26th Jan 2011
We went for a drive yesterday through scenic tree lined country roads across the Fluereu Peninsula to its western beaches, of course there had to be an ulterior motive that found us on a farm butcher’s set up while Nancy checked his set up and product, no doubt we will be re-visiting the locality before we eventually leave the region. Fortunately no where seems to be very far from anywhere on this peninsula.
For those whose geography is a little rusty, this peninsula forms part of the eastern coastline of the Gulf St Vincent and actually runs in a north easterly direction which means when the southerly influenced wind blows across the peninsula, providing it isn’t too strong results in flat calm conditions. A lot of the local coastline is formed by rounded hills running basically down to the coast where they form low cliffs or narrow dunes onto beautiful white sandy beaches stretching for kilometres. Under blue skies and warm sunshine the white sand and crystal clear water, not having been stirred up by surf conditions, creates a beautiful picture of tropical looking viridian coloured sea. Keeping in mind they get White Pointers down SA and they only seem to live in cold water, couple of good reasons to keep my shoes on.
Stopping for photos at the coastal town of Moana, we were surprised to see dozens of conventional cars parked all the way along the beach and a council grader working on the beach to ensure a hard packed area of sand existed for people to be able to drive on and off the beach without getting bogged. Talking to a couple of fee collectors at the beach ramp it turned out the council sends the grader down to the beach every couple of day during the holidays for crowds to be able to access the beach and spread out, (parking elsewhere is limited). On this occasion they were also preparing for a massive crowd for Australia Day celebrations, they were charging cars $5 to go onto the beach but I believe most of this was going to charity. They also said that there would be a large police presence to control idiots, this is not the first time we have become aware of the effort local governments down here go to create family oriented venues and limit hooliganism.
On the way back along the coast we passed the turn off to Maslin Beach, this is Australia’s first official nudist beach. For some reason they don’t like using the term nudist, the sign say’s ‘Maslin Beach Australias first official Unclad Beach’, rather strange. We didn’t turn off to this beach to see how scenic it was Nancy insisted she needed to get back to Woolworths at Victor Harbor before they closed. !!
We’ve had a quiet day for Australia Day, I cooked omelettes for a late breakfast then we wandered up town and out to Granite Island for a stroll and a bit of much needed exercise, we had to make one stop while Nancy cooled down with a double scoop gelati, (I was strong).
It was pleasant walking in the warm sun and no humidity.
See following photos of beach
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
23rd Jan 2011
During the past week we have been enjoying wonderful weather certainly puts South Australia on the map with the ‘Tour Down Under’ being beamed all round the world. This event has been running for a few years now and since it was allocated professional status a few years ago it has got bigger and better by the year. Apparently SA is one of the few countries in the world outside of the European fraternity that has been allowed professional status putting it on the international circuit and thereby ensuring the world leading professional cycling teams support it. Of course the Adelaide region being considered Mediterranean in climate would entice any of them at this time of the year when they are knee deep in snow in a lot of their own countries and the 6 stage tour plus other events is a good season starter for the big guns for the European circuit. Phil Ligget (think that’s correct), the famous international race caller considers the organising, conducting and control of the Tour Down Under now to be up there with tours like the Spanish Tour, Italian and Tour De France, what a plug. Nancy and I have followed several of the stages and found it quite exciting and a great atmosphere, but to be quite honest you see far more by watching it on TV.
