Adelaide greeted us with cold, wet weather - the coldest February afternoon in 50 years, according to the newspaper. The next day we visited the centre of Adelaide and were initially overwhelmed by the volume of traffic and people, having spent the last two months in little country towns. For us, smart suits and ties were from a previous life. In the afternoon we drove up to the peak of Mount Lofty to look down over Adelaide. The temperature was 10° Centigrade and it was hailing. In summer!
Anyway, lets get back on to familiar territory . . .
Q. Who discovered and named Mount Lofty?
A. Matthew Finders discovered and named Mount Lofty.
This time our boy spied it through his telescope from Kangaroo Island. C'mon, Matt, isn't this pushing it a bit?
Good thing he didn't have satellite technology, he'd have 'discovered and named' everything on the face of the planet. Wonder who Lofty was? His girlfriend, perhaps?
on “Flinders Column”, a structure resembling a lighthouse.
but a quiet word to the City Council did the trick (above right).
The Adelaide Hills were fun to explore, having lots of little villages, many of which have a German influence. Having hammered the adjective ‘picturesque’ well nigh unto death in these pages, I’m reluctant to use it again. Alternatives such as scenic, quaint and charming apply equally well to these villages. One of them, Birdwood, is home to a fabulous motor museum with hundreds of old cars and motorcycles on display. We spent hours there.
Another village, Hahndorf, had - as the name suggests - a very strong German influence. It was originally settled in 1840 by German Lutherans. The name Hahndorf means “Hahn's Village”; Dirk Hahn was the captain of the ship which brought the Lutherans to Australia. He was so impressed with his passengers, who were fleeing religious persecution, that he sought out some fertile land on which they could settle. To show their appreciation they named their village after him.
Below is a mish-mash of pics from Hahndorf. Sorry about the quality, sometimes the file size must take priority over image quality or you'd die of old age waiting for it to download. What about the centre picture at the bottom - what's a Bavarian Bum Burner, I wonder?
She
looks harmless enough feeding the ducklings in the picture but . . . well,
you just never know, do you?Note the tenuous link to justify the picture which is there for no other reason than to make Pam’s sister Janet say, “Ahhh, look at the ducklings, Jimmy!”
While in Adelaide we also met up with Don, a friend of long standing, and his wife Lois. Don was a work colleague of mine for many years. We spent a very enjoyable afternoon and evening with them. Good to ‘catch up’ Don.
On a completely different subject, I dragged poor old Mrs B. to the Jet Fighter Museum which is situated at Adelaide's Parafield Airport. (Parafield would be the equivalent to Jandakot in Perth, or to Barton in Manchester.) Mrs B. was less than enthusiastic and declined to sit in the cockpit of any of the fighters, a reticence I certainly didn't share.
The restoration work on many aircraft was in full swing. It was fascinating to look at a pristine fighter after seeing photographs of it as a twisted, corroded wreck that had been dragged out of a bog on some faraway tropical island.
Apparently they had run up a jet engine just before we arrived. What bad timing!
Below are two views in the museum's hangar. Those who are interested will need no help in identifying the types; those who aren't won't give a damn anyway.
And so, rumour has it, Port Victor became
Victor Harbour.
Around 1912 the 'u' in Harbour was somehow misplaced and the town became
Victor Harbor. So where did the 'u' g
o,
we wanted to know. We enquired of several learned people and received
a different answer from each. The most plausible explanation is that there
was a spelling mistake in a communication to London from the Surveyor
General's office and the spelling 'Harbor', thereafter, was set in stone.
We had all but decided to settle for that but . . . then we found it.
As you can see in the picture, it was on the railway station all the time!
So there we are, mystery solved.
Of course, there's another question to be answered. If Matt Flinders,
with his penchant for naming everything in sight was around the area in
1802, long before Captain Crozier, how come he didn't name the
town? The answer is simple; there was no town in 1802 (though,
admittedly, that never stopped old Matt before). The bay was there, however,
and Matt lost no time in naming it.
Encounter Bay was christened after a chance 'encounter' between Matt's
sloop, Investigator, and the French corvette, Géographe,
captained by explorer Nicolas Thomas Baudin. Matthew Flinders went aboard
Géographe on 8th April 1802 for a chat with Nic Baudin.
