Thursday 30 September 2010 – so I left Port Fairy yesterday. It was a fun visit – nice people at the hostel and a disasterous attempt to French plait an English girl’s hair (I warned her I couldn’t do it!).

So it was a huge drive to my next port of call, Robe. It took me 2 hours to do the first 130 km but what a fabulous ride. One of the women at the hostel told me about a back road that I could take to Nelson and then on to Mount Gambier. It started where the Great Ocean Road seems to run out at Portland, and went up through acres of pine plantations. There was hardly another sole on the road so it was great to get a break from the constant traffic of the highway. I stopped in Mount Gambier to see the Blue Lake – a lake formed in the crater of an extinct volcano – which was very impressive but not particularly blue.

I then picked up another back road called the Southern Ports Highway and made my way up to Robe via a gorgeous seaside town called Beachport which had amazing turquoise blue seas and a huge jetty which stretched far into the ocean.

Today, as is becoming my way, I went off to explore the town. At the harbour a fishing boat was unloading is catch of shark. It turns out the shark are only about 2-3 feet long and quite small and skinny but the deckies do have to behead and gut them so I was right to refuse the job with the Port Fairy boys. This boat also seemed a lot cleaner and more organised I have to say.

I continued my tour of the town which included a visit to the Old Gaol House. This was now a ruin so I wasn’t detained too long!

Need to do some bike maintenance tomorrow then I’ll be back on the road the next day.