During the past week we have been enjoying wonderful weather certainly puts South Australia on the map with the ‘Tour Down Under’ being beamed all round the world. This event has been running for a few years now and since it was allocated professional status a few years ago it has got bigger and better by the year. Apparently SA is one of the few countries in the world outside of the European fraternity that has been allowed professional status putting it on the international circuit and thereby ensuring the world leading professional cycling teams support it. Of course the Adelaide region being considered Mediterranean in climate would entice any of them at this time of the year when they are knee deep in snow in a lot of their own countries and the 6 stage tour plus other events is a good season starter for the big guns for the European circuit. Phil Ligget (think that’s correct), the famous international race caller considers the organising, conducting and control of the Tour Down Under now to be up there with tours like the Spanish Tour, Italian and Tour De France, what a plug. Nancy and I have followed several of the stages and found it quite exciting and a great atmosphere, but to be quite honest you see far more by watching it on TV.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
18th Jan 2011
Last night was a night I would prefer to forget. Recently our toilet sprung a leak, only fresh water and only when the toilet was flushed, Dometic (German) importers are going to replace the complete unit and this will take place when we finally get the nod to have the awning repaired, note we can still use the toilet by tipping water down it when necessary. Well if that wasn’t bad enough, last night the hose connection to the toilet blew apart and full force mains pressure flooded into the caravan, we were watching TV and by the time we realised what was happening and turned off the water supply the caravan was flooded right through, under all the cupboards even under the bed, all the mats were soaked, bottom cupboard linings and under the bed sleeping bags, clothing, books and other items, I actually used a broom to sweep the bulk of water out the door and it took hours to mop up and dry inside the van, today we had stuff spread everywhere drying, at least there wasn’t any silt in this water.
Today I installed an extra clamp onto the hose fitting as security and hopefully there aren’t any long term effects that we are not aware of. Needless to say I wasn’t a happy chappy last night especially when considering the poor clip arrangement on the hose connection.
Last night was a night I would prefer to forget. Recently our toilet sprung a leak, only fresh water and only when the toilet was flushed, Dometic (German) importers are going to replace the complete unit and this will take place when we finally get the nod to have the awning repaired, note we can still use the toilet by tipping water down it when necessary. Well if that wasn’t bad enough, last night the hose connection to the toilet blew apart and full force mains pressure flooded into the caravan, we were watching TV and by the time we realised what was happening and turned off the water supply the caravan was flooded right through, under all the cupboards even under the bed, all the mats were soaked, bottom cupboard linings and under the bed sleeping bags, clothing, books and other items, I actually used a broom to sweep the bulk of water out the door and it took hours to mop up and dry inside the van, today we had stuff spread everywhere drying, at least there wasn’t any silt in this water.
Today I installed an extra clamp onto the hose fitting as security and hopefully there aren’t any long term effects that we are not aware of. Needless to say I wasn’t a happy chappy last night especially when considering the poor clip arrangement on the hose connection.
We were having morning tea at Willunga when the European professional team Quickstep arrived on the scene for practice on Old Willunga Hill, one of the hill climb stages in the world famous Tour Down Under bike race. The Italian rider very obligingly volunteered to pose with Nancy (she was quite excited with the whole thing)
Friday, January 14, 2011
14th Jan 2011
Woke to a beautiful sunny day in fact it turned out quite hot, we’ve just had a couple of days of rain but it’s all over now and two days was enough, I can’t imagine how people back home have been coping with the amount of rain they have had in recent times.
Nancy was sick all night something affected her but goodness knows what as she didn’t eat anything different from me, whatever it was it had her bringing up all night, I tried to sleep through it all but the noise of someone groaning and reaching is quite distracting. She has been a lot better today although very lethargic and resting most of the day while I tidied and washed the caravan and did a few chores good to see now I have finished she has brightened up considerably. All jokes aside whatever it was Nancy was hit with was nasty and I hope I have avoided it.
Tomorrow (Saturday) I have been conscripted to take Nancy to a large farmers market in the nearby town of Willunga and this week end one of the largest art shows in South Australia opens here in Victor Harbor. – looking forward to that as it has good prize money and attracts all the well known artists.
Next week the famous 6 day professional bike race “Tour Down Under” starts in this region so we will follow some of that, with a bit of luck we will meet up with friends of ours from Brisbane who are heading down for the race if they can get through.
Woke to a beautiful sunny day in fact it turned out quite hot, we’ve just had a couple of days of rain but it’s all over now and two days was enough, I can’t imagine how people back home have been coping with the amount of rain they have had in recent times.
