Molins Down Under: Cape Bridgewater

After Port Fairy we drove directly to Cape Bridgewater (near Portland) to see the largest mainland seal colony in Australia. We parked at the beach and did the two hour return walk along the cliffs to see the seals. Ironically, I think the biggest highlight was not the seals (although fun to see they were very far away) but rather the wild kangaroos we saw along the way. They were so close to us, and all popped up inquisitively when we passed.

After the walk we played in the surf at Cape Bridgewater beach (gorgeous – except for the biting March flies – what we call deer flies) and then at dusk drove out to see the surf at the blowholes. I don’t think the tide was quite right for the blowholes but we loved watching the crashing surf from the viewpoint (again, the only detractor was the biting flies).

We slept in a park in Portland that night (actually, a small animal reserve). We haven’t done a lot of camping outside of the camper van parks but really, with the camper van, it’s so easy to do. We have a gas cooker to make coffee in the morning, the lights work off the battery at night, we have water to wash up with, so really the only thing we can’t do is power up our electronics. We’ll probably do a bit more sleeping out, especially on big driving days since there are times we are really are only in the parks to sleep.

And the morning was fantastic – Toby and I woke early and drove back to Cape Bridgewater to have breakfast by the beach.