After a quick, easy drive south from Adelaide we arrived in Victor Harbor for two weeks of rest and relaxation before gearing up for the trip up to Darwin via Uluru and Alice Springs. Victor Harbor is a postcard seaside town on the Fleurieu Peninsula… a place that we had never really heard that much about. TUrns out to be a hidden South Australian gem.
Our first impression was that is was a bit of pensioner waiting room with lots of elderly on the streets and it seems that this impression is actually quite accurate but it is a tourist town with plenty going on.
Our campsite for the two weeks was Victor Harbor Holiday & Cabin Park, a G’day caravan park, where we took advantage of our G’day membership discount. Set back from the water but quite big and spacious with all the usual holiday things, i.e. jumping pillows, playgrounds, a small take-away, hire bikes and even a mini-golf course. Between the weather and our sight-seeing we really only used the park as our home base.
One of the curious things about Victor Harbor is the number of Op Shops. We’ve never seen so many in one place, maybe eight or so, and all of them very slick and tidy with quality items on sale. Quite strange. The other thing that we had noticed about South Australia, since way back in Robe, was the unbelievable number of ambulances on the road.
You may have noticed in the 2022 South Australian election that the single biggest issue was ambulance ramping… Well, it seems that the cause of the problem, at least to us, is the sheer number of ambulances on the road. They’re everywhere. Either South Australians are very sick or accident prone or they just like ambulances for some reason. In Victor Harbor alone we were seeing at least two or three every day. Can’t remember the last time we saw one back home in NSW/ACT.
Victor Harbor town is on the edge of the harbor area with a small carnival setup beside the horse-drawn tramway that takes you out over a jetty to Granite Island, which is also easily walkable. The tram stop has a stable area for four Clydesdale horses that are used individually in a shift rotation to pull the double-decker tram over the jetty to Granite Island, probably around five minutes.
Granite Island, apart from the tram stop, is a nature reserve and was a one time a whaling station. Fairy penguins live there now and are sadly declining in numbers. There is a hiking track around the island that we walked. The far end is home to some striking granite boulders that have been weathered into interesting shapes, such as umbrella rock.
Whilst we were Victor Harbor, the federal government announced that under 65’s could now get the fourth COVID jab. There was a pharmacy not too far from the caravan park so we booked in for our fourth Pfizer. Other than boosting our biological 5G internet reception neither had any side-effects other than the usual slightly sore arm. Fingers crossed we still haven’t had COVID since the pandemic began.
Real estate in the area is ridiculously cheap. There is a man-made canal in Encounter Bay, next to Victor Harbor, where new four-bedroom waterfront homes with private wharf’s are selling fo under $1M. The only thing they don’t have is access to the ocean… it is a land-locked canal that is tidally flushed by underground pipes.
Victor Harbor and the whole Fleurieu Peninsula really is a beautiful part of South Australia and we both agree that we could easily live in the area if we wanted too.
A few kilometres down the road from Victor Harbor is Encounter Bay and Rosetta Head also known as The Bluff. There is a small wharf there that folks were fishing from. Houses and a resort are located on the east side, whereas the western side has a couple of car parks and carries on as part of The Heysen Trail.
The Heysen Trail here is a coastal walking track that meaders along the cliff tops as well as dropping down onto the beach. We walked two parts on two different days that treated us to some magnificent coastal scenery and ocean views.
Not far from The Bluff there is a solitary two-storey stone farm house not far from the cliff edge. The intereseting part about it is that there are no windows on the ocean side to take in the magnificent view. We guess this is to shield from cold, southern winds and foul weather during the winter months.
On the first day of our walk we noticed a paw print in the sand that Rob immediately identified as a ‘Grizzly Bear’ that was tracking us. The other possibility was the Red Kelpie that going for a walk with its owner ahead of us.
