Fleureiu Peninsula

Having commented about SA seeming like one big wheat farm in the Yorke Peninsula post, I am pleased to advise I was wrong! The landscape found on the Fleureiu Peninsuala is quite different from that found on the Yorke and Eyre Peninsula’s. If you’re wondering how to pronounce the name, then you’re not alone!! However, wikipedia does have the pronunciation (FLOO-ree-oh), or you could just do what one of the info centre ladies on the Eyre Peninsuala does and call it the Flu Whatever Peninsula…. Kind of fitting too given I left the peninsula with the beginnings of the flu…

I won’t continue with that preamble any longer, as I’m doing an injustice to what is a beautiful area. It is a lovely countryside of rolling hills and beautiful coastline. The green grass – quite green in the valleys but browner in the more exposed areas – feeds herds of cattle or [less commonly] sheep or has been formed into neat bales of hay still scattered over the fields. Being SA there are of course vineyards dotted around the place, and the occasional horse stud too.

Following our visit to Hahndorf, we spent Monday night at a dead end road, up high on a hill, just out of Meadows. Our target for the day was Victor Harbor, to catch up with Amanda, Ben and Noah, but rather than take the direct route we detoured over to Yankalilla and travelled down the coastline.

First stop on the coast was Second Valley which is a beautiful little cove. There was a group of school kids (maybe G12) there kayaking and building rafts and the like.

second valley

second valley

It wasn’t far around to Rapid Bay, where we stopped for lunch. There is a campground there, right on the foreshore. It’s not a soft fine sand type beach, but is still lovely nonetheless.

you go 'down' into Rapid Bay!

you go ‘down’ into Rapid Bay!

We headed round to Cape Jervis, where the ferry leaves for Kangaroo Island. Kangaroo Island had been recommended to us, and it would have been great to go over and see. We decided against it though given the short time frames left in our trip, and ferry costs of over $600 just to get us and the motorhome there and back.

Similar to Rapid Bay, the road heads steeply down the hill to the cape, providing some lovely views.

looking a touch south of Cape Jervis

looking a touch south of Cape Jervis

looking out over Cape Jervis

looking out over Cape Jervis

Just to the north of Cape Jervis is Morgans beach, and also a wind turbine farm!

Morgans beach

Morgans beach

From Cape Jervis we headed over to Victor Harbor. Here is the view either side of the road about 2/3rds of the way there.

If you are wondering, I haven’t been miss-spelling Harbor – yes it is American spelling as they were the ones involved in whaling here and named the place. It is a pity I didn’t capture the view coming down into Victor Harbor as it was incredibly beautiful.

We had a great time with Ben, Amanda and Noah (their 4 year old). We arrived mid arvo and we all picked up some goodies at the awesome little bakery at Port Elliot. There are lovely little bakeries at several of the various little towns throughout the peninsula. Port Elliot is just a few minutes drive from Victor Harbor – now it is basically a continuous settlement along the coast. We pulled over at picturesque Horseshoe Bay, to enjoy the bakery goodies, take in the scenery, and let the boys have a nice play together.

We then moved over to the adjoining caravan park where we booked in for the night, while Ben picked up some fish and chips to share for dinner. Of course they batter it down here (not crumbed like in QLD), but it still tasted nice. Haven’t had great success with battered fish in QLD, but I think the batter used down here might be a little thinner. Anyway, thanks guys, it was great to catch up again and spend the evening with you. Good luck in your house hunting.

We awoke to another beautiful sunny day, and we did a walk around Horeshoe bay, and the headland to its west.

Horseshoe Bay

Looking down into Horseshoe Bay

around the headland, looking over towards Victor Harbor

around the headland, looking over towards Victor Harbor

zoomed in on Victor Harbor

million dollar views!

million dollar views!

Yes, lots of nice big holiday homes down here. This place is the where wealthy Adelaidians buy holiday properties for the summer holidays! Ben reckons well over half the places down here are empty most of the year!

Heading a bit further east now, the boys were keen on some body boarding, but at Middleton the surf stretched out a loooong way to where the breaks were – too far for them.

Middleton

Middleton

further east

further east

They ended up going in at Goolwa, where the conditions were similar, so they just stayed in the shallower areas. Goolwa is as far as you can go along the coastline, till you run into the Murray River (or some of the waterways around it anyway). Unfortunately, to get to the mouth of the Murray you need to 4wd down the beach.

waterways around Goolwa

waterways around Goolwa

to the mouth of the mighty Murray!

to the mouth of the mighty Murray!

We stopped the night at a lovely free rest stop in Langhorne. Nice green grass and surrounded by vineyards! Here’s Daniel cooking dinner – that evening I was starting to feel a little off.

Daniel checking dinner....

Daniel checking dinner….

looking across the road

looking across the road

I don’t know where the Fleureiu Peninsula ends, and where the Limestone Coast starts, so I’m going to use the Murray River as an arbitrary cross-point! Arriving at Wellington Thursday (20/11), realised that there was no road across – it was a ferry! I thought we’d head just a little further north to Tailem Bend and cross there, but looking at google maps on my phone saw that there was no bridge there either! Went to find out the cost of the ferry at Wellington, and discovered it was free! OK, we won’t bother detouring after all…

looking upstream

looking upstream

looking downstream

looking downstream

As you can see, the weather had turned horrible. We were rather fortunate to see the Fleureiu Peninsula, and catch up with Amanda and Ben at Victor Harbor, when we did. We had beautiful weather, which is just as well because it is a beautiful area and rainy weather wouldn’t have done it justice.

8 thoughts on “Fleureiu Peninsula

  1. Great post guys. Beautiful spot from the looks of it. Looks a little chilly down south. It has been so hot here lately and we haven’t even started summer yet. Hope your all well.

    • Thanks Janine. Temperature in SA was all over the place – some days hot and sometimes cold. I’ve had the flu, but pretty well over it now. The others have just had more minor sniffles recently, though Daniel started out with dots that looked like chicken pox (which he hasn’t had before!).

        • Yeah, we’re still in jumpers Jen – although now and then we have a warm day. The ‘chicken pox’ seem to have just about faded away. Guess we’ll never know what it was.

  2. Glad you had a good time with Amanda Ben and Noah,and that the weather was kind to you.stay safe and enjoy the rest of your travels

  3. Loved reading this post about your time on the southcoast! Was great catching up with you guys – Noah has been asking ever since when we can see the boys again. They were so good with him 🙂 We will definately be in queensland again in the next few years and will most certainly catch up with you again then.

    Am glad you got a chance to do the walk around the top of horseshoe bay towards victor – the views are beautiful and its one of our favourite spots to go. Interesting that you ended up at goolwa beach – we are actually looking at moving there now – much much cheaper then port elliott!

    Continue to enjoy your adventures – we also bought a caravan on the weekend so will be off on some adventures (although much smaller!) of our own soon

    Love to all xx

    • Yes, lovely views – including the snakes…we watched a large brown snake cross the path around that headland on the way back!

      Enjoy getting out in the caravan! You might love it and decide all you need now is a block of land to park it on!! It’s all a beautiful area along there, wherever you end up. Take care.

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