It was our second camping trip to Port Fairy where we stayed for about 10 days over the Christmas and New Year period. We were joined by Andrea, Dave and Lochie.
It is a great spot with plenty of things to see and do - there is the ocean beach, Pea Soup which is the beach with the rock pools, cannon firing, boat trips, bike riding, kite flying, cafes, walking out to the lighthouse, carriage rides, Warnambool with its Maritime village and the fantastic Lake Petrobe playground.
Best of all the kids just loved running around the campsite and being doted upon by Allysa and Georgie who are the two older girls staying next to us. The girls are great and love playing with our kids and are fantastic baby sitters! If only they lived next door at home !
It was on this trip that we made the decision to buy a camper trailer. We looked around and found that we were the only ones in tents ! Everybody else had a caravan. And we figure that it would make packing to go away really easy as we struggle to fit everything in the car now that we are 2+2. This year we had to bring the trailer to get all our gear in!
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| Tent city ... on the right behind the trailer is our tent, the big blue gazebo is our common area and behind that , the brown canvas tent was the Williams' quarters. Does it resemble a refugee camp ? |
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| Having ice-cream at the milkbar across the road with Georgie, Chelsea and Allysa whilst we waited for daddy to buy us a new tent |
We have a very large 3 room tent that you can stand in but unfortunately this year we did not get to use it as Brett forgot to pack the tent pegs ! Luckily there was a Rays Tent City in Warnambool (about 20 mins away) so he had to make the inglorious trip there to purchase another tent. He had strict instructions not to come back with anything smaller than our 3 room tent.
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| Snuggled up in the tent. |
One of our favourite spots in Port Fairy is the playground at the end of the jetty.
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| Port Fairy Playground |
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| Eloise & Lochie kicking back at the campsite with their chupa chups |
We have been meaning to take the girls on a coach ride in Melbourne but baulked at the price of $75 per adult for a 20 minute ride! So we were thrilled when we found that the coach ride in Port Fairy were only $5 for each adult and kids were free!
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| Giddy up horsey |
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| Riding through the main street of Port Fairy |
Whilst waiting for our carriage ride, Abbey and Brett chilled out and bonded over their love of a good hoodie !
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| Meanwhile, Eloise and Lochie discussed more important matters .... like their favourite ice-cream flavour. |
A lovely day was spent at Flagstaff Hill, which is like Sovereign Hill except it is all things maritime and shipwrecks.
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| Flagstaff Hill |
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| Eloise & Lochie admiring the view from the top of Flagstaff hill |
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| Peek-a-boo ! |
Another day was spent at Lake Petrobe in Warnambool which had a number of kids playgrounds and lake where you can hire boats.
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| Picnic at Lake Petrobe |
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| Abbey not happy at being left of the boats ... next year Abbey |
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| Hide & seek at Lake Petrobe playground ... where's Lochie gone ? |
The kids also had a go at kite flying .....
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| Up up ... |
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| ...and away |
... although they soon lost interest and were more interested in a drink of cordial, leaving Brett and Dave to have their fun with the kites.
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my turn, my turn
Abbey enjoying the kite flying
Kite flying is not that funny, is it Abbey ? |
There were two beaches at our disposal, there was the main beach with the waves or the little lagoon and rock pools at Pea Soup.
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| On your marks, get set .... |
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| .... go |
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| Sitting on the rocks at Pea Soup |
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| Abbey & Allysa |
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| At the main surf beach |
Bike riding / walking out to the lighthouse
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| Riding / walking / pramming out to the lighthouse |
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| Doing donuts on the sand |
We also went out on a boat around Mutton Island and out to sea. The kids got a go behind the wheel and Eloise almost crashed the boat onto some rocks (hence the rather sheepish look below)
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| Abbey with her certificate from captaining the boat |
A highlight for the kids was the firing of the canon. On Sunday mornings during summer, they fire off one of the cannons. The kids loved this and re-inacted it for days to come.
Another highlight for the kids (and adults) were the frequent ice-cream treats.
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| Abbey needs a rest on her sister's legs after the ice-creams |
The weather was quite strange, we had some days that were quite cold where we needed jackets and beanies and other days where it was over 40+ degrees. On those days it was too hot to go to the beach and our only salvation was the air-conditioner in the car or a bucket of cold water !
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| Abbey cooling off in a bucket of cold water ... |
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| ...and surrounded by her two favourite girls next door, Georgie & Allysa |
The kids loved having the big girls around to play with them and read them stories
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| Abbey on Chelsea, Eloise on Allysa and Georgie in the middle |
It was Abbey's first camping trip and at 8 months she did not seem to mind a bit!
