Our Easter hike finished with walking east from Nelson along Ocean Beach on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, and our holiday finished with a look at an old ship recreated.
Upon arriving at Nelson at the mouth of the Glenelg river, we had a couple of hours enjoying fast food and real coffee. Then after an early BBQ lunch, we walked along the beach until White Sands Camp. This campsite was hidden between the dunes and a long swamp. It was my favourite of the hike.
The clear, crisp night kept away the mosquitos and gave me lots of time to star gaze. On my iPhone I have the app Distant Suns 2, which provides a detailed star map of the sky above. It is great software for a remote campsite on a clear night.
Dawn came to White Sands Camp fine and still - the perfect start to the final day of our hike.
We walked another 11 km along Ocean Beach to finish the hike at lunch time. After sorting out cars and getting changed, we headed back to Port Fairy for afternoon coffee. One of our fellow hikers, Ken, told me of the replica Portuguese caravel docked in Port Fairy. So before our coffee we went down to the sea to look at the Notorious. It is an interesting ship, having been built by an experienced cabinet maker using only traditional techniques.
I am not sure that I would go to sea in this ship. I suspect that the skills necessary to build a seaworthy vessel using traditional techniques cannot necessarily be learnt first-time around, even for a skilled cabinet maker.
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