Port Fairy Off The Beaten Path

Here you can catch a koala..........well, no, maybe pat a koala........, actually you can't do that either and it isn't recommended as their bone structure is weak and cuddling a koala might seem nice but, take my advice, leave them where they are and just watch, as I do on the rare occasions when I see one. This is one place where they certainly aren't endangered as you can clearly note by the number of koalas and the lack of leaves on the certain species of gum trees they eat.
I spent about five minutes trying the get a snap of this one then drove to the carpark and there were two in the trees right in front of me!

Between Warrnambool and Port Fairy lies the tiny town of Killarney. I was attracted to it because of its Irish name. It's a very small place to be even called a town, with a pub, hotel, a couple of guest houses...but it does have its own beach down the road, which seems interesting enough that we'll check it out on our next trip when we're not so pressed for time.
Nearby Koroit is also a very Irish town, going so far as to have Shamrocks erected out of tinsel on the top of the street lights in the main street, and many irish signs on the pub (may not be permanent though, as their annual Irish Festival, which is quite a big event, is coming up in a few days time.)

Here we are hiking up the hill to the peak of the caldera in this volcano that last flourished some 25,000 years ago, relatively recent in geological terms.
This area was almost denuded of trees but, in the late 1950's, replanting commenced then it was taken over as a State Park in 1961and, working to a painting done in 1855 by noted artist Eugene von Guerard, they have begun restoration of the area's natural foliage.
To date there have been over 300,000 trees have been planted by volunteer and community groups.
This has served to encourage native species, most notably koala bears, but several bird species as well, including emus, which, you have been warned, you are not to encourage by feeding.

Shown here is one of the lakes around the central hill of the caldera. There may or may not be water in them depending on whether drought conditions prevail or not.
They are enclosed by the outer cone of the volcano and, although they are all called Tower Hill Lake, there are more than one.

Just a couple of kms down the road from the bluestone building, my attention was caught by this old stone church, which I found quite nice.

I was just taken with this old bluestone building/ruin a little way out of Port Fairy (between there and the small small town of Killarney)