Port Fairy Visitor Information Centre
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The Port Fairy Folk Festival is held annually on the Labour Day weekend in March (9 - 12 March 2007).
This fabulous celebration of world roots and folk music is a must do on any music lovers calendar. Over winter 2007 Port Fairy will host a series of weekends each with a different theme.
The first on the Queens Birthday weekend will focus on art, music and comedy. The second in July will be a weekend of food & wine, the third weekend is history with the final weekend (1st weekend in September) the annual Ex Libris book fair when the town is alive with all things literary.
Don't forget the annual Moyneyana festival - our great summer holiday festival that runs for 34 amazing days.
Or the Spring Music Festival, a feast of classical music, opera and dance.
Contact the Visitor Information Centre by phone or email for details about any event in Port Fairy or the Moyne Shire
Mutton Birds at Port Fairy
The short tailed shearwater or Mutton Bird is the only variety of petrel whose breeding grounds lie solely in Australia.
These remarkable birds (about the size of a seagull) occur in quite large numbers and return annually to Port Fairy to mate and incubate their one egg.
In mid April each year they fly north to the Aleutian Islands near Alaska. They complete this 15,000 km journey in only two months. After resting and feeding they head home following the coast of California and then south west across the pacific.
The prevailing winds aid them in their journey but the birds are exhausted when they finally reach "home" in September. They return to the same nest they vacated the autumn prior and find their mate as they generally mate for life.
Each evening just on dark you can enjoy the sight of hundred of birds flying in to Griffiths Island. Magnificent birds in the air they are rather awkward on land but squawk and call to their mate as they seek out the burrow. There is no cost to view this amazing spectacle.
