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.
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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).