Wow it was windy last night! A strong front came through and buffeted the carvan around quite a bit. I woke up quite a few times overnight to bangs and shudders. Fortunately we survived the night unscathed, and there were also no issues at the park. Maybe Victor Harbor is used to strong winds!
It also started raining early morning and then showers on and off the rest of the day.
Teresa was still feeling really tired, and I needed to get some work done so we decided today is a rest day. So nothing much to report.
We did witness two new caravans arriving. The first was a popup like the one we used to have (with the beds on each end that pull out). Brought back memories watching them pull up. The other arrival parked almost next to us and is a wagon with a fold-out tent on the roof rack. We’d seen them on 4WD vehicles before, but not on a smaller car. Given the cold night tonight, Teresa and I both agree we would rather be in our warm van than in a tent tonight! Regardless, we no longer have our oasis at the back of the caravan park. Oh well.
Some locals I spoke to recommended a wood fired pizza place, so we went there for pizza dinner. It was pretty good – it’s been a long time since we purchased pizza (Teresa usually makes it). We could actually make pizza with the Weber and pizza stone Teresa brought with us. But take away is a lot easier than making ourselves. Particularly when it’s really cold outside.
Finally for today, I merged the panorama I took at the Bluff two nights ago. Click on the image for a larger version.
Bonus Seagull! I was quite proud of taking this shot – it’s quite hard to capture a flying bird.
The morning started sunny and warm. Forecast top is 28 degrees. There was a local farmers market in town this morning, so that was our first stop.
Farmers Markets in SA (by Teresa)
The farmers’ markets in S.A. are buzzing with community spirit and passion. One of the best things about the markets is that they are in the open air, and so far, they are fairly small with about 20-30 vendors, so I can easily shop there and avoid people/stalls that are scented.
The local food has been a big highlight of the trip for me – I can connect with each area and community through it’s food, which is great since rubbing shoulders with the locals for long chats is not possible for now.
“Buy Local” is HUGE in SA. There is a campaign currently running, with coverage in different forms of media. Last weekend it was “Buy Local” day with a big competition run to entice more people to buy local with a prize on offer. I’ve been so impressed at how well signposted the food trail, and the tourist places of interest, are. Quite a lot of $$ have been spent to help tourists make the most of a holiday in S.A.
The whole state is plastic bag free. In practical terms that means that shops do not automatically give you a plastic bag – you have to take your own, or use a box. Lots of shops have taken the opportunity to sell special bags with their logo on it to people who have forgotten. Some shops do give out bags though – not really sure how they work around the system. The funniest thing is that Target in S.A. will give you a bag with your purchases, but in Victoria if you want a bag you have to pay 10c 🙂
Today at the Victor Harbor market I noticed that there is a membership program, where you get a discount on all produce at the market if you are a member. Brilliant idea, since locals can avoid paying tourist rates and the stall holders can prosper via local support in the off-season.
We have been able to eat like royalty on this trip thanks to the fabulous markets – we bought all local meat, and lots of fruit and veg as well. Having the kitchen in the caravan has been an amazing help, so we can avoid going to public restaurants and cafes. We have had 1 meal out on our wedding anniversary (Hahndorf), and will try to have a couple more if we can find places that have an outdoor area that is scent/chemical free.
It’s been years since I’ve been to a Melbourne farmers’ market, but from memory the Melbourne ones are very large, and I have avoided them because I cannot manage large gatherings for now. After this visit I’m keen to see if I can find some smaller markets to attend. The vibe, passion, and insider knowledge is incredible. It’s soul-enriching to spend time with people who are passionate about their produce and products – it is energising and I have found it has given me a wonderful injection of strength and life-force after each one.
Lunch
We came back to the caravan park for lunch. Teresa whipped up a scrumptious meal of salad with prawns (caught locally and purchased from this morning’s Farmer’s Market).
Murray Mouth Tour
Teresa needed to rest this afternoon, so I thought I’d take the famous Cockle Train to Goolwa. I rocked up to the station just before the scheduled departure time of 1:30 to discover everything closed. I then proceeded to read the timetable properly, and realized it only runs daily during school holidays. Right now, it only runs Sun and Wed. Maybe tomorrow.
So instead, I had seen a brochure for a across-beach tour of the Murray mouth which started at 2pm, so I headed to the information center to book. They were very happy to book me in except as it was 1:45, the online booking system was already closed. A quick call to the tour operator confirmed that there was a place available and they would meet me outside the information center. After paying, I walked out of the center to see the big red tour bus waiting for me. That’s great service!
I say bus, but it’s more of a hybrid. It used to do tours around Fraser Island before it was brought down here.
I was the only customer for the first leg of the journey (the bus picks up from Middleton and Goolwa on the way – there were 8 people total) so spent the time chatting to the driver. He was a fisherman for 20 years but his competition and the seals were getting to be too much for him. The seal population has increased dramatically over the last few years and he said they they like the liver so take a chunk out of the fish and leave the rest. So a lot of the fish they caught couldn’t be sold.
In the end, he sold to his main competition. He said his catch allowance (4 tonne from memory) was worth much more at ($350k) than his licence ($150k). He’s been working for Murray Mouth Tours for just over a year now.
The tour leaves the bitumen at the Goolwa surf lifesaving club. There is a track the takes you to the beach, and it’s very popular with owners of 4×4 vehicles.
I turned on my phone’s GPS track for this trip.
I took a quick shot through the front of the van of the cars sitting on the beach – it’s been cropped a lot so the quality isn’t great.
