The Heysen Trail 15. Anchored

 

I admit it!!! It was me!!! Blame me for the water shortage in the state of South Australia. I defied the ‘three minute' sign on the shower wall. Little did the water authorities know I had to get rid of five days worth of Kermit’s spawn. Every crevasse needed a good soaking, besides some of my extremities were in need of a good defrost. It was crispy-bitter that first night. The old building breathing frosted air through its large echoing hallways and the air-conditioning wasn’t yet discovered as being of the reverse kind. This made me curl up under the single thin blanket with all my clothes on wanting to forget about the world.




The stained-glass window in the stair-well

I slowly crab-walked downstairs on my first morning over the squeaky, carpeted wooden steps. Warm smokey air wafted towards me in the hallway. The huge café out the back wrapped around one of the biggest roaring potbelly stoves in the southern hemisphere. A herd of anti-hitchhiking grey nomads almost melted to its blackened features. Stiff joints and runny noses all soothed by the flames. Nobody in the place was in need of a jumper.

Very secretly, I fancy myself as a hotel reviewer with odd tendencies of a restaurant reporter (don’t tell anyone) and ordered a flat white. My goodness - the taste exploded in my head like a misfired rocket from North Korea. The eggs florentine to follow equally as vivid in its experience. “This is the best restaurant I have ever eaten in. "A ten and a half out of ten,” I thought but then remembering the cardboard-flavoured food that I ate on the Heysen trail and toned the mark down somewhat.

All sorts of materials used in this establishment

I started to have a look around the café/restaurant and noticed that the structure and contents appeared to be made out of recycled materials that gave it that smashed advo, industrial feel.  Large pillars holding up massive black steel beams connected by an engineered cable crossover that once upon a time could have towed a ‘Geograph’ or a ‘Reliance’.  The modern lighting atmospherically blending it all together pleasantly and looks like it would have cost a fair florin or two.



Avant-garde light switches

There was much to like about the café. The fact that it had chairs, pleased me no end as I had been scrounging around for somewhere comfortable to sit while I was on the trail. The whole cappuccino conveyor belt was enclosed by a low granite wall with massive glass panels drawing your view to the ocean visible through the Norfolk Pines in the distance.



A cuppa to remember

The massive bright yellow La Maezocco reincarnation machine stood firmly on a custom made concrete slab that was paneled with weathered floorboards or were they salvaged from an old ship? Another feature that stuck out was at the back wall of the café. It consisted of two huge barn doors. 'Handy' I thought, 'In case a road trains wants to come in and grab a long black on its way to Darwin'.

Ignoring all the visual goodies so far perused in this trendy but friendly caf you still can't help but spot the essence of the place positioned elegantly on the polished concrete. The old whaling boat converted to a bar now serving a variety of beer and other alcoholic beverages. Its wooden shellacked features taking you back to a time of tough sailing and of piercing the unsuspected. A reminder of a rugged past in which we didn’t know any better, but also an ode to the craftsmanship of the boat building industry and very clever marketing.

Barn doors, concrete floors and a whaling boat

The idea was to spend two nights at Victor Harbor, buy some more supplies, rest the leg and continue on to Adelaide on my much loved Heysen Trail. I decided to stay for one extra night, and then another and finally because the knee was still not right, another........

 Grey Bits

Look, this isn't an advertisement but the Anchorage Seafront Hotel is worth a visit. It is very close to the old railway station and the horse-drawn tram. Check it out. anchoragehotel.com.au

As a tourist, there is plenty to do in Victor Harbor. I always kept an eye out for a whale, back slamming the waters of the bay. Unfortunately the whales that were frolicking about were out too far for me to walk or swim to. The Whale Centre keeps a log of sightings and will send you an email as soon as a sighting is confirmed. This is their website www.sawhalecentre.com.au
 

Photo courtesy of victorharboraccommodation.net

Contact the info centre, which is run by volunteers, for more information on this tourist hot spot. encountervictorharbor.com.au.

Take note you history buffs - Encounter Bay is the place where Nicholas Baudin's Geograph met Matthew Flinders in the Reliance on the 8 April 1802. It was said (by Wikipedia) that the encounter was a peaceful one even though France and England were at war. My guess is that the meeting was an exchange of information and possibly goods needed for survival, beating any conflict on the other side of the world. 

