Final Day of Fun!

Much to our delight, we discovered last night that our humble cottage was one of the attractions on the heritage walks in Goolwa! It had been a great base with comfortable beds, a well equipped kitchen, a new bathroom as well as nice backyard complete with BBQ (& bikes) which we didn't get to utilise. We checked out of our cottage early in an attempt to get to the rockpools of Olivers Reef before the tide was too high. We were apparently too late as we couldn't even see the reef that we were meant to be able to spot from the carpark. A morning walk along the beach never hurt anyone I suppose! Nothing like racking up the step count...

We moved on to the Victor Harbor beachside market. Although small, the market had a lovely vibe with many stall holders who were local and selling goods that they made personally. It didn't take long to visit all the stalls and we managed to do two rounds. We finished just in time to make it to the 10am local church service. 

Crossing the railway track to get to the beach

Hayborough Beach

Teddy the English Angora! One of 20 that the owner has to make her angora products!

Time to learn from Isaiah 32

One of the locals recommended Goolwa Barrage to go seal spotting. Fortunately there were easy to spot, sunning themselves on the lock. There were also a few active in the water. The seals provided much amusement and best of all, there was only a handful of people which made taking photos easy. There was also plenty of birdlife in the area if seals weren't your thing. I, personally, could identify swan which I was very proud of. 

Hindmarsh Island was next on our list. The northern half of the island had fresh water and the southern saltwater thanks to separation by barrages. We chanced upon Islander's Tavern which turned out to be a very fortunate event as we ate 2 excellent dishes. Lychee and banana spring rolls with ice-cream and caramel sauce, as well as pipi and mussel spaghetti with brunoise and squid ink pasta. Amongst the many things we learnt today was brunoise - a mixture of diced vegetables to flavour soups and sauces. 

Our journey back towards Adelaide saw us stopping at 2 quaint towns, Strathalbyn (Little Scotland) and Hahndorf (little Germany). By the time we returned the car at Adelaide Airport it was after 6pm. The last highlight of the day was being the guest of the day at the Airport Altura Hotel! We were upgraded for free to a city and runway view room, complete with a machine that dispensed hydrogen therapy water?! We couldn't tell the difference...We also got free drinks! Wahoo!!!

Our journey ends here as we have a 6am flight back to Sydney tomorrow morning. Let's hope we are able to return with no dramas!

The mouth of the Murray River

Black swan and cygnets!

Walking out to the first lock at Goolwa Barrages

The seals were there!

This fat one just couldn't get comfortable!

Our idyllic lunchspot on Hindmarsh Island

2 most delicious dishes!

Strathalbyn

Up for sale if anyone is interested!

The oldest German town in Australia

Beer and pork hock everywhere. If we weren't so full, we'd be eating!

The Old Mill Hotel

The ice-cream shop had durian flavour!

Wouldn't be German without a beer garden

Even the candles were German

Willkommen!

Our upgraded room is very spacious!

A study area

Funky bathroom

Enjoying our free drinks

Foraging Fail

One of the main activities for the weekend was to collect pipis at Goolwa Beach. The X.O. sauce and noodles even came across with us from Sydney in readiness. Goolwa Beach was an easy 4 minute drive from our cottage. The petrol station selling the pipi ruler was conveniently on the way. The Kuti Shack providing my breakfast of latte and apple cinnamon muffin was right at the beach carpark. We were set. Alas, our dreams of foraging for our dinner were dashed. Even though there were hundreds, no thousands, of pipis, they were all way too small! We had probably come too late in the season (finishes May 31). We had to be content with beach art and taking photos of our creations. 

Mariner's Cottage, built in 1866, our home for the weekend

The very funky Goolwa Surf Live Saving Club

Coffee. Tick. Sugar hit. Tick. 

Equipment. Tick!

Even the sun came out for us!

Dramatic seaweed on the beach

Sue Lynn had the "cockle shuffle" down pat

SO many pipis...

Pipi fail. 

In contrast, the empty shells were BIG! Darn!

Thank you Mr Magpie for participating in our art. Happy Mother's Day to me!

Many pretty things on the beach to take photos of!

The Willunga Farmer's Market was advertised to be on regardless of rain unless there was hazardous weather. We drove there in the downpour and managed to catch the tail end of the market. We met many friendly stall holders! The mushroom man had sold out of his alpaca and mushroom stroganoff and so offered us free leftover pasta. We chanced upon the McCarthy's Orchard stall and bought some shiraz for Malcolm. The seller didn't have any packaging and offered to have the bottles wrapped safely if we can drop by his Orchard "down the road". The markets otherwise felt "bare" as it was temporarily at the high school due to another event being on. Or perhaps it was because we came during the last hour of the market. 

The highlight of Aldinga was the small set of boutique shops where we made some purchases! Unable to locate the famed rockpools of Aldinga, we continued on to Moana Beach, where we determined that rockpool finding was not going to happen today. By this time, we had not managed to find a nice cozy place to sit out the rain. We decided to visit McCarthy's Orchard where we would at least get the Shiraz packaged. It turned out to be a good decision. There was a warm fire going in a cozy room, where we indulged ourselves with an apple cider and 'The Godfather' pizza, finishing off with ice-cream freshly churned with fruit from the orchard. The owner recognised us and were happy that we came.

Willunga Farmer's Markets

The last box of mushrooms the mushroom man had. Look at the colours!

"Premium" strawberries. To be honest, they were just ok. Some were sweet, some were average

The shop in Aldinga which brought much joy! Lots of nice things to look at inside

Extra joy comes with retail therapy! Kangaroo leather on the left, and locally made on the right

The timber posts marking where the cars could not go on Moana Beach

A small family run business

Quaint cellar door

The 2 bottles that was purchased at the markets

Lunch!

Got to love the country. A cool room at the front with an honour system. Take the fruit and just pop the money in the box!

When we finished our meal, the rain had miraculously eased up. We took the opportunity to explore Granite Island off Victor Harbor. Once again, we did not spot any leafy sea dragons nor the penguins which were known to frequent the Island. We did appreciate the many rocks around us....

Next up, The Bluff. Sue Lynn managed a quick dip by the jetty before we walked up to the top of the Bluff for some sunset viewing. How was it possible that the clouds knew where to position themselves to obstruct our view of the sun's descent?! The skies were clear elsewhere...

Never mind, we had important business to attend. It was time to return to Goolwa to eat some pipis back at the Kuti Shack. If we couldn't self forage, then we would have to buy them and have them cooked for us. Pipi linguine and pipi laksa were on the menu. Bring it on. 

View from the esplanade of the causeway to Granite Island

Penguins! Where are you?!?

The old causeway (a new one is being built) where there are meant to be leafy sea dragons

Granite boulders

Walk around Granite Island

Sue Lynn being licked by a sloth

Stairs down to the breakwall

Horse drawn tram still running across the causeway

View from the top of The Bluff

Flora

Curse you clouds

pipi laksa

pipi laksa