like the one we had stayed at in Port Fairy. When we arrived we were informed that we had to pay $5 for the internet which wasn’t a big deal at all but when the manager handed me four slices of bread in a sandwich bag and a jug of milk I gave Jon a look a “uh-oh!” I guess we should have clarified with the manager what he meant when he said light breakfast. It actually worked out fine and the room was very spacious.
Even though we didn’t get to see the Grampians in its full glory we got to hang out with some wild kangaroos, which was pretty cool.
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