vic harbor to mt gambier

the drive from vic harbor to mt gambier is short but lovely, meandering from small seaside town to small seaside town. they're all essentially the same- mostly quaint, with a small mainstreet, trying to upscale themselves to tourists and "foodies" who are now making claim to the area, beach shacks next to estates, all vying for prime property.

on we drove through vineyards and farm lands, pink lakes and marshes. the area surrounding the murray mouth (the mouth of the murray river) is rather dry. we've been told by friends that the areas have been in drought for a long time due to the massive amount of irrigation and draining on the murray river (or river murray, depending on which area of australia you live in). when 3/4 of your population lives along it (or something like that), it's not hard to see how it could dry up pretty quickly. the murray is australia's longest river and is some 2400kms long. it's size can be summed up like this: the north of queensland, where the river starts, is currently experiencing massive rainfalls and flooding. this flooding isn't expected to hit the (now dry) murray mouth region until march. march! people are being warned to prepare accordingly.

jetty in beachport

we crossed the murray on a small cable-ferry in wellington. looked like it could hold about 16 cars or so. took all of 2 minutes to get across. why they didn't just build a bridge, i don't know. suppose here's something nostalgic about the cable-ferry.

after a night of rest on the coorong peninshoe-la (!) we headed down to the southern ports of the younghusband pensinsula (yes. younghusband) as suggested by a fellow traveller. we stopped for lunch in robe which was, once again, a typical little seaside town- quaint main street, lots of fishmongers, upscale cafes and restaurants.

next on the list was beachport, where john bravely went for a swim in the ocean (it's not hot at the moment. in fact, it's actually quite cool. mostly the wind is cold. and since the summer weather hasn't really "hit" the ocean is bloody f-ing cold right now).we were rather intrigued by the Pool of Siloam in beachport, which is 7x saltier then the ocean. it claims to do wonders for arthritis. it also claims that you can float rather nicely. a bit of history here: i don't float. ever. if people who float are buoyant, i am abuoyant. always have been. i can't even do a dead man's float properly. my legs sink. when i did my discover dive, the guy was surprised at how little weight was needed to keep me under water. michelle = tonne of bricks in water.

off we drove to the pool of siloam (sounds so biblical to me!). we pulled in and were hopeful- there was a lady in the water, pleasantly bobbing around, feet up, hands behind her head.  i asked how it was and she said "amazing. so nice to bob around".  the pool of siloam (i like saying it) looked like some sort of festery lake, where one might find crocs and diseases. but it was sheltered from the wind and small children were enjoying themselves and this lady was bobbing around with ease. with the sun beating down, i boldly entered the lake.

pool of siloam

fact- the pool of siloam does not make floating easy. i was unable to be buoyant without madly paddling my hands under water (eggbeater style). which, in my humble opinion, means that i was not floating, i was floundering. the aforementioned lady drifted by me and laughed about how great it was. then i saw her stand up.  (lightbulb!) she was, well, rather "buoyant" even out of the water. i felt somewhat better but still felt ripped off by the fact that i didn't get to float (john didn't either, for anyone wondering).

somewhat disheartened by our trip to the pool of siloam (say it. it's fun), we drove down to our next destination- mt gambier.

xo