Nancy was sick all night something affected her but goodness knows what as she didn’t eat anything different from me, whatever it was it had her bringing up all night, I tried to sleep through it all but the noise of someone groaning and reaching is quite distracting. She has been a lot better today although very lethargic and resting most of the day while I tidied and washed the caravan and did a few chores good to see now I have finished she has brightened up considerably. All jokes aside whatever it was Nancy was hit with was nasty and I hope I have avoided it.
Tomorrow (Saturday) I have been conscripted to take Nancy to a large farmers market in the nearby town of Willunga and this week end one of the largest art shows in South Australia opens here in Victor Harbor. – looking forward to that as it has good prize money and attracts all the well known artists.
Next week the famous 6 day professional bike race “Tour Down Under” starts in this region so we will follow some of that, with a bit of luck we will meet up with friends of ours from Brisbane who are heading down for the race if they can get through.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Toowoomba
11th January
We’ve extended our stay in Victor Harbor, we have a few things to do over the next few weeks and at this stage we are quite happy to use this place as a base, we may have to move when the cherry season finishes or McLaren Vale runs out of wine.
Currently watching the flood devastation in Toowoomba and Lockyer Valleys it is quite unbelievable, we have friends and relatives in both Toowoomba and Lockyer areas but thank God they are all safe. A reles young grand daughter works part time in a Toowoomba coffee lounge and apparently had to literally run for her life when the flood water rushed in inundating the place. It is hard to imagine an 8metre wall of water raging through a town 700 odd metres above sea level and of course it is still raining with plenty more to come.
Brisbane is next, water run off into the catchments’ area of the protecting Wivenhoe dam will be released into the Brisbane River system resulting in flooding in Brisbanes lower lying areas, let’s hope it is not as severe as the 74 flood but the dam is already at 150% capacity, that is over 50% over design maximum capacity which means it eventually spills naturally apart from controlled discharge. Not good.
It’s actually drizzling with rain here today.
We’ve extended our stay in Victor Harbor, we have a few things to do over the next few weeks and at this stage we are quite happy to use this place as a base, we may have to move when the cherry season finishes or McLaren Vale runs out of wine.
Currently watching the flood devastation in Toowoomba and Lockyer Valleys it is quite unbelievable, we have friends and relatives in both Toowoomba and Lockyer areas but thank God they are all safe. A reles young grand daughter works part time in a Toowoomba coffee lounge and apparently had to literally run for her life when the flood water rushed in inundating the place. It is hard to imagine an 8metre wall of water raging through a town 700 odd metres above sea level and of course it is still raining with plenty more to come.
Brisbane is next, water run off into the catchments’ area of the protecting Wivenhoe dam will be released into the Brisbane River system resulting in flooding in Brisbanes lower lying areas, let’s hope it is not as severe as the 74 flood but the dam is already at 150% capacity, that is over 50% over design maximum capacity which means it eventually spills naturally apart from controlled discharge. Not good.
It’s actually drizzling with rain here today.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Click image to enlarge
River Red Gums - The old gnarled one was taken in a creek bed in the Flinders Ranges.
The other two are of the same tree in the middle of a road at Melrose, an old lady from the farm house where I took the photo, told me she had seen a photo of the tree taken 100 years ago and it looked the same then.
Friday, January 07, 2011
The Wine Regions
07/01/2011
I feel for you people in Queensland coping all the rain and it probably doesn’t help when I tell you that it hasn’t rained since we’ve been in Victor Harbor and my brother in New Zealand tells me they need rain there, mind you two weeks without rain in NZ and the government declares a national disaster.
So you will have guessed we are still at Vic Harbor, Sunday evening Lisa and Reni our Swiss friend fly back to Brisbane and reality, Lisa is back to uni next week and I think Reni has one more trip somewhere before she returns to her home and family in Switzerland. Can you imagine being away from your husband (or wife) and family for 7 months just to learn English I think they are courages but as she said Skype helps to make it easier. Actually it may not be that bad.
