Big Trip 2024 - Day 1 (The Beginning)

Back in May 2021, I almost died, and then didn't.

Whilst recovering I made a commitment to myself that, once I was given the all clear to drive, I would look at exploring a lot more of this country.

My first big trip was in 2023 as a way of "easing into it", and involved an almost 4,000 km trip to Byron Bay and back, traveling up the guts of New South Wales and returning along the coast. The pretense for this was to catch up with clients in New South Wales and ACT. 

It was a great trip.

I should have kept my blog on that trip but didn't.

No such mistake this time around.

Welcome to The Big Trip 2024. 

The plan is to head west, along the coast, exploring a lot of the South Australia coast. This will include stays on Kangaroo Island, The Yorke Peninsula and the Eyre Peninsula, all the way to Ceduna, at the start of the Nullabor. The return trip will involve traveling inland to Broken Hill before heading back south to home.

I will clock up about 4,500km of travel. All in 21 days.

The first day of travel involved a lot of familiar roads and sights, and equally familiar stops.

 Port Fairy has been one of our family's favourite holidays destination of the last 15 years or so. Great beaches, a wide variety of eating choices, and activities options of both strenuous and lazy in nature.

 Getting to Port Fairy is not too bad. It will mostly include some sort of lunch option in or around Ballarat (Buninyong this time around), with an arrival time mid afternoon. Here are some highlights.

Western Victoria has a large number of wind farms, probably taking advantage of the winds along the Western plains. This particular turbine was just outside of Ballan.

In years gone by our kids would have been crawling all over this. With that excuse gone, I am now exposed as a stationary train spotter. This one is in Grimwade Park, Lismore.

As someone suffering from "old man troubles" my knowledge of the best public toilets has improved immensely. I could help them on this.

Mt Elephant, near Derrinallum. One of the better known examples of extinct volcanic activity in Western Victoria.

Silo Art at Lismore Golf Club. I'll have more to say about Silo Art later on this trip.

Tower Hill, just outside of Warrnambool. This extinct volcano last erupted about 34 thousand years ago.

At Port Fairy I visited the beaches:

Hello Southern Beach

Hello Eastern Beach

Hello Killarney Beach (my favourite!)

Dinner tonight was at the local Chines Restaurant - Four Season. I have a soft spot for this restaurant as it never appears busy yet I have never been disappointed by them.

Pie Review

As part of this blog I will be attempting to review as many pies as possible. Hopefully every day, however I can't promise that.

Today's pie was from The Buningyong Bakehouse

The photo glare obscured their motto: Quality Baked Goods, Country Style.

The pie I chose today was the Hawaiian Pie.

Yes, in the tradition of Australia's favourite Hawaiian Pizza, the Hawaiian Pie had crust that could have been a Hawaiian Pizza - Pineapple, Ham and a bit of Cheese, topping a standard meat pie.

I found the pie to be a little bit too salty for my taste, which I put down to the use of some very salty ham. Otherwise, it was an interesting pie. Would buy again.

Podcast of the day : Dram Talk - Dram Talk 2: Dram Harder 

- two Sydney lads talking about whisky for one hour.

Total Km travelled: 400 (exact)