PORTLAND has been a fantastic tourist destination for many a traveller over the years, but for one recent visitor it meant even more than that.

Brian Keniston, 28, was born in Portland, Oregon in the United States, before living for a number of years in Portland, Maine on the opposite coast.

He recently came to visit Portland, Victoria, saying when he saw the name of the town he just had to stop by.

“I’m doing a road trip from Melbourne up to Darwin, but when I saw Portland out this way I knew I just had to come through,” Mr Keniston said.

“I’ve been travelling for around a year now, it’s easy to get homesick at times so this did feel like a little slice of home away from home.”

Mr Keniston said he has spent most of the past year on a working holiday in New Zealand, although he briefly travelled to Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

“I found those places to be very touristy, I’ve really liked coming to Melbourne and travelling along the coast here,” he said

“This wasn’t even something I’d had planned, you just kind of get to a place and see what drags you were, and for me when I got to Melbourne, I saw Portland on the map and new I had to come here.

“The people here are great, you can just stop and chat to locals, in the big city like Melbourne everyone’s just so busy.

“The smaller towns and everything that you see along the way out here, that’s the kind of thing I enjoy seeing when it’s a bit less well-travelled by tourists.

“I went along the Great Ocean Road and that was just stunning, beautiful scenery and views.

While our Portland’s population of 10,000 doesn’t compare to Portland, OR’s well over 600,000 residents, Mr Keniston said there remain many similarities between the two.

“The old port sticks out as something the two places have in common,” he said

“There’s an identity that gets built around that, they’re both places where a lot of stuff gets imported and exported, and you can see that history here.

“There’s a lot of historic buildings, as well as the old tram, plus the industrial section along the coast has its own unique aesthetic appeal in my opinion anyway.

“I think in both places people are really friendly, and I think that’s something that people from my hometown pride themselves on.

“Even geographically, in all three places for a lot of people you’re the entry point to the state, in Maine you’re the entry point to that side of the country.”

Mr Keniston explained that Portland, Oregon has a slogan that says “Keep Portland Weird” which typifies their goal of being a haven for lots of unique and different people.

“It comes from having an unconventional outlook on life, whether that’s in your daily life or how you approach life in general.

“People have their own unique identities and they’re proud of how they go through life in an unconventional way.

“They don’t really care about the trends going on in the rest of the country or the world, they’re don’t let themselves get influenced by those things.”

Mr Keniston said he would take a couple of copies of the Observer with him as souvenirs of his time in town.