Once the girls have gone back I’m not sure what we will do at this stage, we do have to get the roll out awning repaired so I guess it will revolve around that activity, when, where and how long etc.
Getting back to the weather, yesterday and today has been about 33 – 36 degrees, a nice dry heat. Prior to that it was in the low 20’s, warm enough in the sun but a cold breeze and very cold when the sun dropped in the evenings, everybody had warm tops handy all the time.
Since my last post where we spent time touring the bottom end of this beautiful peninsula, we have visited the McLaren Vale Region where vineyards and wineries with famous names like Wirra Wirra and Rosemount necessitated a visit and we discovered a highly successful watercolour artist’s gallery and studio, Lisa was so taken with one displayed painting she purchased it. As we were the only people in his gallery at the time we had the opportunity to chat with the artist Brian Dobson, who turned out to be a really pleasant and interesting person, even invited me into his studio to see his set up. At Wirra Wirra, where the famous ‘Church Block’ is produced, we enjoyed a session sampling various reds and whites, on the bar counter stood a large open jar of chocolate coated jelly babies, Nancy spotted it and by the time we left (which wasn’t that long) the jar was pretty well depleted, obviously they evaporate because Nancy swears blind she only had a couple.
Surprisingly enough Nancy actually sampled the whites at Rosemount and enjoyed them, one called alcoholic lemonade got her giggling.
The following day we ventured north to take in the Barossa Valley and show our visitors a different type of scenery, grazing country that borders the McLaren Vale vineyards is replaced by grain growing properties and even the old houses are different. A visit to ‘The Lavender Farm’ and ‘Maggie Beer’s Farm’ were top priorities as far as Lisa and Nancy were concerned, fellas it’s a girls thing I’m just the chauffeur. Just Sunday style driving through all of these areas is great, seeing the huge wine operations with names like Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Jacob’s Creek is an eye opener and spotting so many popular wine brand names as we drove was like a game of eye spy. It was another long day but thoroughly enjoyable, including the scenic drive home which included a whistle stop in the German town of Harndorf.
Today Lisa and Reni took a bus trip to Kangaroo Island not cheap but a full day, they were picked up at 0700am and don’t expect to be back until 10:00pm. A text from Lisa earlier said it had been 35C perfect day and the place was beautiful, worth a weeks visit.
Something else we have achieved in the last couple of weeks, we have probably located every cherry farm, strawberry patch and blueberry orchard on the Fleurieu Peninsula, must admit it’s fabulous fruit.
I feel for you people in Queensland coping all the rain and it probably doesn’t help when I tell you that it hasn’t rained since we’ve been in Victor Harbor and my brother in New Zealand tells me they need rain there, mind you two weeks without rain in NZ and the government declares a national disaster.
So you will have guessed we are still at Vic Harbor, Sunday evening Lisa and Reni our Swiss friend fly back to Brisbane and reality, Lisa is back to uni next week and I think Reni has one more trip somewhere before she returns to her home and family in Switzerland. Can you imagine being away from your husband (or wife) and family for 7 months just to learn English I think they are courages but as she said Skype helps to make it easier. Actually it may not be that bad.
Once the girls have gone back I’m not sure what we will do at this stage, we do have to get the roll out awning repaired so I guess it will revolve around that activity, when, where and how long etc.
Getting back to the weather, yesterday and today has been about 33 – 36 degrees, a nice dry heat. Prior to that it was in the low 20’s, warm enough in the sun but a cold breeze and very cold when the sun dropped in the evenings, everybody had warm tops handy all the time.