On the second day of our walk we also came across another curious water-filled divot in the track that Rob immediately recognised as a ‘Yowie‘ footprint. At 45cm in length it was surprisingly similar to some of the footprint casts made by ‘yowie hunters’ over the years and Rob was tempted to send the photo to one of them to try and create a stir but decided against it in the end. This was hardly a place that would be inhabited by yowies even if they did exist…
As we followed the track down to the beach we came across a jumble of granite and sandstone rocks some of which were rust red and others that had swirling bands of grey that looked like they were molten set amongst beetroot coloured sand.
At one point we saw a rounded white rock sitting in the hollow of a larger grey rock that Rob dubbed ‘the dragons egg’. Probably placed by someone but interesting in any case.
We thoroughly enjoyed walking this part of the Heysen Trail and certainly got our daily step count up as a result. The drive back was interesting as well where the back road goes up a very steep hill with corresponding drop down the other side like a public roller coaster.
Rob had visited Goolwa back in 2018 to shoot in the Indoor Archery event at the Masters Games. Having said that… it must have been somewhere outside Goolwa because he didn’t see any of the town and was utterly gob smacked when we drove in an found a vibrant little tourist town with lots to see and do.
Coming over the bridge was the first surprise. It rises very steeply and quite high over the water in a sweeping curve that is actually a little bit daunting as you approach it.
Goolwa itself is very pretty with a heritage street that is unchanged ina century, although occupied bymodern shops. There’s a beautiful stone hotel but the jewel in Goolwa’s crown is the Train Station and Dock area.
Our first stop at the Goolwa Wharf was the train station that has been converted into a local arts and crafts shop. Interesting to poke around in. After that we headed over to the Fleurieu Distillery located in a coverted railway warehouse. Notable for its logo featuring the silhouette of two young boys standing back-to-back having a piddle. They produce gin and single malt whisky. They produce a range of whisky’s and Rob sampled the The Bivouac, which was a very pleasant drop. However, at $180 per bottle with none of their range below $150 it is hard to see how they compete against imported Scotch and Irish whisky.
A short hop over the train tracks to The Steam Exchange brewery situated in the dock warehouse with the PS Oscar W, a restored paddle steamer moored directly in front. We discovered that they have live music and toasties on Sunday afternoons; so we duly returned on the Sunday and listened to a pretty decent young lady singing modern country songs and ate some pretty good toasties, one of which was in the reuben style of sandwich. Their dark beers was very good without a lot of the bitterness that you can get from an over-roasted stout.
WHilst in Goolwa we also took the opportunity to cross the bridge to Hindmarsh Island and take a look at the Murray Mouth, which is currently open thanks to increased up river flows and continuous dredging. Having seen much of the Murray River on one of our previous trips plus the Coorong as we came through Tailem Bend it was quite satisfying to finally see the ultimate point of the river as it meets the see.
We also came upon a monument to Charles Sturt & Collet Barker who explored the are in 1819-20. It’s quite an impressive cairn style monument around 10m high set on a small rise by the road. There is not actually that much near the Murray Mouth to mark it’s location save for the dredges, a cafe and a few other buildings. For a river of such prominence and economic value it seems to quietly slip into the ocean with a minimal amount of fuss and fanfare…
Between Victor Harbor and Goolwa lies the town of Port Elliot. Notable to us for two things. The South Coast Caravan Centre and the Port Elliot Bakery. We dropped into the South Coast Caravan Centre, on recommendation, to have a look through their shop at the range of accessories and spares that they carry. Well worth dropping in. We came away with a couple of awning clips that act as tie down points for the annex and a wealth of advice and tips, freely given. They were even kind enough to let us dump our watery diesel (on a second visit), for free, that was the cause of the problems with our diesel heater.
We almost gave the Port Elliot Bakery a miss given that the line-up stretched out the door for about 20m. We perservered and Jo found out that in peak season the line-up can stretch down the street for 100m or so around the corner. Their pies were very good but alas I didn’t find a traditional Cornish pasty there (flakey pastry!!! Aaargh!!!). Whilst eating in their small covered outside eating area, despite the sunny day, we copped a sudden downpour out of nowhere and were also visted by a couple of dozen sparrows all lined up on the wall patiently waiting for crumbs.
