I explored the western side.
Leonard's Mill, Second Valley
Spent a few days being a tourist in my own state again. This time went south to the Fleurieu Peninsula, travelled on South Road down to the ferry point for catching the boat to Kangaroo Island.
Once out of the suburbs, the road went inland a bit to the town of Yankalilla. It's the largest town in the area even now and was established to serve the local farming community. As with many country towns there was a very nice bakery, just perfect for lunch. The bakery is quite large and there was a steady stream of customers so obviously popular and a good choice!
Yankalilla was established in 1842, land was cleared and wheat and barley were planted. Houses were constructed as well as other community buildings so the town has some nice colonial era buildings.
The Anglican Christ Church, opened in 1857.
This had been the church school, with the adjoining teacher's cottage and it opened in 1871, the school ran until 1926 and this building is now the church hall.
I read all the signs the local historic societies put out!
This cottage according to a sign is from the 1860s, I love the 21st century addition of the solar panels!
Just past Yankalilla is the coastal town of Normanville, infact the two towns have spread so much that there didn't seem to be much of a separation between the two!
Normanville has a lovely white sanded beach, popular all year round.
I decided to drive down to Cape Jervis, which basically is the end of South Road and then backtrack to Second Valley where I was spending the night.
The road goes down from the surrounding hills into Cape Jervis, going down the scenery is incredible with views over the Backstairs Passage and the coast of Kangaroo Island beyond. Backstairs Passage is the name of the section of water between the mainland and Kangaroo Island, it's notorious for being really rough! On the few occasions that I've gone across on the ferry I've been lucky that the crossing was fairly smooth, I'm a terrible sailor!
Ferry port with the ferry to Kangaroo Island
I backtracked up the hill onto South Road, and then took the turn off to Rapid Bay. This was a bit of a nostalgia trip as the family camping holidays we took when I was a teenager were all at Rapid Bay, mainly because the campsite was free! It's not now. To be fair it has been improved with a playground, a barbecue area and the toilet block has been upgraded so it's much nicer.
Rapid Bay was named by the surveyor William Light after the ship he was sailing in the Rapid. The South Australian colony was a planned colony with paying settlers, no convicts! A surveyor was sent to find the best place for the colony to be established, William Light first landed on Kangaroo Island, but the lack of water meant that it wasn't a suitable place to establish the main settlement. He then landed at what is now Rapid Bay on September 8th, 1836, he carved his initials into a rock with the date and that's what this memorial commemorates. This memorial was erected in 1928 by the local farmers to memorialise his landing. For a short time the area of Rapid Bay was considered for the state capital but a better area was found on what's now the Adelaide Plain. There was a river that guaranteed a water supply and the land was flat.
Beach area with the cave in the distance, it's possible to launch a small boat from the beach and that was its other attraction. We would take a boat down and the adults fished, not me, too slimy! Before the fishing lines were in I would swim in the water from off the boat.
The Rapid Bay jetty with the limestone quarry in the background. The old jetty was badly damaged in a storm in 2004, but new jetty was constructed alongside the old one in 2009 and is a popular fishing spot.
The town is interesting in the fact that it was constructed by a mining company BHP from 1938 to 1942 to service the limestone quarry. BHP needed the limestone for its steelworks in Whyalla in South Australia and it was shipped to the company's other steelworks in New South Wales at Newcastle and Port Kembla. The town doesn't have any churches or pubs or community halls or War Memorials which is what most small Australian towns have, the small general store that was there is now closed. There are just small groups of houses and a primary school, across from a large community oval.
There are two main areas in the town with the houses, this little group, with houses on the left as well are overlook the beach. According to the 2016 census the population of the town is 16!! Some of the houses must be used as summer holiday homes, it is a very quiet town!
Second Valley cottage
The small town of Second Valley was so named as it was the second valley going north from Rapid Bay, the original mainland landing spot of William Light. There are still quite a few old stone buildings in a small village setting, the stone buildings have been restored which is lovely to see.
The Leonard's Mill restaurant was the first major restoration, it was the flour mill that served the area.
Two kilometres down the road from the small Second Valley village is the beach and the jetty. The area in between has residents' homes as well as many holiday shacks, in the true sense of the word 'shack' these wooden structures are from days gone by. The more recently constructed 'shacks' are basically luxury homes! The Second Valley jetty is a historic stone causeway and a more modern jetty. Lots of holiday makers walking around when I was there, so a popular spot.
Second Valley beach looking up the coastline.
Driving back to Adelaide I stopped at the HMAS Hobart Memorial.
I was puzzled as to why this memorial was here, the ship served in the Vietnam war and it didn't seem to have any tie to South Australia. Further research has now enlightened me to the fact that once the ship was decommissioned she was scuttled off the coast in Yankalilla Bay to form an artificial reef and a dive site. So mystery solved!
Looking along the beach from the memorial site I spotted this beach shack, truly a shack with its own rain tank supply of water, there were 2 other shacks just below the memorial, the access seemed to be along the beach. I'm assuming these were family shacks that got passed down as I doubt whether anyone would ever get permission to build on the beach nowadays.