Since my last post where we spent time touring the bottom end of this beautiful peninsula, we have visited the McLaren Vale Region where vineyards and wineries with famous names like Wirra Wirra and Rosemount necessitated a visit and we discovered a highly successful watercolour artist’s gallery and studio, Lisa was so taken with one displayed painting she purchased it. As we were the only people in his gallery at the time we had the opportunity to chat with the artist Brian Dobson, who turned out to be a really pleasant and interesting person, even invited me into his studio to see his set up. At Wirra Wirra, where the famous ‘Church Block’ is produced, we enjoyed a session sampling various reds and whites, on the bar counter stood a large open jar of chocolate coated jelly babies, Nancy spotted it and by the time we left (which wasn’t that long) the jar was pretty well depleted, obviously they evaporate because Nancy swears blind she only had a couple.
Surprisingly enough Nancy actually sampled the whites at Rosemount and enjoyed them, one called alcoholic lemonade got her giggling.
The following day we ventured north to take in the Barossa Valley and show our visitors a different type of scenery, grazing country that borders the McLaren Vale vineyards is replaced by grain growing properties and even the old houses are different. A visit to ‘The Lavender Farm’ and ‘Maggie Beer’s Farm’ were top priorities as far as Lisa and Nancy were concerned, fellas it’s a girls thing I’m just the chauffeur. Just Sunday style driving through all of these areas is great, seeing the huge wine operations with names like Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Jacob’s Creek is an eye opener and spotting so many popular wine brand names as we drove was like a game of eye spy. It was another long day but thoroughly enjoyable, including the scenic drive home which included a whistle stop in the German town of Harndorf.
Today Lisa and Reni took a bus trip to Kangaroo Island not cheap but a full day, they were picked up at 0700am and don’t expect to be back until 10:00pm. A text from Lisa earlier said it had been 35C perfect day and the place was beautiful, worth a weeks visit.
Something else we have achieved in the last couple of weeks, we have probably located every cherry farm, strawberry patch and blueberry orchard on the Fleurieu Peninsula, must admit it’s fabulous fruit.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Victor Harbor 3rd January 2011
3rdJanuary 2011
Over the past couple of days we have enjoyed a bit of sight seeing around the southern Fleurieu Peninsula, picturesque coastlines and undulating farm land towards Cape Jervis where the Kangaroo Island Ferry operates from. Down this way it appears there are more dairy and sheep farms with a spattering of vineyards here and there. Heading in a northerly direction from Cape Jervis, side roads take you to small villages and sheltered coves, several with substantial jetties popular with fishermen and hardy souls swimming in the clear water (it’s clear because it’s so cold). A few kilometres further north the beaches stretch out white and beautiful and in the more populated areas, patrolled by life savers and the Westpac Chopper. From Carrickalinga we drove back across the Peninsula to Victor Harbor travelling along tree lined roads through a rural landscape of the Inman Valley, a lovely drive.
Another day saw us heading in the opposite direction through small old settlements of Port Elliot, Middleton and Goolwa, (pronounced locally as gorwa so as not to be confused with the city of Gawler !)
Goolwa is an old port town on the mighty Murray River at its delta. We drove over a substantial bridge at Goolwa to Hindmarsh Island. My brochure tells me that Hindmarsh is approximately 15kl long and 6kl wide, it is unique as one end of the island faces fresh water and the other end salt. Captain Charles Sturt used Hindmarsh Island as the highest point to locate the Murray River mouth on his epic journey down river in 1830. The island was named after Governor Hindmarsh in 1837 when the area was mapped. In 1853, Dr Rankine leased the island for grazing and in 1854 Charles Price came to the island with Schropshire sheep and Hereford cattle the first of the breeds to be introduced into SA. (and everytime I hear of Schropshire sheep, I can hear that old advertisement featuring the gay dark chap saying “shwoppshire ! --- howww wonderful). I guess simple things amuse simple minds.
Most people are aware how critical the lack of water has been in the Murray River over the past decade, sand dredging was commenced at the mouth region in October 2002 and continues to this day in an effort to prevent closure of the river mouth. From Hindmarsh Island we were fortunate enough to see the Murray River in flood and water passing freely out of its mouth. Recently while visiting an area further up stream (the town of Mannum) staff in the tourist office told us they had lived locally for 12 years and hadn’t seen the river as high as it is currently and of course they are all excited at having water in their river now. We were quick to point out that a lot of it had come from Qld and they may be lucky enough to get some more soon.
