PORT LINCOLN TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Gosh, how time has flown! It seems an age now since we were in Port Lincoln. So much to tell you all.

We left Port Lincoln and travelled to Coffin Bay. Such a pretty spot! Our main goal was to undertake the drives into Coffin Bay National Park. The coastline around this area is stunning! The first day we drove out to the park we just followed the bitumen road which takes you to Point Avoid. The rocky cliffs and white sand beaches are truly beautiful. The other 4WD track requires travelling along Seven Mile beach which can only be undertaken at low tide. We decided that we would try and extend our stay by another day to enable us to drive right up to Point Isaac and camp overnight (tent) and then drive back the following day, giving us plenty of time to explore. However this wasn’t possible as the Caravan Park had booked out our site so we have to move on on the day we planned to drive back. So instead we rose very early to drive the track so that we were on Seven Mile beach 1 ½ before low tide, explore Point Isaac and return down the beach to the road track 1 ½ hours after full low tide! We saw emus along the way and amazing scenery. Really enjoyed it even though it was a bit rushed.

The oysters here at Coffin Bay had to be seen (and tasted) to be believed. If anyone had said to us that either of us could not eat a dozen oysters we would have laughed at them! But here they were so big, (you got 2 bites out of each oyster) we could only get through 8 each at the most.

We left Coffin Bay at the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula and headed north and west towards Streaky Bay. But before we reached there we called at Talia Caves. This is an area of limestone with caves that have been hollowed out by the wind and waves.
From there we went onto Murphy’s Haystacks. These are amazing rock formations sitting in the middle of a paddock. A guy called Murphy used to own the land and grew hay, these rocks sat in the middle of his paddock so the locals named them Murphy’s Haystacks. Geologically they are about 150,000,000 million years old.

Baird Bay was our next stop where we planned to spend a couple of days as it was here we were able to swim with the Endangered Australian Sea Lion. Baird Bay has only 6 houses and 5 permanent residents. There are no shops or communication but it sits on the prettiest bay. There is a small camping area with pit toilets and good camp kitchen but no power or water. There is a small rain water tank for drinking water. Volunteers from this small community look after it and it is immaculate and also has a viewing platform to view the bay.

We had to be down at the water by 8.30 am and don our short legged wet suits. Taking our mask and snorkel (no fins) we headed out by boat to the end of the bay. There is a rocky reef across the entrance to the bay protecting the bay from those big ‘biteys”! The sea lion colony is also within this protected area and here this colony of sea lions has its home. The colony has been growing as the mums have been pupping here. You are dropped into the water out from the shore and you have to let the sea lions come to you! In fact as soon as they saw the boat pull up, they were in the water and swimming out to us. There are less than 12,000 of these creatures left in the wild so it is a heartening thought to realise that this colony is growing. They were the most curious creatures, so inquisitive. I took my underwater camera with me and had it on video so did get some pretty special footage. We spent a good 2 hours in the water with them. It was one of those special lifetime experiences.

Then we trundled onto Streaky Bay. Another very pretty little seaside town. We spent a week here going for drives around the area. Sceales Bay, the Whistling Rocks, sea lions frolicking in the surf, more incredible rock formations and cliffs along a stunning coastline. We met a lovely lady called El (short for Eleanor and her 11 year old son Ben. They are also travelling Australia in a comby known as Roaming Paws. El does Dog Grooming on her travels.

Ceduna then beckoned so on we went further around the Eyre Peninsula. Last stop really, shopping wise, before crossing the Nullabor. Ceduna was a lovely town. We stayed at Shelly Beach Caravan Park about 3 kms out of town but they were great sites and great people staying there. We met up with many people but three couples we became good friends with. Henry and Zeny (from Gosford), Klaus & Carmen from Buderim and Garry and Lorraine from near Brisbane. They were all keen fishermen (and women) and supplied us regularly with King George Whiting. They also talked us into staying longer to go back to Streaky Bay for the day for the Streaky Bay Cup! Gary does caravan repairs whilst he and Lorraine are on the road and Klaus sells satellite TV. Well we now have satellite TV and Gary sold us some new LED lights for the bedroom.

