South Australia - Victor Harbor and Beyond...

 

Our time in Australia is almost at an end.  What an adventure!  Our family is just back from a last holiday here in the Southern Hemisphere before we pack out and move home to Idaho.  As an aside, we will be popping back on periodically to post past Outback excitements that we have been slack on reporting...This blog will function as a journal of our time here so we want to be sure we get all our memories captured in one place...better late than never!

View from balcony to west - Victor Harbor

View from balcony to east

We first flew down to South Australia and were able to spend six beautiful days in a beach house at Victor Harbor looking out on the Southern Ocean, where the South Pacific meets the Indian Ocean.  It is still summer here in OZ, and the weather was very comfortable all week.  Much cooler than Alice Springs, but warm enough for playing in the ocean!

Our holiday house - townhome on the right, left side

Our holiday home was absolutely fabulous!  It was situated up on a bluff, but right across the street from the beach access stairs.  Can't get much better than heading out barefooted from the house to the ocean!  It was a two-story home, with the kitchen and living space on the second level so the huge picture windows look right out over Victor Harbor.  The master bedroom was on the second floor as well, but the kids bedrooms were downstairs, as well as another living space (Monopoly has to be played and left out somewhere, right?), a courtyard with BBQ, huge bathroom and garage for the rental car.  It was a duplex townhome, but the other side was not occupied while we were there, so we could be ourselves and not worry about noise.

Jax, Beaux, and Jones on balcony

Outdoor shower is a must to wash off all that sand!

The first day we just checked things out, got a few groceries to keep at the house, and drove through the little town of Victor Harbor.  Very cute main street with shops and cafes, adjacent to a large lawn and fountain.  There is a causeway built up and connecting the mainland with an island called Granite Island and--coolest of cool--a horse-drawn tram is pulled back and forth over the causeway taking passengers to the island for a walk around. 

 

 



 

 

 

There was a penguin sanctuary there until recently, but the operator has retired and they haven't found a replacement yet, so we didn't get to go see the penguins.  They do supposedly roost on the island, but you can only see them at dusk when they come in from swimming and feeding all day.  We had dinner at a great Italian cafe called Nino's, famous for their wood-fired pizzas!

 

We had a slight scary episode as we put the kids to bed, where the security alarm decided to go off all of a sudden...Of course, we had no code to shut it off, no internet access, not even a phone in the house to call the property managers (everyone assumes everyone else has cell phones these days, sigh).  Trent risked life and hearing standing beside the code box pressing buttons, while I ran around the house scrutinizing every piece of paper for a "what to do when the alarm is going off" direction for about ten minutes when the alarm became tired and decided to stop.  The kids were obviously drowsy and relaxed for sleep after the loudest noise of their lives echoed through house seconds after we turned their lights off for the first night in a new house in a new town!!  Then we huddled in fear for a little just waiting to see if it would start again, and realized that we couldn't live like this.  Trent took a pocketful of change and went to find a payphone to call all the emergency numbers we were left with and get a code or some way of turning the thing off, should it start up again.  Of course, no one answered the emergency numbers.  Blessedly, the alarm stayed silent the rest of our stay.

 

Horseshoe Bay - Port Elliot

I won't go through a minute-by-minute account of each day, but I'll mention some of our highlights.  Going out to breakfast was almost a daily occurrence...there were lots of fun brekky food cafes and bakeries.  The boys' favorite was The Ocean Street Bakehouse for doughnuts, and Beaux loved Two Bees Cafe for waffles with strawberries!  Another favorite was Cafe Bavaria where we went several times and was popular with the locals.  We tried to vary home food and restaurant food, but it was fun to try lots of different places.  Excellent fish and chips to be had, British-style, served wrapped in and eaten off of brown paper!

Jones and Jax - 10th Birthday Breakfast!  Beaux doing her part to celebrate...

Bits of Aussie color...

Lazy days of playing in the waves, reading and lounging in the house, and board games with the family were the way we spent most of our time in Victor Harbor.  We discovered a game called Carcassone at the house and really enjoyed it as a family.  Lots of great memories!  We could have done lots more sightseeing and traveling around the area, but we decided to take it easy and have fun where we were. 

Nice park on the waterfront in Victor Harbor

One day we walked across the causeway to Granite Island and followed the path around the island.  It took about an hour, I guess, to walk the whole thing.  The views were stunning and the trails were fun to traipse over.  Then we rode the horse-drawn tram back across to Victor Harbor.  The city council runs the tram and employs workers to look after the horses and bring them to and from "work" every day.  They said it is the only one left in the world running, since the one to the Isle of Man in the UK was discontinued earlier this year.

Walking across the causeway to Granite Island

Here's a sign you don't see everyday...

Riding on the top back toward Victor Harbor

Seal carving at Granite Island

Another fun thing was mini-golfing in town a couple times, once on the boys' birthday!  The kids are really getting good, but Papa beat us all, of course.  He had to put his name on the board for lowest score of the week!
 

Jax mini-golfing in his new cap

Jones takes a putt while sporting smart headwear

The home rental came with a kayak for use in the ocean, which was a blast to use in the waves!  Trent said it was pretty hard work to keep it going the right way!  He helped the kids get positioned and then let them ride the surf in to the beach...They learned really quick to lean the correct way or get dumped out!

Jaxon in kayak

Jones' turn...

Oops...

Go Beaux!

Awww!

There were some days when the beach was covered with kelp, and some days when it was clean.  Unfortunately, some jellyfish were also present in the water, as well as washed up on the beach.  Jax must have come in contact with one of these while body surfing, as he started getting hives on his back.  I ran up and got some vinegar from the house to pour on him, and after a shower he was back to normal.  The jellies down in these southern waters are not the killer ones from the more tropical northern Australia.  Both Jones and Trent were also stung to lesser degrees on following days.

Jellyfish on the beach - watch your step!

At certain times of the year the harbor has whales and dolphin sightings, but not when we were there.  We did see a sailboat race one day; it was fun to watch the way they maneuvered the sails to go the way they wanted!

Jones and Jax

 

Victor Harbor was an excellent stay and we had a fabulous six days!  They flew by and soon it was time to pack up and head out for the next leg of our trip...New Zealand!  But, that is a story for the next blog...

Thanks for reading,
Love, Hilary