Dunn by an ill wind in Port Fairy

It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

The proverb was borne out when a withering blast from the southern ocean heralded the arrival in Port Fairy in Victoria of the Dique Trippers and old friends Pat and Tony Dunn in their brand new Winnebago.

Disco time in the Dunn's Winnebago.

Tony is best known in the wider world for founding the successful Sydney extensions business Addbuild and winning the Sydney-Hobart yacht race on handicap in ExTension in 1987.

Pat is best known for having the fortitude to put up with Tony (just kidding).

We have wonderful memories of sailing with them, and Rick and Irene King around the Whitsundays in the late 1980s, but it was around eight years since we'd last seen them.

Taco time in the camp kitchen with Pat and Tony Dunn, their son Donald, and Millie, the beauty from Bogota.

Tony and Pat had just finished a tour of Tasmania, and were heading clockwise around Australia. As we were travelling anti-clockwise, we arranged via email to meet them 'somewhere' in Victoria or South Australia.

That 'somewhere' turned out to be the Big 4 caravan park in Port Fairy. What followed was four days of making merry, with the Winnebago doing disco duty on the last night to the rhythm of 70s and 80s hits.

Tony gets ready to read the papers.

To top off the occasion, we were joined by the Dunn's gregarious son Donald and his vivacious partner Millie, from Bogota in Columbia.

That only resulted in more partying. We're not sure if Port Fairy will ever be the same.

Millie and Pat visit the Dique's van.

It was a terrific reunion and we promised to meet the Dunns again in Queensland after they travel the 'Top End'.

It's for the birds

I should mention that one of the most interesting aspects of Port Fairy is Griffith Island, connected to the mainland by a causeway.

The island is a protected refuge for Shearwater seabirds that nest in underground burrows.

These birds go on an annual migration that takes them as far as Japan and the Bering Sea before they return to mate. They partner for life and the female lays only one egg per season.

The protected area is out of bounds to humans, a protocol that we can only applaud.

The coeliac connection

Something interesting always seems to surface when you call on long lost relatives.

With the Scotts, Ron and Rosemary (far left and right), and their daughter Belinda and grand daughter Samantha.

It happened in Adelaide when we visited a distant cousin of mine whom I hadn't seen in 50 years.

I refer to Rosemary Scott (nee Taylor) whom I last saw when she visited our family in Crowther Street, Windsor, Brisbane.

As an awkward teenager I remember well her appearance on our doorstep followed shortly afterward by her fiancee Ron who had just driven a big rig up from Melbourne, she all elegance and grace and he full of brash Aussie humour.

Rosemary and Ron haven't changed that much -- he's still full of wise cracks and she's as amiable as ever. They invited us to stay for a delicious lunch. It was cream on the cake when their daughter Belinda and grand daughter Samantha turned up to join us.

Which brings me to the point of the story.

Rosemary is a late-onset coeliac sufferer, which means she cannot eat wheat or food containing gluten. So is Belinda, although Samantha is OK.

We have a grand daughter Amelia who also has the coeliac condition. Food contaminated with even the tiniest amount of wheat will produce stomach pains and vomiting. Coeliacs can be genetically predisposed to the condition but until now we had been unable to figure out from where in the family it might have come.

It's all the Heynes' fault

Here's the connection. Rosemary's grandmother was born Mary Heyne in India. My grandmother (on Dad's side) was Mary's sister Norah.

One can only deduce that the coeliac line came through the Heynes, although we don't know of any other sufferers in the family.

Downtown Adelaide

By way of interest, Mary, whom we as kids called Aunt Mary, was a remarkable person and the first postmistress in Yamba, NSW.

I have no recollection of Norah who died of typhoid fever in the transit camp in Deolali awaiting the ship to bring us to Australia.

Enjoying the sun at Glenelg.

For the record, Norah's and Mary's brother George married Cornelia van Harraveldt (Cornelia Everarda Joanna Maria van Harraveldt to be precise), whom I remember well. She was an early settler in Gosford after leaving India and living for a time in Persia (Iran), and later Batavia (Jakarta).

Cornelia's daughter Corrie Formston, whom we call Auntie Corrie, is now in her 80s, and still lives in Gosford operating a dog kennels business.

Just a whiff of family history. It was wonderful to catch up with Rosemary and Ron, and meet some of their family.

A friendly standoff

Speaking of history, after leaving Adelaide, we decided to stay a few days including Australia Day in Victor Harbour, a port that just missed out on becoming the South Australian capital.

Australia Day fun in Victor Harbour.

Victor Harbour is in Encounter Bay, so named after the most extraordinary face-off there in April, 1802 between two ships, one English and one French, each more than 20,000 kilometres from home, and hundreds, if not thousands of kilometres from the nearest 'New Holland' settlement.

The English ship, the Investigator, was commanded by Matthew Flinders, on his voyage of circumnavigation heading east, the French, Le Geographe, by Nicolas Baudin, on a scientific voyage of discovery, heading west.

Galahs clean up after vans exodus the park.

England had been at war with France off and on since 1793. On March 27, 1802, the Peace of Amiens temporarily ended the conflict, but Flinders and Baudin could not have known this.

We do know that Flinders had his ship 'cleared for action'. When he learned the other was the Geographe he had a boat hoisted out and went on board.

Horse drawn tram at Victor Harbour.

Scientists didn't fight

Flinders writes that after hearing he had examined the south coast, Baudin was 'somewhat mortified' and that 'I did not apprehend that my being here at this time, so far along the coast, gave him any great pleasure'. Flinders spoke little French and Baudin little English, so tension and suspicion between them would be understandable.

It seems that they regarded themselves as scientists and therefore non combatants.

Dry sand and shells at the mouth of the Murray River near Victor Harbour. The area has to be dredged to allow ingress of seawater to maintain the ecosystem.

Nevertheless, it is fascinating to speculate what would have happened if they had decided to engage in battle, with only the local Aborigines as witnesses. Both ships were similar in size but their heavier guns had been removed.

Thank goodness common sense prevailed.

As fortune would have it, three years later England defeated the French and Spanish navies in the Battle of Trafalgar, and 10 years later Napoleon at Waterloo.

On to Victoria

We decided to stay a couple of days at a quiet little van park in Padthaway and sample some Coonawarra wine before booking into a crowded park at the charming beachside town of Robe, not far from the Victorian Border.

Carol hosts a Happy Hour session with Victorian vannies (from left) Pat, Chris, Tom, Ron, Malcolm and Denise.

At Robe, we also met some very delightful Victorian vannies and found ourselves members of their Happy Hour club.

It's sad to say goodbye after these encounters, but it was time to move on to Port Fairy via Mt Gambier.

Blue Lake at Mt Gambier formed by an ancient volcano. It provides the town's fresh water.

The next destination is Queenscliff where we look forward to calling in on Richard and Shona Harding, our daughter Angela's in-laws.