Port Fairy

Port Fairy is a town of around 3,500 people at the mouth of the Moyne River on Victoria's far south-west coast. The town was originally a whaling and sealing station in the 1830s and developed as a busy shipping port through the mid-19th century. When the railway arrived in 1890, the port declined and the town was effectively frozen in its Victorian-era streetscape, much like Richmond in Tasmania.

The result is one of the best-preserved 19th century streetscapes in regional Australia. More than 50 buildings in the town are heritage listed, including the bluestone cottages along Sackville Street, the former customs house, the Caledonian Inn (one of the oldest continuously licensed hotels in Victoria, dating from 1844) and several sandstone warehouses on the wharf. The whole town has a lived-in, unpretentious charm that sets it apart from more manicured heritage villages.

The Port Fairy Folk Festival, held over the Labour Day long weekend in March each year, is one of the oldest and most respected folk and roots music festivals in Australia. It started in 1977 and now draws around 15,000 attendees to venues scattered through the town, including pubs, churches, outdoor stages and private gardens. The festival has a reputation for quality programming that punches well above the town's weight.

Griffiths Island, connected to the town by a short footbridge, is a nature reserve that supports a colony of around 20,000 short-tailed shearwaters (mutton birds). The birds arrive from their Arctic migration in September and breed on the island through the summer. The walking track around the island takes about 45 minutes and also passes the Port Fairy Lighthouse, built in 1859.

The town has a strong food culture for its size, with several well-regarded restaurants drawing on the surrounding dairy, seafood and produce. The Saturday morning market is popular. Port Fairy is a natural pairing with Warrnambool (30 minutes east) and Tower Hill (10 minutes east) on a western Victoria road trip, and many visitors use it as a quieter overnight base instead of Warrnambool.