I can imagine Nicholas and Matthew having a couple of frothies together?

The Heysen Trail 14. Limp Epiphanies

 

Wolf Creek has forever changed the landscape as far as hitchhiking is concerned in this country. It is rare to see someone with their thumb up on the side of the road these days.

I had not accounted for a pavement pounding seven kilometre on top of the 17 km I had already  grafted out on the cliff faces on this trail. In a town full of retirees, I was awfully mistaken thinking someone would give me a lift to Victor Harbor. I guess that if I was one of the three fresh young ladies I met at the Deep Creek waterfall, I would have gotten a lift instantly. A wet, tired looking, shivering,  limping hiker with an obvious bowel problem, judging by those stained shorts, is much too Harry Taylor like to offer a ride. ‘Betsy, you never know with the youth of today’ and ‘Darling he is going to mess up the car.’ I imagined conversations that would be had in those warm four-wheel drives that drove past me.

 

The cold weather of Victor Harbor. Notice how my lens was smudged by
 remnants of the Heysen Trail bush

So on I walked!

Believe me, walking an extra seven km through this cold and windy place was fruitful in regards to a spot of epiphany hunting.

“Overall Mars” I told myself, “you still love this stuff”. Even walking with the bad combination of freezing hands and busting to go to the toilet (hands-free effort required), I maintained I was in the right place and at the right time. For me, hiking beats any TV program, anything you will ever find on the net (my blog included) or any other self-challenging activity I can possibly think of. Some may prefer to hang off cliffs with ropes, jump out of planes, be chucked down a ravine attached to a 'lacky' band or swim in altitude sickness on Mt Everest, but I loved the mixed-nut-bag of experiences on the Heysen trail. It has given me so much to live through that it has lit me up like a Territory Day cracker night. 'Who would ever think I would write fourteen blogs about a five day trek?'

 

Aproaching Victor Harbor and Granite Island

Hiking has proved to be more difficult this time around. This is something that is hard to come to terms with for my inner competitive self. The recently operated knee had michellinned out of proportions during the last hobble to the Harbor without the guarantee that it would ever improve. 'Totally reckless, to put yourself in this situation', some would argue but I just can’t see the point of staying at home and watch Bear Grills get his thrills. I may have to reduce the distances I walk per day or travel lighter – whatever that looks like. Maybe a bit of ‘enjoy it while you can’ could be a point to make here?

An observant reader of the first couple of my Heysen trail blogs would have noticed that there were many complaints about the weight of the backpack I was carrying. I have called it every name under the sun and thought about turning it into an unloved orphan many times. I think it even tried to throw me down a cliff just to get even. Well!!!  This bag of repulsion appeared miraculously light five days in. First of all, the balanced amount of stodgy hiking feed had all but vanished out of the pack. Much of the 'almost' edible kilos destroyed by outrageous, much needed, gobble sessions lightening the load.  Man, did I eat on that track!!

 

The whaling past of Victor Harbor commemorated in the town square by this water feature

 

Secondly, I realized that the bruising of the straps around my shoulders had hardened up to calluses with skin peeling everywhere. Every muscle from the neck to and including the Netherlands had gone 'toight'. The pack of sorrow, galvanizing all previous back issues, some stress-related I am sure, into surprising solid Dutch Oak. Am I saying that this trudging business can make you stronger, healthier?
 

Stumbling into a strange place

While I was walking, philosophizing and epiphanizing I had switched on the phone, googled a hotel and pressed the directions button. I followed the blue dotted line on the screen that appears when you press the rarely used, little lady that likes to walk and talk with you. She appears to know where you are at all times! I rounded the point where the horse-drawn carriage takes off to Granite Island and in the end I stood there in the lobby of this old creeker of a hotel tantalizingly named “the anchorage”.  Feeling totally hollowed out, destroyed and swaying on my legs, I bravely negotiated a good price for an ocean view while apologizing for my dishevelled appearance. 

I think I needed a break.

'Please? - No more - Drop the anchor!!!'


Grey Bits
 

The view from my room that night