Day 8 - Warrnambool: Flagstaff Hill by day and night

Friday 13 March 2020

I’ve booked three nights in Warrnambool because I’m tired and I need a rest day.  I don’t have an ambitious agenda today. Just to wander across to Flagstaff Hill this morning and then rest this afternoon so I’m in good shape to enjoy the sound and light show this evening.  I have the option to eat in the dining room this morning but I’m sticking with my self-catering. I’m impressed to find a small carton of milk in the fridge, enough for me to have my brekky without dipping into my supply of UHT milk. My room is exactly as pictured on the website, Pretty Red Baby (PRB) is parked right outside my door which is just so convenient. I am really happy with my choice to stay at the Best Western Olde Maritime.

I take my time in the early morning and it’s almost 09:50 when I’m walking into Flagstaff Hill. There’s not a lot of cars in the carpark which is reassuring. To be honest, this pandemic is starting to get a move on in Sydney especially and I’m getting increasingly nervous about travelling about, sensitive to any infractions of social distancing.

My family loved Flagstaff Hill back in 1998. In many ways it hasn’t changed. The entrance though has been enhanced and I’m impressed again at the inclusion of a welcome to country as the opening section of the video presentation.  I’m tickled too, to see they’ve included an image I am extremely fond of and that I bought as a poster on my last visit. It’s frame costing far more than the image, it has hung in a prominent position in my home for all these years. It’s the Falls Of Halladale in full sail, holed and largely submerged against blue skies, with the sea as still as a mill pond. An extravagantly hatted woman is looking back at the camera, seated among a large group that has settled on the grass, watching the ship in its perilous situation on the reef.  Twenty odd years ago, we were told that the captain was drunk and this led to the wreck. It just seemed ironic to me at the time. So much sadness and drama along the coast, thousands of lives lost in terrifying stormy seas. And then there’s the Falls of Halladale, with no loss of life and which should never have foundered.  Now, here or online there’s no mention of anything other than the fog, the navigational errors and the disciplinary consequences for the Captain, his master’s certificate suspended for 6 months. Was drunkenness just a slanderous lie? 

The Falls of Halladale

In the museum I refresh my memory of some things, they’ve pared back the detail I think since I was last here and I find myself able to answer some questions some other visitors are asking among themselves but which isn’t included in the information boards now as far as any of us can see. The Loch Ard Peacock was preserved because yes, it was still in its wooden packing frame, so if memory serves it just got a small chip on its beak, which looks like it may have been repaired now. There’s a couple of new items too, a Minton heron such as was on the Loch Ard and the Carmichael Watch, a very impressive and no doubt very valuable gold time piece which belonged to the family of one of the survivors and was retrieved from the body of her mother.

Out in the grounds I find that there’s virtually no change from 1998. Which is a good thing for a historical village of course. I head first over to the eastern precinct and the huge anchor on the grass. My mind’s eye puts my son on it all smiles for the camera. One of my favourite holiday photos of all time. I read again the attached plaque. Ah!! This is the anchor of the Falls of Halladale! I’d completely forgotten. It was worth coming just for this memory jogger.

The anchor from the Falls of Halladale with the small lighthouse. To safely enter Lady Bay you line up both the lighthouses. 

I find I have no immediate memory of the Warrnambool Garrison either but it slowly comes back to me as I wrack my brains, read the signs and climb up to the observation post on the embankment. Time to head over and make my way around the village, my first stop being the Lighthouse, I am pleased to find there’s no one else trying to share the small space provided in the spiral stairwell.  The Lighthouse Cottage is solid and has a beautiful ambience. Walking through the laundry out to the attached garden and grounds I feel that I’d be very happy to live with such domestic arrangements and outlook. I pause to photograph the peahen and her chicks. Of course, Flagstaff Hill has to have peafowl on the grounds!

Next stop is the Port Medical Officer’s residence. No, actually, give me this one. What a gorgeous cottage and what a beautiful situation within its gardens and the village.

Port Medical Officer's Residence

I make my way around like this, not in any hurry. Pausing to rest on seats here and there. Listening to audio or video presentations where provided. Some of the spaces are a bit dusty and the weather’s changed today and there's a cold breeze.  Paranoia lifts its head. My nose is starting to run. In the dusty shipwright’s building a sneeze. Oh god. Is this Covid-19? How’s my throat? Is it sore? Feel my forehead, do I have an elevated temperature? No. Don’t be silly, you’ve not been in contact with anyone with the virus. You always react like this to cold wind and dusty rooms. The sensation subsides. I move on. This travel in the time of pandemic is becoming nerve wracking.

Boat Builder and Shipwright

The Steam Packet Inn is a wonderful space. I linger, imagining the noise and bustle of the pub in full swing, happy not to have any sort of time pressure. Just to be thorough I wander around the far side of the lake taking a few moments to study the block and tackle set up to show the power of these simple mechanisms used to help hoist sails.