The meeting between these two world-famous explorers took place just 6
nautical miles from the mouth of the Murray River - yet neither of them
discovered the Murray. Despite England and France being at war, the meeting
between the captains was reported to be cordial. And if that was the case,
don't you think Matt could have given Captain Baudin a turn at naming
something for a change? Baudin Bay has a certain ring. But . . . that's
our Matt. Who knows, perhaps he had a premonition that in the not-too-distant
future he was to become a prisoner of the French for many years.
Victor Harbor started life as a whaling town but whaling ceased in 1872.
These days it is probably South Australia's foremost holiday destination.
It is only an hour's drive south from Adelaide and as a tourist resort,
has much going for it. A short distance offshore there is a small island
connected to the beach by a causeway along which run trams drawn by beautiful
Clydesdale draught horses. 
Granite
Island possesses an excellent restaurant and is home to a colony of fairy
penguins which are a major attraction after dusk.
A One Horsepower Tram
To the west, within easy reach by road, is Cape Jervis and the car ferry
to Kangaroo Island. (Oops, sorry, that should be ‘K.I.’)
To the east is Goolwa on the lower Murray River and a marvellous tourist
railway runs from Victor Harbor, alongside the surf beaches of Encounter
Bay to Goolwa. Restored steam engines are often used to pull the trains.
Just a quick 'aside' here . . . and I must stress that what follows is
my understanding of events. Finding anything in print is not easy because
litigation is still proceeding and the whole business is very political.
Goolwa has a new bridge (shown behind the paddle steamer, Oscar ‘W’, in the picture below) linking it to nearby Hindmarsh Island. The construction of the bridge was a joint venture between a developer and the South Australian state government. It was held up for about fourteen years by protests from the Aborigines - some claim about ‘Secret Women's Business’.
The federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs declared
a moratorium of twenty five years on the construction of the bridge. The
state government called a Royal Commission which required the
Aborigines to 'prove' their Secret Women's Business claim. 
The
bridge was given the go ahead by the Royal Commission and rapidly completed.
By this time many millions of taxpayer's dollars had gone into the pockets of the lawyers and the cost of the bridge had blown out from $3 million to $15 million. A development, including a marina, worth about $250 million is now well advanced on the island which was previously mostly farmland. But noses have been put out of joint and it ain't over yet . . .
However, back to the railway and its origins. In the early 1800's, paddle
steamers and barges carried inland produce such as wool and grain to Goolwa
via the river systems of the Murray, Murrumbidgee and Darling Rivers.
This freight was destined for Europe and America but it could not be efficiently
transferred to ocean-going vessels at Goolwa due to a sand bar across
the mouth of the Murray River.
In 1854 a railway was built to transport the freight along the coast to
Port Elliot. The people of Port Elliot were delighted but their joy was
short lived. Just ten years later, after one or two ship wrecks, the line
was extended to the safer port at Victor Harbor. By linking the Murray
River to a sea port, it captured for South Australia river trade from
as far away as Queensland. Both goods and passengers were carried on the
trains which were pulled by horses. The railway was designed for steam
locomotives but until it was linked to Adelaide in 1884 the trains were
horse drawn. 
It was Australia's first public railway - in fact, the first government
railway in the British colonies. On reaching Victor Harbor the track was
extended out along the town's jetty so the trains could come alongside
the lighters which ferried the freight to and from large, overseas clippers
moored in deeper water. Very soon the little jetty struggled to handle
the volume of traffic until some bright spark had an idea. The jetty
was extended out all the way to Granite Island, becoming a causeway. On
the island, two new jetties were constructed in deeper water and the railway
lengthened to service them. Now the larger ships could come alongside
and load directly from the trains, speeding things up no end.
So there you have it, a potted history of the railway which, to this day,
extends out to Granite Island, though the trains terminate at Victor Harbor
(or Harbour?) station. The causeway section is still serviced by horse
drawn trams.
The line between Victor Harbor and Goolwa is maintained by the SteamRanger
Heritage Railway - a volunteer organisation which operates the famous
Cockle Train between the two towns every Sunday. And, naturally, we went
on it.
That journey was an experience that we wouldn't have missed for quids.
People on the beaches and at the level crossings waved and smiled as we
passed and, drawn into the spirit of the occasion, we all waved back and
the engine whistled loudly. The interior of the carriages had been beautifully
restored, as can be seen from the picture (above).
