At Basalt Wines,in the potato-growing village of Killarney,owner-winemaker Shane Clancey traces Irish ancestors back to their landing in Port Fairy (then called Belfast) in 1839."We're very adventurous,aren't we?"he says,pouring a biodynamic pinot noir into my glass."We've gone a whole 5 km in nearly 200 years,"he says of his local ancestors.
At his welcoming cellar door,I wolf down a dish of local smoked eel and Killarney potatoes."It's our nod to our Irish ancestors and Budj Bim,"says Shane,referring to the Aboriginal eel trap aquaculture system an hour west,which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site last year. He recommends a walk around nearby Tower Hill wildlife reserve to work off lunch and to connect with the other,older human story here,that of Gunditjmara country.
Designed for the lazy traveller,a circular drive takes you through Victoria's first state park,and a stepped walking path curves around its extinct volcano,said to have last erupted about 32,000 years ago. Wallabies and kangaroos nibble on the edges of the slow road and the Worn Gundidj Visitor Centre,built by renowned Victorian architect Robin Boyd,is patrolled by three emus. Those two cultures collide as the Irish village of Koroit,on its northern flank,took its name from the Koroitch Gundidj people,one of the original occupiers of this rich land.
The drive home the next day is a series of stops to fill the ever-present esky:firstly down a mud-clotted farm road in Killarney for a paper sack of fresh potatoes,still dusted in black volcanic soil. Further along the highway,I snap up fat,pungent heads of organic garlic from one highway stall,sweet apples from another,flicking my cash into metal honesty boxes.
Following the advice of Drift House's Colleen Guiney,my route back home to Melbourne deviates along empty coastal roads to find what's possibly the thirteenth Apostle,in a secret location that I'm not willing to share. And we whoop at the wild surf that smashes on the rock stack and claws at our feet,willing us to return. With luck,I will. I'll call on the luck of the Irish.
traveller.com.au/victoria
STAY
Stays at the six-suite Drift House in Port Fairy cost from $445 a night,B&B. Seedrifthouse.com.au
GETTING THERE
Port Fairy is a 3½ hour drive from Melbourne via the Hamilton Highway Double that time if travelling via the Great Ocean Road.