Hindmarsh Island & The Murray

Hello. More excursions today even though it was hot (38 as I type this), windy and cloudy. Not pleasant. But inside it's nice, I have only had to put the air conditioner on today. It's a good motel except for the fact that the shower leaks, the front door is hard to open and they forgot to service my room yesterday.

Anyway, the first excursion was north (inland) along the left hand bank of the Murray River. This was to a place called Laffin Point. Then I retraced my steps and walked over to Hindmarsh Island, on the bridge, and a lookout back towards Goolwa. Hindmarsh Island is very large - being over 14km long. On one coast it has freshwater, on the other salt water.

On my return I had lunch at a café and ordered a pizza, and the pizza curse returned. This time it wasn't burnt but they had forgotten to make it at all! After about 25 minutes (after much head swivelling on my part) the waitress appeared with my pizza, admitting they had forgotten my order and giving me complimentary garlic bread as compensation. If only politicians could follow their lead and admit their mistakes!

The Coorong

Hello, today there were two excursions. In the morning I walked down to the Goolwa Barrage, a dam/loch that separates the freshwater of the Murray River from the saltwater. However, the water at Goolwa is undrinkable anyway, I then walked back to Goolwa along the beach. In the afternoon I went on a boat tour to explore the mouth of the Murray River and the Coorong National Park. We actually got off at the mouth of the Murray (i.e. it goes out to sea) where it is an ongoing battle to stop the entrance silting up (see photos of the red dredges at work). The Coorong is a spectacular area with lots of birds, although according to the captain of the boat, less than there usually is. Very hot day today - got up to 38 (and hotter tomorrow) but out on the Coorong there was a cool breeze which made things more comfortable than in Goolwa.

Cockle Train to Victor Harbor

Hello again, warmer day today as its up to 32 but hotter tomorrow. I am staying in Goolwa until Sunday and today's excursion was on the Cockle Train to Victor Harbor. It's a tourist train now but once upon a time it transported cargo from ships that travelled up the Murray Rover to the port at Goolwa, for transport to the sea ports at Port Elliot and Victor Harbor. It's nickname is the Cockle train as Goolwa was known for the large cockles found on the beach.

On the trip there and back I had the privilege of sharing the train with a large group of school kids on an excursion. They put an extra carriage on the railcar but there were too many of them so they spilt over into our carriage. They were very talkative and loud, one even asked where the seat belts were (how time has changed). On the return trip as they were getting out (at an intermediate station) a teacher went through the carriage collecting left behind hats and apologising to the passengers for the disruption.

I spent a few hours at Victor Harbor, which is much bigger than Goolwa and has preserved a lot of its old buildings. It appears a lot of retirees live there too. At Victor Harbour I walked on the bridge across the causeway to Granite Island (you can also take the horse drawn train, see picture). Very nice walk around the island with nice views of the blue sea (the water at Goolwa is brown because it is on the Murray River). They even have penguins and whales that can be seen if you come at the right time.

Some interesting features of the motel I am staying in. First, it has a kitchen sink and bathroom sink next to each other. Seems like unnecessary plumbing to me. Secondly, we get free bottled water everyday. I am not sure whether that means the water is undrinkable or what.

Goolwa

Hello from Goolwa. You might well ask where that is. Well it's south from Adelaide on the Fleurieu Peninsula. It was a port in the old days as it sits at the mouth of the Murray River. It's also the gateway to the Coorong National Park. I took a two hour bus ride from Adelaide to get here and despite the bus driver dropping me off at the wrong bus stop (meant an extra kilometre walk) I got here in the late afternoon. The weather has been perfect, in the low 20s, but it's heating up from tomorrow.

The Trip to Adelaide
You might be surprised but it was eventful. In Random Thoughts & Tales I recounted the story of the worse taxi driver in the world that I encountered. Well I came across the 2nd worse taxi driver in the world. To get to Southern Cross Railway Station to catch my bus to Adelaide, I had to get a taxi. That was the easy part. It didn't start to well when the driver asked me to type in the destination into his GPS. Then he was unable to follow the GPS directions, so I ended up giving him directions anyway. I don't think he had been to the City before. When I paid he tried to give me $15 change, when he only owed me a bit over $6. I don't think taxi driving is for him.
On the bus we started off with only five passengers. For some reason the bus driver decided to seat a person next to me even though the bus was empty. I raised it with him later in the trip and he said he would look at it later. It appeared he was more concerned to ensure his friends got a seat near him then he could have a good chat with them. The person next to me finally took the hint and moved to another seat and the bus driver, incredibly, asked him whether he really wanted to sit there. He confirmed that he did. I think for this bus driver, driving is a way to catch up with friends while getting paid. Incidentally, the person sitting to me, an older man, didn't say anything to anyone during the whole trip. I guess people have different attributes; he had a full set of hair but missed out on a personality. On the other hand, the person sitting behind me was quite a personality. At one stage, in response to an ongoing mobile phone talker behind me, he (to me) threatened to reallocate the location of the phone. At one stage one of the passengers announced that he had lost a packet of cigarettes. I am not sure whether he expected someone to give him some or for the passengers to have a whip round for him to buy a replacement.

Adelaide
I like Adelaide. It has all the advantages of a big city without some of the disadvantages. One thing you see in Adelaide are lots of blue and white "POLITES" signs on buildings. Apparently, that was the name of the person who owned all those buildings, who apparently liked to see his name everywhere.
I went to lunch in Adelaide and a couple ate a large pizza in about 10 minutes. They must have been really hungry or were going for a new record.
Also had another technology problem; broke the screen on my computer when it made a sudden move, downward, into a table.

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Anyway, pictures of Goolwa…