In short, it's a place where you can have a nice, quiet glass of red.The Anchorage, a bar with a difference.
One afternoon we caught the last tram across to Granite Island. It was a smooth and pleasant ride, rolling along at walking pace behind the Clydesdale draught horse. The water beneath the causeway was so shallow that even Mrs B. was relaxed. The tramcar, which runs on the old railway track, was built in 1986 but had recently been so beautifully renovated that I thought it was brand new.
On arriving on the island, and having our priorities correct, we booked a table at the restaurant for six o'clock. This gave us about an hour and a half to wander around and work up a thirst and an appetite. (Since when did we need an island to do that?) Granite Island possesses a network of good walking tracks, where necessary raised on boardwalks to enable the little penguins to pass unhindered. So we took a walk around the island which (the sign said) took forty minutes - and arrived back an hour and a half later in perfect time for the restaurant. We'd half expected, being somewhat cynical tourists and the restaurant having a monopoly on the island, to be ripped off and given indigestion for our trouble. But, surprise! It was exceptionally delicious, the service was good and it was reasonably priced! As was the statutory bottle of red wine.
At 7:30 pm we walked over to the island's Penguin Centre to learn about fairy penguins. We found we were just two of a crowd of about fifty people and we all sat in a darkened room and looked at a glass display case in which were two penguins standing outside their burrow. Not real penguins, but life-sized models that moved occasionally to add to the effect. Suddenly, from inside the burrow, walked a bright, attractive young lady but she was only half the size of the penguins! She chatted as she walked around the birds, telling us all about them. How it was achieved I don't know, but it was so effective that it would be worth visiting the island to see that alone.
On leaving the Penguin Centre - it was fully dark by then - we gathered outside the nearby restaurant and divided into three groups. The guides had torches which gave orange-coloured beams so as not to spoil the penguin's night vision.
The home of the penguins, the granite cliff by
day. The tram terminus is on the right.
We trooped around behind our guide and she first showed us a seal splashing around near the island's jetty. We then walked along the bottom of a large, granite outcrop as she searched for penguins that had just come ashore for the night.
At first we only saw a few possums but as our guide explained, the penguins are wild creatures and so finding them was pot luck. Then, finally, there they were. None were very close and it was hard to make out detail in the orange light, but nevertheless we saw them. Most of their burrows, on or around the granite cliff, are man-made but the penguins don't care, they adopt them regardless. One burrow, high on the rocks, is known as The Penthouse. Unfortunately, my faithful digital camera refuses to focus in the dark so I wasn't able to take any pictures, but - hey, you know what a penguin looks like.
Another attraction that we visited during our time at Victor Harbor was the Wild Rose Garden and Miniature Village. And, yes, you're quite correct, it was Mrs B. who wanted to go there and I only went to keep the peace. However, I was amazed, nay, astounded, to find that the miniature buildings were constructed, like the full-sized ones they emulated, of individual stones and bricks cemented together. The little bricks were all individually made and fired in a kiln. The corrugated iron, where used on the roofs, had been specially pressed and was to scale.
the engine house which was used when the stream was too dry to turn the water wheel.
The top of the engine house chimney can be seen above the roof of the mill.
Now a little frivolity. While wandering around Victor Harbor we repeatedly
came across the sign on the left which appears to be total gobbledygook.
Clearly, having or drinking alcohol at any time is banned except
between 3 p.m. and 8 a.m. on New Years Eve when having or drinking alcohol
is . . . banned. Huh?
And, if you really want to be pedantic, if the 3 p.m. referred to is on
New Years Eve, then the 8 a.m. can't be. Unless, that is, time goes backwards.
And still on the subject of signs, the ones in the picture on the right
made us smile. The origin of ‘booze buses’, perhaps?
What really worries us is this apparent predilection of the authorities
to prevent the consumption of alcohol. Could our partiality for the occasional
drop of red be under threat here?
Our stay at Victor Harbor coincided with a large airshow at nearby Goolwa.
Or was it such a coincidence? Either way, we were one of the first to
arrive at the show and one of the last to leave. It was a fabulous day.
All day long three helicopters were giving joyrides from an adjacent paddock
and on our way out of the airshow we found that the last helicopter just
needed one more passenger for the final flight. Pam had always wanted
to fly in a chopper so, as it was clearly meant to be, she hopped in and
went. When she came down it took hours for her huge smile to fade. There
is a picture in her journal for March.
