Victor Harbor

It has been a wonderful week here in Victor Harbor. We arrived on Saturday after driving through rain and a strong southwesterly headwind from Murray Bridge. Having settled in we went by the Tourist Info Centre down on the bay - the wind was howling through and it was very cold. A drive up to the Bluff at the western end of town gave us great views of the windswept coastline and a feel of the strength of the mighty wind off the Southern Ocean. Then on the way home we found the biggest DIP to drive down! That was the highlight of the day!!

On Sunday we went to the local Baptist church and VERY MUCH enjoyed the fellowship. We met some precious people there and we were so blessed to talk with them as they were parents of friends of ours from Perth. It makes all the difference to find a common connection and we really revelled in our conversation as we chatted about familiar people - yay!

In the afternoon we took a drive to Hindmarsh Island to see the mouth of the Murray River (see pic). After learning so much about it in our Australian History studies, it was worthwhile taking the trip to see where this mighty river meets the sea. The rain in Queensland is raising the Murray levels and the folk in Murray Bridge said the river had a current for the first time in 10 years!

On the way home we stopped by Port Elliot and took a walk on the rocks. It was great to see the waves splashing up and spraying everywhere... until one wave was just a bit too big and soaked Darren and the girls who were having fun watching them (great motivation to get back to the car!!) On returning to the car we noticed a sign saying "Beware of unexpected large waves." Whoops! (pics don't really catch how funny this was!)

Monday saw a sunny day and we took a walk along the coastline to Petrel Cove. There we found many dead birds, we wondered what it was and Grace predicted they just got too tired flying and died! Well, she was right, we found out that on a migratory flight some birds just don't make it. We climbed The Bluff and enjoyed a 360 degree view of Victor Harbor and beyond, it was a great day to do that and we really loved it.

Yesterday, back to the cold and windy, we went to the Whale Centre and learnt about the whaling industry of the early 1900's and also about sharks too. There was some information on Rodney Fox who was a diver who was bitten by a Great White Shark some 40 years ago and lived (after 100's of stitches). Since then he has pursued research and education to find out more of the sharks behaviours etc. It was an interesting tour and we found out Rodney Fox was coming in the afternoon to do some filming for a local tv show. Unfortunately he was late and we didn't get to see him! Do you like the pictures of the shark cage?

Today we took drive to Hindmarsh Falls and then to a lookout before stopping in Port Elliot to watch the local Cockle Train go by. As it was cold and drizzly we went to the local library for the afternoon, and as it was, there were a group of Home schoolers (many of which we had met at church on Sunday) there and we joined their story and craft activities. It was another time of fantastic fellowship that reminded us how grateful we are for the blessing of people everywhere who know the Lord and who are likeminded in their pursuit of faith and family discipleship.

We have very much enjoyed Victor Harbor, it is a lovely pocket of land and is a bit like the south west of WA with its green rolling hills and rugged, but nice, coastline. (The weather reminds us of Albany too!) We look forward to coming back here next week with Jen and Nic and family and my parents.