filled.nastily.tubes
Weather: cloudy. 16C.

As the saying goes, you can ever step in the same river twice.

We have visited Port Albert several years ago.
One of the highlights was a delicious croissant & coffee sitting outside in the sun at a local cafe. We were looking forward to grabbing another one this trip and the final few kilometres were marked off with preparatory talk of buttery, flakey, pastry, Frenchness….

Once we found our parking spot, we bee-lined for the cafe….only to find it has closed.
Ditto the classy fish & chip shop at the end of the road.
Ditto the funky art gallery. And the maritime museum.

In the end, the closest thing to jumping in the same river I could manage was slapping together a cheese and mustard sandwich. Eating it on a park bench. And then walking around town for the remainder of the day with yellow condiment smeared all around my mush.

Actually, pretty much everything is closed here today.
We are not sure, but I think this place must have suffered a economic battering from COVID.
There are lots of brand-spanking new holiday houses built since we were last here. But they are all deserted right now, giving the whole town a definite asystolic vibe.

Here is a poem:

Summer house
Windows dark
Empty of a view

Despite all this, it is beautiful here. As we scrunch along a gravel path, the sound ripples out across the mangrove.
Our free campsite is in a carpark right beside the water with ocean views. It is quiet and peaceful and we plan to soak up this tourist-trap-free serenity for a couple of nights.

• Port Albert population = 293.
• One of Victorias oldest seaports.
• English mustard is a variety of hot mustard made with yellow and brown mustard seeds. It is then mixed in with turmeric, giving it that bright yellow colour you can see all over my face.
• Mystery solved. Link to recent news article on the closure of the fish and chip shop.