7/6/2022 – Tuesday – ?km

Off for a drive to Warrnambool first thing this morning, only around half an hour drive from Port Fairy. We go to the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, a museum focussing on the maritime heritage of Warrnambool & the surrounding coastline. We arrive in time for a guided tour by a woman (Pat) dressed in period costume, the tour starts from the Loch Ard exhibit downstairs next to the centrepiece of the museum, a magnificent large pottery peacock that survived the shipwreck. Pat told us the story of the wreck of the Loch Ard & some of the exhibits on display before taking us on a tour of the original lighthouse keeper’s cottage furnished to the period. The original lighthouse keeper had 9 children & the assistant keeper had 11 children, how they all fitted into this tiny divided cottage I have no idea. We climbed up into the lighthouse & enjoyed a great view over the harbour & the coast in both directions. The lighthouse is still in use today.

We then walk down the cobbled pathway into the constructed village, built in the style of the mid 1800s time & furnished with the fittings & products of that time, it is very well done. Slate roof tiles recovered from a nearby shipwreck have been used to roof some of the buildings. On the created waterfront is a pub plus a shipwright & sailmakers building, all furnished appropriately. The shipwright builds boats in the shed, with one wooden boat part complete. It is past lunchtime before we realise, we are so engrossed with this place.

We drive a couple of blocks into town & find a café for lunch, then drive around the Warrnambool harbour for a look, get out near the island that has Maremme dogs protecting the breeding colony of Little Penguins, then dash back to the car before the rain gets too heavy. Back to the Maritime Village & Museum to finish off looking around & before we know it, it is 5pm & the museum closes. Another drive around some more waterfront, this time the Hopkins River mouth & some of the parks upstream, very nice.  We then head across to the Pickering Point Lookout & the Thunder Point Lookout for some more angry sea views before it gets too dark. Back to the same café as lunch for a light dinner then back to the museum for the night time light show.

Good thing we are rugged up, we walk back down the cobblestone path through the village in the night with our lantern, it feels even colder than when we were here earlier today. We have a truly immersive experience, the village is used as the backdrop for a sound & light show, there is fog, there is wind & there is rain, all produced as part of the show, plus the added natural enhancements of cold wind & rain. Our seats shake & rock at appropriate times as the show is projected by lasers onto a sheet of water in the small lake before us. It is all really well done, telling us the stories of the volcanic formations of the landscape, early whaling & the shipwreck story of the Loch Ard. The long walk back up the cobblestone hill in the cold wind makes the warmth of the museum that much more welcoming. Another half hour drive back to our camp at Port Fairy. Another great day, it would have been greater if the weather was warmer.