RTW Day 54 - Victor Harbor

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We have a long drive today to Victor Harbor. The satnav suggests a long inland motorway route, crossing the Murray River by bridge, but we decide to stay on the coastal B road which involves a ferry crossing.

We buy an awesome bacon and egg doorstop at Hateley’s bakery which we eat on a bench overlooking the ocean before departing Robe.

Navigating isn’t hard today, the first instruction is ‘turn left in 141 miles’. We stop briefly in Kingston; primarily for petrol but also because they have a 50 foot giant lobster. And who can’t resist a giant lobster?

Next follows 80 miles of Coorong National Park. On the map it looks cool; a chain of lagoons running alongside the ocean. But in reality the view is obscured by bushes so it’s just miles of flat scrubland. It would be boring if it wasn’t for the kangaroos randomly appearing out of the scrub and bounding across the road. They’re bigger and more cumbersome than I’d imagined and judging from the roadkill and dented bonnets we’ve seen, hitting them is quite common and not much fun for anyone involved. Apart from obviously not wanting to kill a kangaroo, the excess on our car insurance is $4,000.

We break our journey at Jack’s Lookout and follow the walk through the wetlands to a hide where you can allegedly see pelicans. There aren’t any, which is ironic as I spotted pelicans on the pond outside the petrol station earlier.

We stop for lunch in the pretty lakeside town of Meningie. It has a huge number of birds. There are all sorts, but primarily cockatoos – hundreds of them. Oh, and pelicans, lots of pelicans which we watch glide majestically past while we sit by the lake eating pie surrounded by a circle of seagulls surrounded by a circle of magpies.

By the time we reach Victor Harbor it’s 36 degrees and windy. It’s a bit like standing too near a jet engine. But we brave a walk to Granite Island, a small island reached by a wooden jetty and with a circular trail where you can admire the granite formations and ponder the sculptures en route.

Then we go for dinner; cheap steak and expensive wine. The food takes ages to arrive, so by the time I head for the ‘all you can eat’ salad bar, featuring plates stolen from a dolls house, plenty of wine has been consumed. This leads an unfortunate incident, when I turn too quickly and distribute beetroot over a wide expanse of carpet. And that rounds off our Australian coastal adventure.

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