Drive on the left, a helpful sign for tourists not from 'drive on the left' countries! First time I've seen this sign in country South Australia so this bend must be a particularly bad accident spot.
There are different parts of the Fleurieu Peninsula to explore, the drive down South Road is to be recommended and all the places are within a 90 minute to 2 hour drive from Adelaide.
Spent a few days being a tourist in my own state again. This time went south to the Fleurieu Peninsula, travelled on South Road down to the ferry point for catching the boat to Kangaroo Island.
Once out of the suburbs, the road went inland a bit to the town of Yankalilla. It's the largest town in the area even now and was established to serve the local farming community. As with many country towns there was a very nice bakery, just perfect for lunch. The bakery is quite large and there was a steady stream of customers so obviously popular and a good choice!
Yankalilla was established in 1842, land was cleared and wheat and barley were planted. Houses were constructed as well as other community buildings so the town has some nice colonial era buildings.
I read all the signs the local historic societies put out!
Just past Yankalilla is the coastal town of Normanville, infact the two towns have spread so much that there didn't seem to be much of a separation between the two!
Normanville has a lovely white sanded beach, popular all year round.
I decided to drive down to Cape Jervis, which basically is the end of South Road and then backtrack to Second Valley where I was spending the night.
The road goes down from the surrounding hills into Cape Jervis, going down the scenery is incredible with views over the Backstairs Passage and the coast of Kangaroo Island beyond. Backstairs Passage is the name of the section of water between the mainland and Kangaroo Island, it's notorious for being really rough! On the few occasions that I've gone across on the ferry I've been lucky that the crossing was fairly smooth, I'm a terrible sailor!
I backtracked up the hill onto South Road, and then took the turn off to Rapid Bay. This was a bit of a nostalgia trip as the family camping holidays we took when I was a teenager were all at Rapid Bay, mainly because the campsite was free! It's not now. To be fair it has been improved with a playground, a barbecue area and the toilet block has been upgraded so it's much nicer.
Rapid Bay was named by the surveyor William Light after the ship he was sailing in the Rapid. The South Australian colony was a planned colony with paying settlers, no convicts! A surveyor was sent to find the best place for the colony to be established, William Light first landed on Kangaroo Island, but the lack of water meant that it wasn't a suitable place to establish the main settlement. He then landed at what is now Rapid Bay on September 8th, 1836, he carved his initials into a rock with the date and that's what this memorial commemorates. This memorial was erected in 1928 by the local farmers to memorialise his landing. For a short time the area of Rapid Bay was considered for the state capital but a better area was found on what's now the Adelaide Plain. There was a river that guaranteed a water supply and the land was flat.
Beach area with the cave in the distance, it's possible to launch a small boat from the beach and that was its other attraction. We would take a boat down and the adults fished, not me, too slimy! Before the fishing lines were in I would swim in the water from off the boat.
The Rapid Bay jetty with the limestone quarry in the background. The old jetty was badly damaged in a storm in 2004, but new jetty was constructed alongside the old one in 2009 and is a popular fishing spot.
The town is interesting in the fact that it was constructed by a mining company BHP from 1938 to 1942 to service the limestone quarry. BHP needed the limestone for its steelworks in Whyalla in South Australia and it was shipped to the company's other steelworks in New South Wales at Newcastle and Port Kembla. The town doesn't have any churches or pubs or community halls or War Memorials which is what most small Australian towns have, the small general store that was there is now closed. There are just small groups of houses and a primary school, across from a large community oval.
The small town of Second Valley was so named as it was the second valley going north from Rapid Bay, the original mainland landing spot of William Light. There are still quite a few old stone buildings in a small village setting, the stone buildings have been restored which is lovely to see.
The Leonard's Mill restaurant was the first major restoration, it was the flour mill that served the area.
Two kilometres down the road from the small Second Valley village is the beach and the jetty. The area in between has residents' homes as well as many holiday shacks, in the true sense of the word 'shack' these wooden structures are from days gone by. The more recently constructed 'shacks' are basically luxury homes! The Second Valley jetty is a historic stone causeway and a more modern jetty. Lots of holiday makers walking around when I was there, so a popular spot.
Driving back to Adelaide I stopped at the HMAS Hobart Memorial.
I was puzzled as to why this memorial was here, the ship served in the Vietnam war and it didn't seem to have any tie to South Australia. Further research has now enlightened me to the fact that once the ship was decommissioned she was scuttled off the coast in Yankalilla Bay to form an artificial reef and a dive site. So mystery solved!
Looking along the beach from the memorial site I spotted this beach shack, truly a shack with its own rain tank supply of water, there were 2 other shacks just below the memorial, the access seemed to be along the beach. I'm assuming these were family shacks that got passed down as I doubt whether anyone would ever get permission to build on the beach nowadays.
Drive on the left, a helpful sign for tourists not from 'drive on the left' countries! First time I've seen this sign in country South Australia so this bend must be a particularly bad accident spot.
There are different parts of the Fleurieu Peninsula to explore, the drive down South Road is to be recommended and all the places are within a 90 minute to 2 hour drive from Adelaide.
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