31/03/2022 Of Shipwrecks and Lakes: Victor Harbour to Mount Barker

I had grand plans of riding my bicycle from Victor Harbor to Goolwa and possibly sampling what I'd been told was the Best Devonshire Tea in Australia along the way, but the raging wind put paid to my plan.  I decided the ride could wait until another day when the wind was better behaved or (because I'm dubious about the behaviour of the wind in this part of the world) the train was running and could carry me in whichever direction was opposite to the wind. 

We had to leave Victor Harbor and go to Mount Barker anyway, so we decided to make a day of it and do some exploring along the way.  In our usual lackadaisical manner we barely managed to leave our cabin by 1000 and only made it as far as Port Elliot before the thermos insisted that we make coffee.

Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot.  Trying to find a spot out of the wind.

In 1854 Port Elliot was lauded as the port that would allow river trade on the Murray to reach the sea via the first steel railway in Australia (albeit powered by horses rather than new-fangled things like steam).  This was not a success as Horseshoe Bay rapidly developed a reputation as a 'ship trap' and not in a good way either. This culminated when four ships sank in the one particularly bad year of 1856 and the railway was promptly extended to the safety of Victor Harbor. Port Eliot settling into quiet obscurity which, according to the lady at the Goolwa Tourist Information Centre, it is working actively to maintain. 

Anchors collected from multiple wrecks in Horseshoe Bay.

We had a quick look at Goolwa but the wind was cold and the wharf was empty.  We contemplated the fact that the water in the river here left Queensland at about the same time as us, and while we'd been gallivanting all over the countryside the water had been quietly working its way down the river system and there we were saying hello to each other before it finished its journey to the sea.

We had a picnic lunch at Clayton Bay, where we looked out to Hindmarsh Island across the water of Lake Alexandrina.  If we could have swum across to Hindmarsh Island we could have been back in Goolwa in no time at all but as it was we'd had to traipse all the way around the edge of the lake to get to Clayton Bay for our picnic.  Which didn't really matter, because we didn't want to go back to Goolwa anyway.

Hindmarsh Island from Clayton Bay.

A wild paddle steamer, moored on Hindmarsh Island.

Clayton Bay is barely older than me, which is young for a town.  There were a surprising number of houses with no particularly evident reason for them being there in the first place.  There was a nice jetty and a picnic place with proper kitchen chairs.

Lake Alexandrina impressed us because it was so large that we couldn't see the other side, but eventually we left it behind and headed back up into the hills.  We stopped at Strathalbyn to have a look around and stretch our legs.  Strathalbyn has a very high ratio of bakeries and antique shops to population.  The bakeries both proclaim to be the only 'real' bakeries in Strathalbyn so I feel that it is our civic duty to return in the near future and undertake quality testing of both in order to judge their claims. 

Strathalbyn streetscape.

He does like a bargain!

Mount Barker, being up in the hills, was colder than Victor Harbour.  We shut all the doors and windows and turned on the heater, accepting sadly that summer was over in South Australia.