Oohhh Victor Harbor, land of Adelaide schoolies (!!???), how sad we are that we couldn’t enjoy you more. The weather was truly abysmal here, blustery and wet. We did try to be brave and venture out but golly it was miserable at a mere 12 degrees! During the worst of the wet we walked / rode bikes to the amazing Whale Centre, a terrific display of whaling history and biology. A preserved skull of a whale was awesome to see (and smell!).
The museum also had much in the way of info and interactive displays regarding the maritime history of the area.
From there, we had lunch and then caught the horse-drawn cart across the bridge to Granite Island to see the penguins.
Sadly, the number of penguins in the wild have declined considerably since Rich and Kel visited ten years ago. On the other hand, the seals are apparently doing quite well.
The lady at the Penguin centre had been there for a quite a while and had a very funny relationship with each of the penguins she was looking after. She basically treated and spoke to them as if they were her own grandchildren. She was saddened by the realisation that there are hardly any left anymore.
The lady at the Penguin centre had been there for a quite a while and had a very funny relationship with each of the penguins she was looking after. She basically treated and spoke to them as if they were her own grandchildren. She was saddened by the realisation that there are hardly any left anymore.
We spent some time exploring Granite Island and waiting in the sun for the horse and cart ride back to the mainland.
The next day we just hung around at the caravan park. The kids momentarily lost their sanity and went for a swim in the caravan park pool. It was okay in the pool, but getting out was another matter! Rich headed into town on a mission to track down a new surfboard to replace the one he broke in Margaret River.
That was pretty much it for Victor Harbor. It is such a lovely little town but we were mostly beaten back by the weather, sad L.
We left Victor Harbour the next day and took the coast road around some of the touristy towns further east and then headed north toward Monarto. After a pretty relaxed drive through the countryside we eventually showed up to the Monarto Zoo – basically a kind of safari park where the animals roam around in their huge, paddock sized enclosures while the zoo bus drives through the enclosures so that you can get real close to the animals.
It was a hot day, but we enjoyed seeing the various animals in an environment that was as close to their real environment as you could get in Australia.
One of the highlights was watching the chimpanzees going crazy and having a bit of a brawl – Planet of the Apes style, followed by them being given some food and suddenly going real quiet (Prozac anyone?).
