8. Fleurieu Peninsula
I had good hopes for the southern peninsula below Adelaide. It
promised open-ocean beaches an a reputation of a cool and pretty
summer haven. It didn't turn out to be quite what I expected, but
contains some nice spots.
I started at the East end, and went exploring on Hindmarsh Island.
Its a big, flat landmass in the middle of where the Murray meets the
ocean. At the time there was a new canal development going in with
all sorts of expensive houses going up out there in the middle of
nowhere.
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| Murray Mouth, Hindmarsh Island |
Horseshoe Bay
Travelling the coastline, it does feel like a real ocean coast, with a
good chance of waves at the beaches. Horseshoe Bay is a pretty little
bay with a beach and rock Islands off the coast. In some ways it was
what I was expecting Victor Harbour to be.
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| Horseshoe Bay |
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| The Sisters, Horseshoe Bay |
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| Commodore Point |
Victor Harbour
Victor Harbour has all the reputation as Adelaide's cool beach spot
for the summer. The cool part is right. The day I was there was
stinking hot in Adelaide itself, but overall quite pleasant down on
the South Coast. Beyond that though, Victor Harbour was a fairly
quiet and plain town, with not much in the way of attractive beach.
However, there are a few attractions. There is the “famous
horse-drawn tram” which travels along a causeway out to a small
Island just off the coast. Then, not to be outdone by Glenelg, there
was also someone offering camel rides at the beach there.
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| Camel Rides, Victor Harbour |
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| Horse-drawn Tram, Victor Harbour |
Granite Island is a short walk off the coast of Victor Harbour. You
just have to walk on water along the causeway, and keep out of the way
of the tram. I think the big attraction there is the penguins, which
appear after dark, but it is also a quite rugged landscape.
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| Granite Island |
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| Petrel Cove |
Cape Jervis
I felt compelled to take a look at Cape Jervis. I guess that is just
because it is right at the corner, is in the direction of Kangaroo
Island, and because it has a Lighthouse. There is the ferry terminal
there for travel to Kangaroo Island. There is also the Lighthouse,
but not a great deal else, apart from a mighty howling wind.
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| Cape Jervis Lighthouse |
Making good use of that wind is a couple of Wind Farms. There the
1.5MW turbines swing idly above the sheep as they graze contently
below. A rather difficult to find gravel road takes you right up
under one of the turbines, which is a good experience at seeing the
scale.
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| Wind Farm, Cape Jervis |