MURRAY RIVER TRIP 2007
Friday 16 November to Thursday 22 November
Victor Harbor to Adelaide
Blog 4
The Clydesdale horse drawn train took us from Victor Harbor across to Granite Island. The original train started carrying goods of mainly wheat and wool in 1875. The day was very calm, the views from the ocean side were spectacular, the water was a magnificent blue and we saw pelicans, black swans and pacific gulls. We walked the 1.5km of the Kaiki Trail around the island. Both Granite Island and The Bluff belong to the same granite outcrop surrounded by sandstone which eroded much more quickly. The island is home to 700 little penguins.
Back in Victor Harbor we enjoyed the architecture of the old stone and brick buildings along the main street.
The Bluff (Rosetta Head) which was the meeting place in 1802 between Captain Matthew Flinders and Nicholas Baudin rises 97m out of the sea and provides fantastic views of Granite Island and Encounter Bay. We drove through Deep Creek Conservation Park where we saw lots of very large kangaroos to Cape Jervis which is really only a ferry port for the Ferry to Kangaroo Island.
We continued north up the Main South Road and then west to the coast to the most magic spot of Rapid Bay where we camped for a few days.We walked along the beach and just enjoyed the peaceful place and beautiful scenery.
The next morning we were up early and ready for our day on Kangaroo Island. The ferry trip took 45 minutes. We arrived at Penneshaw by 10am and had the whole day on the island before we had to be back to catch the ferry to the mainland at 7pm.
Kangaroo Island was the 1st European Settlement in South Australia and was settled by free settlers. Our first stop was Baudin Beach. Baudin was the French Explorer who circumnavigated the coast of Australia and the Island at the same time as Matthew Flinders; in fact they had a meeting on Kangaroo Island even though England and France were at war with each other at the time. The Island looked quite barren at the start.
Pennington Bay is the narrowest part of KI with breathtaking views of stunning cliffs and rolling surf. We decided to climb the 512 steps at Prospect Hill giving us spectacular views of the island.
We drove past Pelican Lagoon and onto American River. It was named after Americans whalers built a 35ton whaling ship here in the early 1800s I think. We continued our drove on dirt road back and across to Clifford's Honey Farm. The Ligurian Bee was bought out to KI before 1880. They intended to breed the bees and provide a future source of pure queen bees for the industry. The bees were originally from the Liguria Region in Italy. In 1885 the region was proclaimed a bee sanctuary by the SA government and no more importations were made. Consequently this is the last remaining pure strain of these bees in the world. They are a renowned gentle strain that produce an excellent range of honey flavours, high in quality and quantity.
We then headed north on dirt road to the Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Distillery. It was originally a sheep farm but drought forced the owners to make drastic changes in order to survive. They use Mallee Eucalypts and simply cut them down, throw them into large vats with water, boil the mixture and then distil off the eucalyptus oil.
After stopping for lunch at Kingscote, the main city on KI, we headed north to Emu Bay. It was a magnificent spot where we were able to drive onto the beach. We stopped at Island Pure Sheep Dairy where they milk 290 sheep twice a day to produce many mild sheep cheeses.
We drove to Vivonne Bay on the south coast of KI and then to our last stop for the day, Seal Bay on the Southern Ocean. We were lucky enough to be on the beach with some of the 600 fur seals of the colony. The guide told us that the gestation period is nearly 18 months and 10 months after the birth she falls pregnant again. The baby is breast fed until the mother gives birth to her next pup so basically she is lactating all the time. The bulls simply impregnate the females and then just enjoy the sunshine. The biggest predators that they have are the sharks and the Killer Whales. It was a perfect day.
We slowly made our way north up the coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula to Adelaide stopping at all the little spots along the coast.
We stopped at Second Valley, Second Bay, Wirrina Cove and Marina St Vincent and Normanville. The coast road to Carrickalinga helped us understood why people are building along theses beautiful beaches. A steep dirt road led us down to Myponga Beach and at the bottom we discovered that the only way out for us was the same steep road back up.
Our last detour was to Aldinga Beach, another lovely little spot, before we arrived in Adelaide which was our base for the following week.
Even though the weather was wet and cold we enjoyed our walk down Jetty Road to the Pier in Glenelg. Moseley Square had a lovely memorial that was built for the centenary of the Proclamation of South Australia in 1836. SA was settled as a free settlement following the suggestion of Wakefield to bring out free settlers from England mainly made up of families and a variety of trades that could begin a new settlement. There were lots of coffee shops, restaurants and boutique shops. We went into the Old Town Hall which dates back to 1830s and spent some time in the Bay of Discovery Centre which gave the history of the formation of Adelaide around Glenelg. Glenelg has a holiday resort feel about it and is a lovely spot.
We found the "Old Gum Tree" still standing at the site where the colony's first government was proclaimed. We drove into town to Gouger St in Adelaide and really enjoyed our walk through China Town and the Central Markets. The city has very wide streets due to the removal of the trams and the place has a distinctive European feel to it although the brochures talk about the Victorian architecture.
We walked along North Terrace past beautiful Government House and into the State Library to see the Sir Donald Bradman Exhibition. It contained a lot of his personal belongings and awards that he donated to the Library. After that we went on a tour of the Library.
The art work in the foyer of the library was fantastic. The stones on the entrance are written in the aboriginal language of the local people, there is a suspended rope to symbolise communications and a rug woven in 0 and 1s with a computer code message stating the importance of communications. The carpet in the upstairs foyer was designed by aboriginal artists from the north part of SA. The wall in the foyer contains columns each of the natural materials of the area; wool, wheat, opals, copper, basalt, salt, sandstone, limestone, and many other things. The Public buildings along North Terrace were all designed in the 1840s and the city plan was done by Light whose plan included wide streets and parks surrounding it.
We stopped in at the Art Gallery which is quite small but lovely.
We then continued along North Terrace past the University and on to Rundle Mall.
Our last stop for the day was a tour of Ayres House. Sir Henry Ayres is the man who Ayres Rock was named after. He supported the expedition financially both from the government and privately to find a path for the telegraph link. In the process Ayres Rock was discovered and the leader of the expedition named the rock after Ayres. He left England as a young married man of 19 years old. His wife was 27 and they were both from poor backgrounds. He arrived as a law clerk and made his fortune in the copper farm near Burra. He held many positions including Premier of SA 5 times. His home took over 20 years to finish not due to the lack of money but rather due to the length of time it took for things to be ordered and arrive. There were chandeliers, a large formal dining room, drawing room, bedrooms, guest rooms, kitchen, servant's quarters and guest rooms.
We stopped at the Adelaide Cricket/football oval which was built in the mid 1800s to see the statue of Bradman. North Adelaide seems to be the area where the wealthy live now and did in the past with old large beautiful homes.
We found the Beit Shalom Synagogue in North Adelaide; a liberal synagogue with an American female Rabbi.
Our next stop was to the orthodox synagogue and Masada Day School at the same site. The school has existed for 20 years but has a very small population of less than 100 students.
We returned to Glenelg to enjoy the area with blue skies and continued south to Brighton.