Nancy and I could still be in SA for a few months, if so something I will be looking forward to is the South Australian Wooden Boat Festival that is to be held in Goolwa on the 26th & 27th of February.
Goolwa itself is an interesting town the main street still has many original houses and business houses dating from around the 1840’s and 50’s and still in use. Most of these little towns support lovely little art galleries Goolwa had one exceptionally good gallery full of excellent art. We visited a busy market that was more what I would call the old style flea market rather than a farmers fresh produce market but we did purchase fresh cherries and some home made pies while we were there and later in town in one of the old shops selling second hand books I picked up a copy of Bryce Courtenay’s “Fishing for Stars” $16.50 and looks brand new, about $50 in Adelaide, bargain. Back at Victor Harbor I found a terrific little gallery with fabulous art and second hand Australian Art magazines for $2 each another bargain. The lotto ticket we purchased on Saturday didn’t work though.
Over the past couple of days we have enjoyed a bit of sight seeing around the southern Fleurieu Peninsula, picturesque coastlines and undulating farm land towards Cape Jervis where the Kangaroo Island Ferry operates from. Down this way it appears there are more dairy and sheep farms with a spattering of vineyards here and there. Heading in a northerly direction from Cape Jervis, side roads take you to small villages and sheltered coves, several with substantial jetties popular with fishermen and hardy souls swimming in the clear water (it’s clear because it’s so cold). A few kilometres further north the beaches stretch out white and beautiful and in the more populated areas, patrolled by life savers and the Westpac Chopper. From Carrickalinga we drove back across the Peninsula to Victor Harbor travelling along tree lined roads through a rural landscape of the Inman Valley, a lovely drive.
Another day saw us heading in the opposite direction through small old settlements of Port Elliot, Middleton and Goolwa, (pronounced locally as gorwa so as not to be confused with the city of Gawler !)
Goolwa is an old port town on the mighty Murray River at its delta. We drove over a substantial bridge at Goolwa to Hindmarsh Island. My brochure tells me that Hindmarsh is approximately 15kl long and 6kl wide, it is unique as one end of the island faces fresh water and the other end salt. Captain Charles Sturt used Hindmarsh Island as the highest point to locate the Murray River mouth on his epic journey down river in 1830. The island was named after Governor Hindmarsh in 1837 when the area was mapped. In 1853, Dr Rankine leased the island for grazing and in 1854 Charles Price came to the island with Schropshire sheep and Hereford cattle the first of the breeds to be introduced into SA. (and everytime I hear of Schropshire sheep, I can hear that old advertisement featuring the gay dark chap saying “shwoppshire ! --- howww wonderful). I guess simple things amuse simple minds.
Most people are aware how critical the lack of water has been in the Murray River over the past decade, sand dredging was commenced at the mouth region in October 2002 and continues to this day in an effort to prevent closure of the river mouth. From Hindmarsh Island we were fortunate enough to see the Murray River in flood and water passing freely out of its mouth. Recently while visiting an area further up stream (the town of Mannum) staff in the tourist office told us they had lived locally for 12 years and hadn’t seen the river as high as it is currently and of course they are all excited at having water in their river now. We were quick to point out that a lot of it had come from Qld and they may be lucky enough to get some more soon.
Nancy and I could still be in SA for a few months, if so something I will be looking forward to is the South Australian Wooden Boat Festival that is to be held in Goolwa on the 26th & 27th of February.
Goolwa itself is an interesting town the main street still has many original houses and business houses dating from around the 1840’s and 50’s and still in use. Most of these little towns support lovely little art galleries Goolwa had one exceptionally good gallery full of excellent art. We visited a busy market that was more what I would call the old style flea market rather than a farmers fresh produce market but we did purchase fresh cherries and some home made pies while we were there and later in town in one of the old shops selling second hand books I picked up a copy of Bryce Courtenay’s “Fishing for Stars” $16.50 and looks brand new, about $50 in Adelaide, bargain. Back at Victor Harbor I found a terrific little gallery with fabulous art and second hand Australian Art magazines for $2 each another bargain. The lotto ticket we purchased on Saturday didn’t work though.
