Exploring Port Fairy

Posted On April 2, 2018

Port Fairy – More than just beaches.

Port Fairy a beautiful seaside town, located only 28 km west of Warrnambool.

Port Fairy is a very popular spot for holidaymakers over the Summer period. Only 3 and a half hours from Melbourne located at the end of the Great Ocean Road it is teeming with people all through the holiday period. With a population of about 3500 (before holidaymakers) this quaint seaside town streets, shops, and beaches are full of people ready to relax and enjoy summer. There are plenty of great eateries, from restaurants, pubs to great take away places including Chinese, fish and chips and pizza places. There is hardware stores, supermarkets and chemists, but if there is something else you need Warrnambool is only a short drive away.

An Icecream shop called Poco Artisan Ice cream sees people lining up out the door to taste the homemade gelato.

The local Surf Lifesaving club at “Eastern Beach” offers a great patrolled place to swim. It is Patrolled between 10 am – 6 pm Monday to Friday and 10 am – 5 pm on the weekends. It also has a fully licensed restaurant/cafe at the Surf life-saving club called Charlie’s on East that is open for breakfast/lunch and snacks. We spent our days wandering the beautiful clear beaches.

We ended many walks along the beach at Charlie’s getting an icy pole on the way home.

It also has a great Golf Course situated right on the dunes, on Woodbine Road. Where else can you play whilst viewing the spectacular Southern Ocean? Some might say A ‘magical’ experience, befitting the name. The Port Fairy Golf course is an 18 hole natural links golf course that is listed in the top 100 golf courses in Australia.

If you are after bike riding, it is home to the Port Fairy to Koroit to Warrnambool Rail trail. A 37km flat rail trail that ranges from Dirt, gravel and sealed sections.

There is great walking tracks to explore at Griffith Island, home of the Historic lighthouse, and 15 minutes out of town at Towerhill, as well as some great coastal walk, the Mahogany Ship walk, Yambuk Lake walk, Peterborough walking track. So if history and heritage is more your style there are great walks around the Town to showcase the historic features and buildings of the town.

Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve is a great place to see local wildlife. Just be careful the emu’s try to steal your food. Our attempt at eating fish and chips became quite comical when two emus came charging up and began stealing food straight from our table. We quickly had to leave our food and find comfort in our car to eat the remaining untouched chips.

If adventure is more your style then only fifteen minutes away is the 33m slide at Yambuk located on the sand dunes. Yambuk is also a very popular spot for fishing or a BBQ.