Stella Maria Tea Room,  Merri Street, Flagstaff Hill Warrnambool

It’s time for lunch. I don’t have great memories of my previous visit to the tea room. I seem to recall having one of the worst iced chocolates of my life and the kids tried a hedgehog. Quite an eye opener. It had never occurred to me that anyone would make an iced chocolate with powdered cocoa into cold milk. Yeah, maybe don’t do that people. But silly to avoid the cafe today based on a 22 year old review, so I wander in and seat myself at a small table well away from other patrons. There’s almost no one here either, so it’s no problem keeping well away.  The ambiance of the tea room is truly delightful. The menu has a range of simple options but I go for the cheese and tomato toasty on sourdough $5.50 and I’ll follow that up with a scone with jam and cream, the half serve option being very handy when you’re on your own and also at a very modest price.  

A memorable sour dough cheese and tomato toasty from the Stella Maria Tearoom

The young lass in period dress is the only person here so she mans the desk and prepares the food and drink. When it arrives, I find the sourdough very flavoursome and it’s got to be one of the most delicious cheese toasties I’ve had. Right Up there with the sourdough and Jarlsberg toasty my daughter whipped up in a rest area along the Hume Highway in December on our way to go cherry picking in Young, or the one my friend whipped up for dinner in our apartment in Fremantle that time. Yum.

The scone is retrieved from under the retro fly cover and gets a short nuke in the microwave so it arrives warm and soft. I’m glad I don’t have to ration this little dish of cream over two of them. What a nice lunch.  I pay and thank and head out onto the verandah. Nicely in time for the tea room to close at 13:30 for a function. Well, I think it’s time for a nap. I walk back up the hill and as I’m heading out look back down over the village and realise I’ve not gone in where the volunteer lady is spinning today. I was saving that until last due to my history of getting into long chats with such people. Oops. 

Back down I go. We do chat, but more people start to arrive into the room, which cuts things short and provides incentive for me to get away from these obviously plague-ridden folk. Yes, perhaps this really will be like the zombie apocalypse, I’m starting not to see people, just moving biological hazards who sometimes talk to you and follow you when you step away from them.

With the change in the weather more people have decided that the indoor attractions at Flagstaff Hill seem like a good idea. I just enjoy the cold breeze and the cloud. 16-18 degrees Celsius and cloudy is my favourite travel weather. I’m sick to death of blue skies. I congratulate myself for going to Flagstaff Hill first thing today and make myself scarce for a few hours.

Pippies by the Bay, Warrnambool

For dinner tonight I’ve booked a table in Pippies by the Bay I have had to go for quite an early time slot but that’s my preference anyway. Fine dining is not as much fun as it is with Hubby in tow, but it’s time I had a proper meal. There is one thing about the service that is a bit odd. When they seat you they give you only the drinks menu rather than all menus. They only bring the food menu after they’ve taken your drinks order. This strikes me as rather annoying and inefficient. Why can’t I just get both together. They are quite busy too. I do try to encourage mocktail menus so I go for one of the few options. Yeah. Pretty ordinary. Hmpf. A bit of a rip to be honest.  For food, to start I go for the gluten free Slow Braised Pork Belly served with orange and fennel salad, caramel vinegar and glaze $18.50. After long deliberation my main course is the Eye Fillet Steak and Crayfish Tail which is served with potato and thyme terrine, seasonal vegetables & red wine reduction sauce for $48.50.  Dessert, oh why not. Shall we say Apple and Rhubarb Crumble with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream $13.50. All together a nice meal.  It's too early to wait around for the show gathering time of 8:15, I'm glad I only have to walk back across the street to chill for an hour. 

Nicely balanced flavours in the pork belly starter

The crayfish tails were beautifully cooked

HUGE!

The paranoia is kicking in again as I begin to wonder if I’ve done the right thing booking a ticket to the show tonight. Will I be able to effectively social distance there? How many new international arrivals might there be? In the end after chats with my Hubby and brother I decide to just walk over and sus it out. See what the numbers are like and decide then.  Well, there’s not that many people at all. All Australian accents, so reasonably unlikely to have recently arrived from somewhere with rampant Covid-19. And they are almost all grey nomads. Hells bells, if one of us has Covid-19 here tonight it could be carnage.  But I think these wanderers are very low risk and I really think so am I. I book in with the reception staff and head as far away from everyone else as I can.

Eventually we’re escorted into the video presentation room for a short presentation and then out to the village. This time I notice an anonymous quotation stretched out along the wall “If it is to be man against the oceans then it is the oceans that will surely prevail.” I wish that were still true. We walk slowly with lanterns provided down to the theatre on the far side of the lake past illuminated shop fronts. “Take as much time as you want, there’s no hurry.” 

Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by night.

The wall of the theatre is hydraulically lifted to expose tiered seating and I wait until last so that I can choose where I sit, nice and far away from anyone else. Maybe not quite as good a view but I don’t mind. The show is well done. The best part is the local Aboriginal history and culture section which is excellent and informative and very interesting indeed. It covers the creation stories and its link to the local landscape. There’s a pretty impressive re-enactment of a whale hunt too, but there’s also pretty good portion that repeats things you learn in the museum or around the village if you’re paying attention.  I’m glad I came along. Again I linger behind the zombie hoard as we make our way out. Another short walk across the road and it’s off to the land of nod in my very comfortable digs.