26th Dec 2010
Christmas over we were on the road again, I had been worried about closing and re-securing the damaged awning but temporary repairs had worked well and it really didn’t take much effort. Our next destination was the caravan park in Belair National Park just outside of Adelaide and although we’d had good reports about the caravan park when we got there we all felt the place appeared fairly run down and tired, fortunately we were only staying for 3 nights and the whole idea was to be close enough to Adelaide for David to go to the Zoo and shop for some special vinyl records in the city. This was all accomplished in due course without too much drama and on the 29th once again we were moving on this time to Victor Harbor on the southern shores of the Fleurieu Peninsula. This was to be David’s last night as the following day 30th Dec he was heading back to Brisbane, David told Nancy he was pleased it was the last night as he was sick of putting the tent up all the time, which amused me no end because up to this point in time he had only ever watched me put it up for him.
New Years Eve we headed back to Adelaide airport for the second time in two days, this time to pick up Lisa and our Swiss friend Renata (Reni), both Lisa and Reni will spend the next 10 days with us using Victor Harbor as a base.
Victor Harbor has a permanent population of around 13,000 that swells considerably during summer holiday periods, I haven’t been able to verify the naming of the town but I am led to believe Harbor was a spelling mistake that stuck.
From the SA Tourist Bureau:
‘European History
First Europeans to sight Victor Harbor more than 200 years ago were Captain Matthew Flinders of the British sloop Investigator and Captain Nicholas Baudin of the French ship Le Geographé.
Their meeting took place at sea in 1802, a few kilometres from the Murray Mouth. Although their countries were at war, they exchanged information and maps.
The first non-indigenous inhabitants of the area were fishermen, whalers and sealers, seeking an easy catch. Some were to jump ship and settle.
Ridgway William Newland, a Congregational clergyman from the south of England, led the first true party of settlers to Encounter Bay in July 1839. The group comprised his family, some relations and friends along with several skilled farm workers and their families.
Newland had obtained letters of introduction to Governor George Gawler from Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for the Colonies. Gawler told Newland that the village of Adelaide was becoming overcrowded, that most of the nearby land had been taken up and splendid land was available at Encounter Bay for only one pound an acre.
Newland took his advice and transported his party to their new home via the Lord Hobart.
Whaling stations continued trading until around the mid-1860s, but bigger profits were to be had from boats carrying wheat and wool down the Murray River to the port of Goolwa. Since Goolwa was unsuitable for ships, a 12km railway was built to connect with Port Elliot in 1854 – creating Australia’s first public railway. But Port Elliot was also found wanting so a safer, more sheltered port in the lee of Granite Island was chosen. The railway was extended from Port Elliot to Victor Harbor in 1864.
The horse drawn railway was extended along the Causeway to Granite Island in the mid-1860s to service large American and European clippers. By the 1880s, 25,000 bales of wool from western New South Wales and Queensland were being paddled down the Murray, freighted by train to Victor Harbor and then shipped to the world. But railways killed the river trade in the 1890s – and Victor Harbor’s history as a holiday destination began.
________________________________________
A prominent feature of Victor Harbor is Granite Island where a whaling station was originally situated. Granite Island is connected to the mainland by a wooden causeway/bridge of some 630m in length, you can walk to the island or travel on a horse drawn double decker tram still operating since 1894. The island now houses a sanctuary for fairy penguins whose numbers are depleting rapidly, thought to be the results of a seal colony establishing itself on a nearby island. We joined a penguin tour on the first night here but over a couple of freezing hours we eventually saw about 30 possums and 10 penguins total (I think it was as many as that), but the tour guide did tell us how many were there a few years ago. I think a visit to Phillip Island may be needed. On the walk back from Granite Island we were lucky enough to watch by torchlight a huge fur seal swirling through the water around the bridge chasing fish (or penguins).
