20230509 VIC Victor Harbor to The Bluff

Leonie get up, we need to leave this caravan park before 10am or off with your head, gee, talk about strict times on leaving and arriving, but we did as we were told and left by 10am setting the nav for Victor Harbor. Known for whaling and fishing in 1839 when it was first founded, then with the influx of settlers who took up grazing of sheep and cattle. Arriving in town we stocked up on supplies then we take the scenic drive to the beach to browse around Encounter Bay, it’s sure not the prettiest beach we’ve seen and it smelled badly of seed weed, but still nice enough to stop for lunch and watch the seagulls feed on some scraps.

As we drove into Victor Harbor the first thing I noticed was this castle overlooking the town, it was in 1873 whilst on holidays in Port Victor, Mrs Hayes was sitting at Granite Island, noticed a hill on the mainland that was 100 feet above the sea, she said to our husband, I should like a house on that Mountain to which he replied, well we’ll see. Well she got he own way, as woman do. The mansion was built between 1879 and 1881 for Alexander Hay, a migrant from Scotland who became a successful businessman in the late 19th century, costing £25,000 and was completed around 1880 -1881, following 3 years of construction. After the death of Hays and his wife it was sold and turned into a guesthouse.

The 1920’s saw a great expansion in Victor Harbor and on at least one occasion there was an overflow congregation of 50-60 people on the steps listening to the service. Seeing the need for a new building, the congregation undertook the task with some urgency and the building that we have today was opened by Sir Henry Newland, grandson of the original pastor on the 22nd. October 1927.

I found this horse drawn tram ride on Wiki and so wanted to do it but it wasn’t working, bugger.

Many ships have come to grief in the early days of shipping in Encounter Bay, the John Pine was driven onto the reef but was successfully refloated, then in December 1847 the schooner Alpha was driven on to rocks and wrecked while the cutter Jane and Emma was wrecked at the Bluff in May 1852.

It was right here in Victor Harbour in the 1800s whaling stations operated, by the end of 1837 more than 200 tons of while oils was exported from these whaling stations. To bring in a sixty ton whale could take many hours and was very dangerous and hard work.

The Weedy Seadragon is related to the sea horse, and lives amongst the undersea plant life in the southern Australian waters. It has limbs on its body that help it camouflage in the sea weed for protection from predators.

Next we take the one way loop to the Bluff to a Spectacular 360 degree view of Granite Island and Rosetta Head from the top of the Bluff, formed by glaciation, then intrusion of granite through volcanic action that produced the "Encounter Bay granite", rising sea levels, then elevated through a mountain building event 500 million years ago.

Granite Island has no permanent residence but the island has buildings and shelters, including a cafe and it’s most popular for its little penguin’s, and in the 1980’s the island also had many resident wallabies.

We just couldn’t pull ourselves away from this amazing view so we decided to camp the night, “No Camping”, what no camping” sign.😳

While I wonder the Bluff taking my photos Des takes on another challenge of Word Find, boring. 

THE SHERIDAN BROTHERS MEMORIAL

In Memory of David and Harry of Hindmarsh who were tragically killed in 1957 when their Tiger Moth aircraft crashed into the cliffs about 10 km from here while searching for a man presumed missing. The bird is called the Pacific Gull, it has web feet like a duck and a red tip on its beak, it feeds along the coasts feeding mainly on molluscs, fish, birds and other marine animals.

After all the tourist were gone Des and I sat outside and had a few drinks while watching the sun disappear, it’s bloody freezing so Des returns to the van and I watched the waves rolling into shore, and from the Bluff the waves took on a different appeal, they actually looked lit up by lights, it was actually very pretty even though it’s bloody cold.

20230510 Once again Des was up early concerned we could get fined for camping on the Bluff, after being told there’s a huge “No Camping” sign as we entered the Bluff, we were buggered if we saw it but as we headed to the end we looked back and sure enough, there it was as large as life, opps, let’s get out of here. 

We take the turn-off to Cape Jervis which takes us through green rolling hills.

Passing Willow Creek and Parawa with its many Dairy Farms before passing by Deep Creek National Park.

Ooo this does not look good, slow down Des, this was really creepy as we drive into this thick fog on our way to Cape Jervis.

Cape Jervis Next