Blogs from Victor Harbor, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

We woke up to glorious sunshine here in Victor Harbour this morning so could get dressed for summer for our full day here. We tried to get on a morning boat tour but missed out so booked a shorter trip for the afternoon, we were halfway across the causeway so carried on to Granite Island to see the penguin centre. Unfortunately, even though the room map mentions it, it no longer exists so after a drink in the café we headed back towards town. We were going to use the horsedrawn tram but decided to walk instead, I think it was quicker anyway and saved us $30! We sat and had a quick beer in the Hotel Victor and then headed back to the room, for a bit of lunch and a top up on the ... read more

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 ... read more

This journey takes us across some of South Australia's most productive agricultural and horticultural land. Late last year we crossed the top of the Eyre Peninsular where we saw the grain harvest underway in October. Now the granaries are absolutely bulging with the harvested crops. Ceduna had built a huge temporary grain bunker as big as I have ever seen, and it was bulging. The same is true as we crossed the whole region, grain stored everywhere. Road trains and rail trains moving thousands of tonnes daily, and ships at the various ports loading as fast as the produce arrived. This region has had little or no summer rain, bearing in mind that it is naturally a low rainfall region, so everything looked dry and dusty. Some harvested pastures had sheep eating the stubble, but when ... read more

Notre voyage continue!! Direction Victor Harbour, une petite ville côtière. Au programme du Nouvel An: cinéma avec le Hobbit qu'on voulait tant voir (alors Sam la Nouvelle-Zélande??), un pancake à la petite fête forraine et ... tiens mais tout le monde se dirige vers la plage?? Mais oui il y a un feu d'artifice sur le plage! On pouvait pas espérer mieux! On en profite tous les 2 pour vous souhaiter une bonne et heureuse année!! Plein de bonnes choses pour cette nouvelle année 2015 ;-)))... read more

Der Jetlag hat bewirkt, dass ich in der Nacht öfters wach war, aber die Sehnsucht nach Walen war stärker. Deswegen fuhren wir schon recht früh los Richtung Süden. Ziel: Victor Harbour Whale Centre. Dort, in ca. 90 km Entfernung von Adelaide, begann um 10h ein Treffen vom Science Club der beiden Kinder. In auch für uns Erwachsene durchaus interessanter Art und Weise wurden spielerisch Informationen zu Walen, Haien und dem Lebensraum Meer vermittelt. Danach durften wir noch im von Freiwilligen geführten Whale Centre herumspazieren und unterschiedliche Dinge bestaunen. Unter anderem den Rückenwirbel eines Wales – unglaublich groß (siehe Foto), das Maul eines Haies und seine Zähne – sie wachsen bis zum Tod des Haies immer wieder nach, wenn sie ausfallen, Haiarten, die keine scharfen Zähne haben, sondern ihr Fressen zermahlen und vieles andere. Nach einem guten ... read more