Prior to the Covid-19 lockdown Kayla and I went on an early morning poodlewalk around the streets that border the estuary, lagoon and mouth of the Hindmarsh River. This is an older, residential part of Victor Harbor and it overlooks the railway line to the river port town of Goolwa, the beach and Encounter Bay. The houses are on a hill and their view of Encounter Bay includes Granite Island.
An early part of the walk on this occasion was the western part of the suburb of Hayborough. This is a well established part of Victor Harbor with many of the houses tucked away amongst the bush overlooking the Hindmarsh estuary and so difficult to photograph. Privacy is everything for the old Adelaide money. Fortunately, this particular house is not tucked away:
Another part of our walk was along Bridge Terrace in Victor Harbor that is just west of the mouth of Hindmarsh River This residential part of Victor Harbor overlooks a reserve and Encounter Bay, and runs from the the Granite Island causeway to Bridge PoInt, which overlooks the estuary and mouth of the Hindmarsh River:
The purpose of the poodlewalk was to have a break from both walking the back country roads and photographing the coastal rocks. landscape. I also wanted to photograph some of the residential architecture before some of these fine, old buildings are pulled down to make way for the newer double storey McMansion style homes.
Victor Harbor is rapidly changing as it expands, and these spacious kind of houses, big blocks and their location are seen as prime real estate that they are still tightly held. Harcourts are now marketing Victor Harbor's real estate nationally: the selling points are lifestyle, affordability and being close to a capital city.
Below is another example of the older suburban architecture along Bridge Terrace. This gives a sense of how older Victor Harbor had spacious, well cared for gardens. The double storey McMansions do away with the garden--the house now takes up the most of the block apart from a small strip of lawn in the front.
This kind of architecture was built for people who had decided to make a life in Victor Harbor--to live there permanently---as opposed to living in Adelaide and having a weekend/holiday house at Victor Harbor.