Victor Harbor, Adelaide

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The historic horse drawn tram at Victor Harbour is a must. Travelling between Encounter Bay in Victor Harbour to Granite Island, clydesdale horses make several return journeys a day. There is a colony of penguins on Granite Island, and evening tours are available to see them.

Return trips are $7 for adults, $5 for children (4 to 15) or $20 for a family of 2 adults and 2 children. Departs every 40 minutes.

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Took a day tour with Adelaide Sightseeing Tours for A$48 (circa 2001) to explore the Fleurieu Peninsula.

The southern whaling centre of Australia except today it is for sighting, and not hunting. How times have changed. In winter the Southern Right Whales can be seen basking at Encounter Bay, only metres from the shore line and that is when numerous tours bloomed to offer you and me chances to see these gentle giants of the ocean really up close.

From the Esplanade, you can catch fabulous views of the Great Southern Ocean.

Me & my mate wandered off (while we left the ladies to do their shopping in the shops lining the Esplanade and harbourfront) to a park nearby (by the name of Soldiers Memorial Reserve me think) where we enjoyed wonderful views of the blue ocean set against blue skies, with the calls of gulls screeching away in the distant and just letting fresh salty ocean air rejuvenate us. We took strolls in the park, gazing at the names plated onto each pine tree, neatly grown in rows, like a parade, in memoriem of the dead youthful from this small outpost that served the empire of old during the World Wars in the name of King and Queen. Most of the guys never passed the age of 30. Such a waste of life.

Took a day tour with Adelaide Sightseeing Tours for A$48 (circa 2001) to explore the Fleurieu Peninsula.

If you are at Victor Harbour, you could cross over to nearby Granite Island via a horse-drawn tram causeway constructed in 1875 to enable horses to haul trucks to the island loaded with wool and grain for export by sailing ships.

Steam locos replaced horses for a few years, but in 1895, passenger trams commenced. The horse-drawn service operated for 59 years until it was abandoned in 1954 due to high costs of relaying the tracks. In 1986, the re-created trams and new tracks brought the service back again, but this time to meet rising tourists expectations. It is the only horse-drawn tramway in Australia.

There is a penguin centre on the island and there are guided tours available.

NOTE: No dogs allowed on Granite Island.

Victor Harbor is a seaside town about an hour out of Adelaide; it's a place Adelaideans like to go for long weekends and days out in the summer. A trip to Victor Harbor, fish and chips on the lawn, feeding the seagulls (or telling off your kids for encouraging the seagulls by feeding them) and a walk around Granite Island are an Adelaide institution. ^_^.

Victor Harbor is usually a little cooler than Adelaide, and it's not a big spot for swimming. There's a big playground and small fair for kids, a whale centre, a main street full of junk food, and Granite Island, a small island connected to the mainland by a long jetty; you can take a horse-and-tram down it to the island if you don't feel like walking. It's a nice walk. Granite Island is mostly known for being home to a penguin colony. In the evening, when the penguins are out, they have penguin-spotting tours.

Sometimes you can also see whales from Victor Harbor.

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After you take the Horse Tram (or you can walk to this Island) you can walk around on Granite Island. It is a small and green Island. From every point of the Island you have good views.