Day 5 – Port Elliot, The Cockle Train

Overnight we got a fair bit of rain and we could hear the awning flapping in the wind a few times during the night, but never quite violent enough to get up to roll it up.

As we don’t need to get going anywhere straight away this morning, I go for a walk up the beach.  It’s a pretty small beach, so it doesn’t take too long.

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We’ve told the kids today is a going to be a surprise.  So they don’t know what’s happening.  We’ve also told them not to get their expectations up too high.   So at about 9:45 we start walking up to the Port Elliot train station.   Twice a week in low season “The Cockle Train” runs from Goolwa, via Port Elliot to Victor Harbour 3 times a day.   It is due in at Port Elliot at 10:15, we arrive a bit early to get our tickets so take a lap around town to kill some time.   As we near the end of the lap, it starts raining, so fortunately we don’t get too wet.   Finally the train arrives, it’s not the Steam version that they advertise heavily, just the diesel loco, which is what I kinda expected mid-week in low season.  But they are old locos and carriages still so they have some character.

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Much of the train line between Port Elliot and Victor Harbour runs along the beach front, so we’re treated to some great views.  About 15min later we pull into Victor Harbour and the train is going to wait here for 30mins before starting the return journey.   Given we were here yesterday and we’ve only got 30min, I go and grab some coffees and the kids play in the local playground.  

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Back on the train we make the trip back through Port Elliot to Goolwa.  While the kids are enjoying it I’m sure it’s rating high on their Crap-tastic meter.

We pull into Goolwa. The station is just under the Hindmarsh Island Bridge.   Here we’ve got 45min, so we take a walk into town, find a bakery for lunch, by the time we’ve had lunch and completed our loop the time is up.  

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When we disembark back in Port Elliot the weather looks OK, so we take the short walk from the station to the Obelisk Lookout at the southern end of Horseshoe Bay.  We’re at the lookout and I think I see seaweed floating in water off the old dilapidated sea wall, on closer inspection they are a couple of seals swimming about.  We follow the path down closer to get a better look.    As we start walking back to the van at the opposite end of Horseshoe bay, we see a staircase leading down to the seawall.   Justine and Liam need to go back to the van, but Caitlin and I walk down.   While almost hit by a incoming wave on the small beach, we make it to the seawall with dry feet,  we walk out a few metres and there are these two seals less than 5 metres away, they move further up the seawall before I get time to take a photo.  But at least Caitlin and I got to see them up close.

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Back around the bay to the van park, where we rest up for the afternoon.  Justine needs to do some washing and I need to do a few odd jobs so that keeps us occupied.

It’s been a funny day, cold, less cold,  raining, not raining, a bit of sun.  This afternoon we even got a rainbow offshore.

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