Goolwa

Arriving in Goolwa we booked into a caravan park close to the Murray River. Goolwa was settled in 1841, proclaimed a river port in 1857 and was a thriving port for paddlesteamers carrying cargo between the Murray River and the sea and also for the construction of paddlesteamers and barges. Unfortunately the importance of the port dwindled when the railway was opened between Port Adelaide and Morgan further upsteam in 1878. However it still retains the title of being the only fresh water port in the Southern Hemisphere. We walked around town in the afternoon checking out the eateries, shops etc and enjoyed a lovely meal of braised lamb shanks in Murphy’s Pub that evening. There was a slight mix-up with our table seating and the hosts were extremely apologetic to the extent that we were each given a complimentary Baileys liqueur after dinner!

First thing next morning we booked our passage on the ferry to Kangaroo Island leaving next Tuesday and were thrilled to receive free passage for the caravan – saving us approx $274. Apparently a special offer was introduced in mid-February and will apply until 30 June – what a bonus! We drove back along the highway to Strathalbyn where we spent a few hours browsing this historic town, enjoyed morning coffee at a sidewalk café and checked out the large number of antique shops where we made a couple of small purchases. Returning to Goolwa in the afternoon we drove over the bridge to Hindmarsh Island where the well established marina development is apparently the largest fresh water marina (40 hectares) in the Southern Hemisphere. Hindmarsh Island is approx 15km long and 6km wide and is unique in having fresh water on one side of the island and salt water on the other. We drove out to the Murray Mouth which is where the Murray River finally flows out to sea however sand dredging which commenced there in October 2002 is still necessary today to prevent its closure due to the low river levels. We also checked out the Goolwa Barrage & Lock – one of several barrages erected in the early 20th century to control the River’s flow.