Misleading GPS and the House of Ill Repute

We left Adelaide on Monday, March 29th, and headed down toward Portland in Victoria. The GPS was set for fastest route, but somehow it really was on shortest route - not the same thing at all. We saw some parts of Australia that we otherwise wouldn't have seen. Like sealed roads that are really only one lane wide and are in the middle of nowhere. Just lots and lots of fields of sheep and fields of cattle. The GPS guided us to a dirt road, which Walter refused to take, so Penelope (we named the GPS) rerouted us through a forest in the limestone coast area.

Now I've always thought that mountains or tall buildings can interfere with the satellite reception on GPS. But Penelope didn't seem to like forests either. She kept telling us to turn left or right where there wasn't any road to turn on. If you've ever seen the screen on Magellan or TomTom or Garmin, or any of those, you know how the car is shown on the road? Well, Penelope had the road to one side (sometimes left, sometimes right), and the car in the middle of nowhere. Everyone once in a while, she would pick up the signal correctly, and we'd know we were heading in the right direction. Finally, after Penelope directed us to go around a sheep pen, Walter pulled over and checked. Sure enough, 'fastest route' was not the selected option. After resetting Penelope's programming, we made good time into Portland.

One the brighter side, the limestone coast has some of Australia's well known wineries - like Lindemans and Penfolds. Their vineyards are huge. The coast area, in addition to having large forests, also has large open plains and the vineyards stretch as far as we could see. Nothing like the Barossa Valley or McLaren Vale or Yarra Valley, which are all surrounded by hills. We didn't stop to see any though.

We arrived in Portland after setting Penelope straight. Our B&B, the Victoria House, has an interesting history. It was built in the 1830's as a private residence, and is in the grand Georgian style. Huge reception rooms downstairs and about 6 bedrooms upstairs. It was only a private residence for 11 years, before it was sold, and for the next 60 years or so, served as the town's local whorehouse. The house was built beside the local tavern. The main landing on the second floor, beside the largest bedroom, now has a huge window, but the current owners, who also own the old tavern, but that in. Before that, the window was actually a door, and there was a staircase outside directly to the tavern. Men would go to the tavern ostensibly for a drink or two, and then go upstairs to the whorehouse to sample the local wares. The main bedroom? That was the gentlemen's waiting room.