Christmas over we were on the road again, I had been worried about closing and re-securing the damaged awning but temporary repairs had worked well and it really didn’t take much effort. Our next destination was the caravan park in Belair National Park just outside of Adelaide and although we’d had good reports about the caravan park when we got there we all felt the place appeared fairly run down and tired, fortunately we were only staying for 3 nights and the whole idea was to be close enough to Adelaide for David to go to the Zoo and shop for some special vinyl records in the city. This was all accomplished in due course without too much drama and on the 29th once again we were moving on this time to Victor Harbor on the southern shores of the Fleurieu Peninsula. This was to be David’s last night as the following day 30th Dec he was heading back to Brisbane, David told Nancy he was pleased it was the last night as he was sick of putting the tent up all the time, which amused me no end because up to this point in time he had only ever watched me put it up for him.
New Years Eve we headed back to Adelaide airport for the second time in two days, this time to pick up Lisa and our Swiss friend Renata (Reni), both Lisa and Reni will spend the next 10 days with us using Victor Harbor as a base.
Victor Harbor has a permanent population of around 13,000 that swells considerably during summer holiday periods, I haven’t been able to verify the naming of the town but I am led to believe Harbor was a spelling mistake that stuck.
From the SA Tourist Bureau:
‘European History
First Europeans to sight Victor Harbor more than 200 years ago were Captain Matthew Flinders of the British sloop Investigator and Captain Nicholas Baudin of the French ship Le Geographé.
Their meeting took place at sea in 1802, a few kilometres from the Murray Mouth. Although their countries were at war, they exchanged information and maps.
The first non-indigenous inhabitants of the area were fishermen, whalers and sealers, seeking an easy catch. Some were to jump ship and settle.
Ridgway William Newland, a Congregational clergyman from the south of England, led the first true party of settlers to Encounter Bay in July 1839. The group comprised his family, some relations and friends along with several skilled farm workers and their families.
Newland had obtained letters of introduction to Governor George Gawler from Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for the Colonies. Gawler told Newland that the village of Adelaide was becoming overcrowded, that most of the nearby land had been taken up and splendid land was available at Encounter Bay for only one pound an acre.
Newland took his advice and transported his party to their new home via the Lord Hobart.
Whaling stations continued trading until around the mid-1860s, but bigger profits were to be had from boats carrying wheat and wool down the Murray River to the port of Goolwa. Since Goolwa was unsuitable for ships, a 12km railway was built to connect with Port Elliot in 1854 – creating Australia’s first public railway. But Port Elliot was also found wanting so a safer, more sheltered port in the lee of Granite Island was chosen. The railway was extended from Port Elliot to Victor Harbor in 1864.
The horse drawn railway was extended along the Causeway to Granite Island in the mid-1860s to service large American and European clippers. By the 1880s, 25,000 bales of wool from western New South Wales and Queensland were being paddled down the Murray, freighted by train to Victor Harbor and then shipped to the world. But railways killed the river trade in the 1890s – and Victor Harbor’s history as a holiday destination began.
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A prominent feature of Victor Harbor is Granite Island where a whaling station was originally situated. Granite Island is connected to the mainland by a wooden causeway/bridge of some 630m in length, you can walk to the island or travel on a horse drawn double decker tram still operating since 1894. The island now houses a sanctuary for fairy penguins whose numbers are depleting rapidly, thought to be the results of a seal colony establishing itself on a nearby island. We joined a penguin tour on the first night here but over a couple of freezing hours we eventually saw about 30 possums and 10 penguins total (I think it was as many as that), but the tour guide did tell us how many were there a few years ago. I think a visit to Phillip Island may be needed. On the walk back from Granite Island we were lucky enough to watch by torchlight a huge fur seal swirling through the water around the bridge chasing fish (or penguins).
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