There’s a lot to see and do around the Goolwa area and I’m sure we’ll come back to visit again in the future.
When we were in Adelaide, Jo’s schoolfriend Katherine and her husband Peter offered to meet us in McClaren Vale for lunch and some more wine tasting. Given their local knowledge and Peter’s shared enjoyment of red wine this was too good an opportunity to pass up…
McClaren Vale is the half-way point between Victor Harbor and Adelaide therefore the perfect place for us to catch up again. We arrived in McClaren Vale from different directions but Katherine called us to say they would catch up to us because Peter (a nurse) had noticed an elderly gent fall over on the footpath and injur himself. Ever the good Samaritan Peter assisted until they could get him back on his feet and off to hospital for a check-up.
We filled in time by heading up to d’Arenburg to have a look at ‘The Cube‘ and the d’Arenburg grounds. We didn’t do a tasting but the grounds are well worth a look with The Cube as the centrepiece and lots of sculptural installations including and excellent comedy piece featuring some legs dangling out of an old grape crushing press.
After meeting with Katherine and Peter we headed to Kay Brothers Winery. It was a good place to start but we all agreed that their reds weren’t meeting our expectations so unfortunately they were one of the very few wineries that we didn’t make a purchase from.
Next stop was a tasting and lunch at Wirra Wirra. This is a classic label and, whilst not spectacular wines, can always be relied on. Lunch at Wirra Wirra was excellent and we did come away with a couple of Wirra Wirra reds that were the epitome of ‘drink now’ wine.
The suprise packet of the day was Samuel’s Gorge WInery. Set in an old, but rustically refurbished, farm shed atop Samuel’s Gorge it was established by a couple of young blokes having a go; one of them a keen surfer. They only do reds and the reds are big and luscious.
Samuel’s Gorge WInery is very informal and all about the wine. They would like to do food once a week and Rob suggested after savouring their gorgeous Tempranillo that they should advertise Tapas and Tempranillo on Sundays. They agreed that this was a brilliant concept but that they were too lazy to organise tapas. So Rob suggested that they don’t actually need to do tapas, they just need to advertise it and every Sunday make up some sort of excuse as to why their ‘world renowned Tapas Chef’ was not available that day. They loved the idea… probably won’t happen though. It was a great way to end the day… And yes, we bought a a Tempranillo and a Shiraz from them.
We finished our time in the Victor Harbor region with a day trip to Myponga. This was ostensibly to see Hindmarsh Falls in the Hindmarsh Valley and Ingalla Falls.
Our first stop was Hindmarsh Falls, which is only a short walk from a car park and picnic area. This was one time where we were lucky that it had been raining consistently of late because the falls were in there best form with an impressive spill of water over rocks .
After Hindmarsh Falls we headed off to Myponga on the way to Ingalla Falls. We only intended to stop there for a coffee and toilet break but happened to notice an historic hall that contained a market, which was open so we stopped in. This was real treasure trove style market with a few permanent stores inside mostly selling collectible gems and precious stones, bric-a-brac, memorabilia, vinyl records, etc. We had a 30 minute browse and Jo came away ring for a ‘special price’.
We ducked out the back for the toilets and, lo and behold, right next door was The Smiling Samoyed Brewery (who knew?). We wandered over and at first look thought it was closed but we perservered and discovered that it was almost full inside. Not only that but people were there with there Samoyed dogs; all in all about six of them, Beautiful friendly dogs and the owners would wander around amongst the table looking for pats and the odd tidbit.
We decided to stay for lunch and shared some very nice arancini balls and some spectacular crumbed mushrooms. Rob also enjoyed a flight of their beers that were also very good, especially their dark beers. While we there we copped a 5 minute downpour out of nowhere so our timing was good as well.
Unexpected markets and lunch out of the way we headed of to Ingalla Falls for another bit of viewing. It was a bit more of a walk to the falls but once again we were rewarded with them in full flow from the abundant rainfall this year, Very definitely worth the effort.