I got away from the Glenelg motel
reasonably on time! I missed the turn-off I wanted (view of signs blocked by big trucks) but picked up my desired road after instructions when I filled the tank with petrol – yet again. Driving through the McLaren Vale wine area, I reached Victor Harbor late morning – morning tea substituting for breakfast. I wandered around the town and, as well as eating, bought some gifts, not realising until later that in doing so I was supporting “
a worthy cause”. The quality of their products is excellent and the doll’s house furniture fabulous, a much more extensive collection than the web site shows.
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| Overlooking McLaren Vale |
Victor Harbor’s logo is a representation of its horse-drawn tram which plies a route to Granite Island and back – all 600m of it! I’d planned to take a ride but our timetables didn’t coincide. I walked it instead, passing the tram as I did so. Nice to know I can walk faster than 1hp :-)
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| Leaving Granite Island |
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| Heading to Victor Harbour |
Leaving Victor Harbor I got a huge surprise – the tumbling cubes house that I’d seen on a fancy houses TV show. I’d had no idea where it was.
Then it was on to Goolwa, a proper lunch, the library visit before heading to Strathalbyn, last visited 40+ years ago. I had memories of its bandstand, surrounded by dripping gum trees. How much its setting has changed over the years I have no idea, but it was a beautiful sunny day – hard to take photos with my phone, the sunshine made the screen almost black – point, guess and click!
Next stop, of a sort, was Wellington to wait for the punt to cross the Murray. That had changed little in 40 years! I am surprised there isn’t a bridge by now.
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| Waiting to cross the Murray at Wellington |
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| Dry salty lakes near Meningie |
I’d thought of stopping the night at Meningie but it was a bit early in the day so I pressed on to Kingston SE. I did stop first at the shores of Lake Albert. A couple walking by stopped to chat briefly, said they were annual visitors and that the place had changed beyond recognition – the lake was full, it hadn’t been for years, farmers having to keep adding lengths to the pipes which drew water for their stock and crops.
Driving along the Coorong was one of the main reasons I chose the coast road home but it too was different to my 40 year old memories, more vegetation, fewer sand dunes …. the smell! But still good to do.
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| The Coorong |
At a point about where the Coorong finished, I spotted a sign “The Granites”. I had no idea what it referred to but the road was sealed so off I went – to see huge, I do meanhuge!, lumps of granite near the water’s edge. They looked rather like whales. I don’t know if it’s safe to swim there but if you could manage to clamber up the rocks somehow, it looked like it would be great fun sliding off again into the water.
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| The Granites |
Kingston SE is home to The Big Lobster …. oh dear! Say no more :-(
It was time to stop, I thought, and enquired at a motel. One room left – a bus load of tourists was in. I had my doubts at that – how much clattering and banging as they left at what time the next morning? When they said the only room was on the first floor, great views – I chose to drive another 40km to Robe rather than lug my bag upstairs.
I got to Robe with not a lot of time to spare to get tea at the local pub. My meal was accompanied by the sound of a man at the next table sniffing. I ordered a cup of coffee and when I was trying to decide where to sit, the young woman behind the bar said “Go through to the lounge” – it was wonderful! I don’t know why others weren’t using it …. apart from the sound of the pokies coming from the gaming room :-( Beautiful old (comfortable!) furniture, historic photos, napery, silverware, visitors books from days gone by.
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| Robe Hotel |
Driving back to my motel after dinner, I discovered Robe, like Warracknabeal, was also in a bit of a time warp. It was now quite dark and the tree in the middle of a roundabout …. had its Christmas lights twinkling madly!
