Weekend in Warrnambool

Narrow roads to Warrnambool

When I first arrived in Australia, I was nervous about the idea of driving on the opposite side of the road. Although I've adjusted pretty well to the change, I'm still quite new at it so I was thankful that I wasn't in the driver's seat when my friends and I encountered some "two-way," single-lane roads on our way down to Warrnambool, a country town about three hours southwest of Melbourne. My friend's dad works at a clinic there during the week so a few of us decided to stay at his family's house for the weekend.

From the highest point of Tower Hill

Our original plan was to leave immediately after work on Friday, but we ultimately thought it was best to leave first thing Saturday morning so that we could minimise our night
driving. After dropping off some of our belongings at the house in Warrnambool, we set off toward Port Fairy, stopping at Tower Hill, Victoria's first National Park, along the way.

Griffiths Island Lighthouse

Listed as a top attraction to see in the area, one of the most interesting things about Tower Hill is that it's located inside a dormant volcano. Although we did have a spectacular view of the landscape from the peak of the mountain, we were also hoping to be able to see some exotic Australian wildlife while we were there. Unfortunately, we had to wait until we were leaving to see a

Wharf in Port Fairy

small group of emus in the distance. We attempted to get closer, but then we realised the dirt we were sinking in was more likely fertilizer so we quickly retreated back to the car.

The next stop we made was Griffiths Island in Port Fairy,
where we spent some time exploring and taking in the

Lake Pertobe

gorgeous scenery. The island is small enough to
walk around in an hour or two so we followed the winding path that led us by the beach and toward the lighthouse, making several stops at different points along the way. The area is known for its colony ofmuttonbirds/shearwaters, but since I didn't know what they were ahead of time, I wasn't looking for them so I'm unsure whether or not we saw any. After Griffiths

Hot pot dinner

Island, we sat by the wharf in Port Fairy to rest and to decide what we were going to do for the rest of the day.

 After Port Fairy, we returned to Warrnambool and visited
the beautiful Lake Pertobe, which had a playground with a mini-zip line that we all took advantage of using. It's always fun to act like a kid for a little bit, isn't it? A short while after

Bay of Islands

that, we headed over to Lady Bay and stayed there until the sun started to set. By that time, we were starving so
we found a Coles and bought some food for................. our delicious hot pot dinner!

Before heading back to Melbourne the next day, we stopped at two scenic locations that are part of the Bay of Islands

Country sunset

Coastal Park, the Bay of Islands and the Bay of Martyrs, the latter of which allowed us to actually walk down to the beach and wade in the water. Our trousers may have gotten a little wet from the waves, but I don't think I would be alone in saying it was still good fun.

Our trip ended with the most epic sunset over a tree-lined hill that I couldn't help but feel begged the question:: Are we in Australia or Africa? Perfect conclusion to the weekend.