Of all the aircraft at the show, my favourite was a Douglas DC-3 (also
known as a Dakota, a C-47, a Goonie Bird and many other affectionate nicknames).
This Dakota had been built in 1942 and maintained in flying condition
until 1979 when it was retired and mounted on a stand in the carpark at
Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport. It remained there for eight years before
being rescued by some of the staff of Australian Airlines who, with many
volunteers, worked tirelessly to restore it to flying condition. In 1988,
registered VH-AES, it flew again!
While camped at Victor Harbor we visited Kangaroo Island - K.I. to the locals. Visiting K.I. is something you do; it is almost mandatory. We decided against taking the caravan or car and stayed overnight in a very nice hotel, the Wanderer's Rest, (highly recommended) situated in an area called American River. The name is curious because there is no river. The 'American' part of the name came from a crew of American sealers who stayed on the island for several months in 1803. They killed so many seals that they couldn't fit them all in their brig, Union, so - ever resourceful - they built themselves a 35 tonne schooner from island timber, named it Independence, loaded it up and sailed away. Today the seal population has recovered and they are to be seen in large numbers on many beaches.
Okay, who discovered and named Kangaroo Island? Yup, good old Matthew Flinders. When Matt and his crew arrived in 1802, they were surprised to find that the native animals had no fear of humans. That was because the Aborigines, who had once inhabited the island, died out two thousand years ago leaving no predators for the kangaroos to fear. Unfortunately the arrival of the white men soon changed all that. Even in these supposedly enlightened times, the slaughter continues. There are sixteen hundred kilometres of road on the island, about a quarter of which are sealed. The verges are littered with dead animals. Without exaggeration, we saw hundreds. Before our very eyes a wedge-tailed eagle, swooping on a fresh carcase in front of our bus, met an untimely end. Violent evasive action by both our driver and the eagle was in vain. There was not a thing the driver could do to prevent killing the bird and he was evidently quite distressed.
There is, however, an altogether different aspect to the
welfare of the island's animal population. Kangaroo Island still has about
47% of its area covered in native vegetation, and marsupials are found
in abundance. Too much in abundance in the case of koalas, and farmers
want them culled to reduce the damage they are doing to the trees. Shooting
koalas is always an emotive subject and, not surprisingly, there has been
an outcry. Strangely the Taiwanese are the loudest objectors; predictably
the British are in there too.
An article in Adelaide's Sunday Mail illustrated how irrational
the issue has become, highlighting some pertinent points:-
- The koala is not a native of Kangaroo Island. Twenty were introduced in 1920. Today they number thirty thousand.
- Koalas only eat one type of eucalyptus. Thirty thousand koalas consume or destroy 60 tonnes of foliage every day.
- Farmers are prevented from removing certain types of tree, including this particular eucalyptus, yet are not allowed to protect it from the koala.
- An alternative, and very expensive, program to sterilise numbers of koalas has not solved the problem.
- Farmers can obtain permits to control the numbers of native kangaroos, wallabies and possums - but not the introduced koala!
The arguments against culling are almost entirely emotional because
koalas look cute and cuddly. On the other hand, the warty, ugly cane toad
introduced to Queensland is breeding out of control. Every effort is being
made to exterminate it. Can't hear any protests about that, can you? Okay,
time to step off the soapbox.
We delayed our departure from Victor Harbor for a few days so that we
could attend the Wooden Boat Festival at Goolwa. The Murray River was
alive with steam powered boats of all shapes and sizes from the Paddle
Steamer Marion (shown in the picture) to small craft not much larger than
rowing boats with little funnels belching smoke and passengers with huge
smiles. If a larger steamer blew its whistle, all the others would join
in.
On one occasion the arriving steam train from Victor Harbor added its
own whistle to the cacophony. The little railway station was right in
the middle of the festival.
To add to the atmosphere, James Morrison was there with his band and his
music could be heard everywhere. We were standing on top of that
bridge (to Hindmarsh Island) when a paddle steamer gave a long blast on
its whistle, drowning out what James Morrison was saying. We heard him
pause then call to the steamer, “We're in the key of F over
here”.
To round off a very pleasant day we stopped off for a farewell dinner
at our favourite watering hole, The Anchorage, in Victor Harbor.
The time had come to move on further south.
