A traditional early start of 6am, thanks to Fletch, so he and I went for a quick walk around the park only to return and find that the Immy had woken early too. After breakfast, the kids and I went for a proper feather finder walk. It was quality time with the kids chatting away about everything and nothing, but alas, no feathers had presented themselves until I saw one just out of reach on the other side of a fence in a paddock. As I gripped the fence to slink through the wires I was given the shock of my life, literally, as it was an unsigned electrified fence. We did end up finding a few feathers as well as some tiny blue eggshells to add to their nature collection.
The Crags gorgeous rocky coastline
The morning was a rainy cold 10°C as we made our way west of Port Fairy to visit The Crags. The Crags themselves were pretty neat with the Lady Julia Percy Island, flat as a pancake, off in the distance. The weather didn’t perturb us as it produced high waves and sea spray that swirled into the air improving the view of the jagged rocky coastline. We didn’t linger long and decided to head back into Port Fairy to check out the lighthouse.
Port Fairy Lighthouse on Griffith Island
The lighthouse is located on Griffith Island and if you take the track to the left, as we did, you will find an easy walk half way around to where it is situated at the southern point. Fletch was full of energy and insisted on pushing Immy in the stroller for most of the walk, at least when he wasn’t distracted by the striped fish swimming just off the track. Immy on the other hand seemed exhausted and quite unimpressed by the whole endeavor. I have an affinity for lighthouses and love seeing new ones, so I was just as excited as the kids to see it when it came into view. We lined up to go into and up to the top of the lighthouse, only to find out there is a charge of $5 each per adult and $1 each per child to enter. We didn’t have our wallets with us as it is not signed anywhere about the charges, so we had to turn tail and head back.
Griffith Island
It was nice to stop at the lighthouse though and watch as the waves, some quite high, smashing into the rocks and imagining a tall ship making its way east through the carnage in ye olde times. Luckily, we got talking to one of the locals and she advised against continuing around the island, as the second half of the trail was not suitable for prams, or tiring kids. I’m glad we came back the same way though as we saw a wallaby just off the track snacking.
Kilarney Beach exploring the volcanic rocks
After lunch in town, we came back to the camper for a play at the indoor playroom, whilst I set up the bed end flys ahead of the forecasted storms for the next day. Ironically, the sun was shining down at this stage, so to make the most of it we headed to the beach. East Beach was rough with the tide almost completely in, so we went for a short drive to Kilarney and visited the beach there instead. This was must nicer for the kids with a long rocky outcrop about 20 metres out to sea parallel to the shore breaking the waves. The rocky outcrops also littered the beach, to which Fletch spent most of his time climbing and jumping around, whilst Immy scoured the beach for treasure for her nature collection.
That evening, we went for a swim in the indoor pool at the Big 4 Port Fairy Holiday Park where we were staying. Afterwards the kids went off cutting laps around the park with Immy in her push trike and Fletch pushing her. This was the highlight of the day, watching them from our camper chatting and running around with the other kids and even bringing one back to introduce to us as their new friend. Coincidentally his name was Fletcher too and together kept doing laps of the park chatting away, giving Amanda and I a much needed spell!
Caravan Park Pals
I find camping is the best way to put yourself and your kids out of your comfort zone. Immy is a confident, tough and brave little lady and will have a crack at anything, but Fletch on the other hand is a conundrum. He tends to over think things far too much, which at times holds him back. So when we asked him to go for a bike ride he was so anxious of falling off he refused to even get on, although he has ridden it many times before. Yet he is happy to jump into a pool without floaties and swim and charge into the water at the beach as it crashes into him, without a second thought. It is encouraging though to see his courage grow, which is why I love caravan parks as it gives him and Immy more opportunities to grow as they mingle with other kids.
This is the Part Two covering our adventure to Port Fairy, so be sure to head back and check out Part One – Foul Weather, Family Heritage and Footing it through a Volcano to see how we started our adventure.
The best place to follow Josh’s adventures with his family is on his Instagram site @josh.duthie. You can see this post and more Adventures of Duth by clicking the link below.
JOSH DUTHIE 
A delightful recount of the trip Joshy ♥
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