People make a day of it and take an awning, chairs and even tables. Lots of fishermen too. The guide said there is lots of fish to be caught just off the breakers.
I did consider taking our Landcruiser onto the beach just to try it out, but when I asked the guide about it, he said he would not take any new car onto the beach. Sand gets everywhere along with the salt water and it’s almost impossible to get it all out.
Along the way, the guide pointed out the location where Storm Boy was filmed. There are only a couple of poles left of the shack now… time and weather have taken their toll. Storm Boy celebrates it’s 40th anniversary this year. I remember watching the film when I was growing up, and loved it.
The trip to the mouth of the Murray took about 45 mins. We stopped there for 1/2 hour – plenty of time to take lots of photos, although it was hard to capture the beauty of the scene since we were so close to the water. We could definitely see the brown water of the Murray draining into the ocean, and mixing with the pristine blue ocean.
View of the beach just before the mouth (left of photo)
They are continually dredging the mouth to drain as much water as possible from the lakes in preparation for the flood waters from Victoria and NSW in early October – due to hit here soon. They pipe the sand they dredge onto a cordoned off area of the beach, and then every couple of months cart the sand away in trucks (otherwise with the right wind direction, it’ll all just settle back where they dredged it from).
Although you can see the water moving slowly out, looks are also deceptive. Our guide said the depth increases dramatically – just a few feet off shore it’s 15 feet deep, and the water rushes out.
Pippies/Cockles are popular to catch on this beach. It’s just coming to Pipi season (1st November-31st May) so we couldn’t catch any yet (that’s part of the tour in Summer), but he showed us where you could see them on the beach. They come in for the high tide; stay on the beach for a couple of hours; then leave when the tide recedes.
We got back just before 5pm. It was a great trip, and I enjoyed it immensely. Definitely chose the right day too – it was the warmest day we’ve had in SA so far.
Campsite
We’re loving our campsite. The park is empty enough that the back part where we are has only two other vans. The front part is quite busy this weekend, with not many free spaces. We’ve extended our stay in Victor Harbor another couple of days. There is a lot here to see, and a windy change is expected tonight and tomorrow morning which would make towing the caravan hard. So we’ll now leave Tuesday morning and head for Mt Gambier (stopping one night on the coast somewhere).
Our Isolated Campsite
Steak and Mash
We considered going out for dinner, but figured on a Sat night there will be too many people. We’ll wait for tomorrow or Monday night. Instead we fired up the Weber. In Mildura we bought the correct Gas connection so we can hook the BBQ directly into the caravan. Much easier than needing to connect to one of the gas bottles on the front of the van.
Teresa cooked a lovely local Angus steak with mashed potatoes and peas. Satisfied, and tired, we turned in early.
First on our list this morning was Mercato. We wanted to visit, and still leave before the 10am park checkout in order to get to our next stop, Victor Harbor, as quickly as possible.
Fortunately the store opens at 7:30, meaning we had plenty of time. We got there around 8am and Teresa spent a lovely hour perusing their wares. She was happy because she had the whole store to herself! They were a little more upmarket than the Italian stores we usually buy from in Melbourne. We bought some staples, plus some sliced meats from the very well stocked Deli.
We packed up the caravan and left spot on 10am. While packing up, I met our neighbours – a retired couple who had been travelling in a caravan for years. They have a laminated map of Australia on their caravan showing where they’ve been. They’ve driven on almost every major road all around the country. I asked them their favourite place, and they answered WA. The laminated map is a good idea. We’ll organize something like that.
The Drive to Victor Harbor
It took a while to get out of Adelaide. Although Google Maps i’m sure takes us the quickest way, it seems to always find the hilliest route – which isn’t perfect when towing the Caravan. If I were to make two alterations to Google Maps, it would be: 1. Follow a level track and 2. Keep to main roads.
The scenery was stunning though – particularly once we got to the hills and could see the sea in the background. You would think after spending a week in the Adelaide hills, we’d be sick of mountains, but not so!
Victor Harbor
We arrived in Victor Harbor around midday and checked into a lovely caravan park called the “Victor Harbor Breachfront Holiday Park”. They kindly set is up away from the amenities. Actually, away from everyone else! We’re in a lovely grassy area at the back of the park. The closest van is about 50m away.
We setup the caravan and I took Leo for a walk around the caravan park and the beach. While it’s a protected beach – most of the large waves crash offshore – I don’t think it’s as good as our beach in Cowes. It will do though. I think Leo recognized sand, because he lead me towards the water as soon as we stepped on it.
Next we headed out to see what was around. Teresa wanted to look at the op shops here, and I wanted to visit the information center to see what was on this weekend. There are lots of activities, but most of them, unfortunately, are indoors or inside transport which makes it hard for us to participate. There is a farmers market tomorrow morning which we will definitely go to, then we’ll play it by ear.
We have booked for 2 nights here (2 night special – 20% off!) so will have all of tomorrow. However, we both really like the park and what we’ve seen of the town so far we may decide to stay here a little longer. We’d like to stay a week, but that will cut out Great Ocean Road trip more than I’d like too. There is so much to see!
After dinner, we went to The Bluff which is an outcrop of land at the end of the bay. From there we were able to see the whole bay, as well as the next one. We timed out trip to be close on Sunset to make use of the best light for photography. I used my good camera to create a panorama and will stitch the images together for posting tomorrow.
The temperature should warm up tomorrow. It was a very pleasant 22 degrees today, but will reach 28 tomorrow with some wind before a change and showers on Sunday.