Streaky Bay races were fantastic! We all visited the local OP shop and purchased something to wear to the races. I now have a lovely hat ($2) El bought me some roses to go onto it. We travelled down with Klaus and Carmen leaving the vans in Ceduna. We had breakfast at the M'ocean Café before heading out to the track. The first race one of the horses dumped his rider even before he got onto the track, it raced off onto the track, jumped the fence and headed out over the hills! It was hysterically funny! The officials tried for half an hour to catch it before starting the rest of the horses! We had a little sweep going between us and came out at the end of the day winning a small amount. It was worth going for.

After this we all headed further west to Fowlers Bay. Just a small spot but we were told the fishing was fantastic! It might have been the week before but it blew a gale and we didn’t even catch a cold! Carmen caught one squid.

Then it was the trek across the mighty Nullabor. We planned to spend a couple of nights camping off road before crossing the border and going through the Quarantine gate. No fresh fruit or vegetables, nuts in shells or honey are allowed through. We froze, peeled or cooked everything we had to stop it being confiscated. We found some lovely camping spots and had campfires most nights.

At the border we passed inspection and entered WA. It was Easter so we found a lovely camping spot and decided to stay 2 nights there. Another purchase the group persuaded us to buy in Ceduna was a Breadmaker. So with solar panels on the van, I could use the Inverter to make the dough and then shape it and cook it in the gas oven. So we had fresh bread all the way! So on Easter Saturday I decided I would give making our own fresh Easter Buns a go! They were a hit for Easter Sunday!

Carmen and Lorraine cooked dinner Sunday evening, Gary presided over the camp fire and we helped collect wood. What a menu we had!

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Soup
(on a red curry base)

Roast Duck & Quail
(Served with a Cointreau & mandarin Sauce)
Red Cabbage & Potato Dumplings
Honey seeded mustard carrots & Beans

Homemade Chocolate Muffins
(with an Easter egg inside)
Piped with chocolate
Not bad for the desert!

At Cocklebiddy, Walter and I left the van locked up at the roadhouse and travelled the 35kms of 4WD track to the Eyre Bird Observatory. This was one of the early Eyre Telegraph Stations. It is run by volunteers on 3 monthly stints. We were served a lovely homemade morning tea and then given a tour of the old house and museum. It is also a B & B and you can stay there. It is so nice that when we come back to the south in the summer we plan to go and stay a few days. All around the house are bird bathes and hides. There have been over 250 species of birds identified in the area, along the shore and in the dense Mallee scrub. We drove back, hitched up the van and travelled on to our next camp site where we caught up once again with the others.

We came off the Nullabor into Norseman, then made the decision to go on towards Kalgoorlie. We camped at Lake Douglas about 10kms out. We went Yabbying there and again had great campfires. Then we all went our different ways, with the other 2 couples going towards Perth and we went into a Caravan Park in Boulder (suburb of Kalgoorlie).
It took us nearly the week to clean and get all the red dust (and dead flies) out of the van. Curtains were washed and became white again!

Kalgoorlie is an interesting place with its main industry still being gold mining. It has lovely buildings (very similar to Charters Towers). One original facet of Kal though, is its Red Light area. They are still the original bordellos and still working! You can even undertake tours of these working bordellos!

The main attraction now in Kal is what is known as the Super Pit! In the 1980’s Alan Bond began purchasing all the privately owned leases. He never completed it all but KGCM (Kalgoorlie Gold Consolidated Mining) completed it and now have excavated the most extraordinary large open cut. It is over 1 km long and when completed it will be 680 metres deep. You can watch the blasting from their lookout. (You can't get it in one photo!

We also had a tour over the old Boulder Town Hall. Dame Nellie Melba sang there and the stage curtain is known as the Goatcher curtain. It was hand painted by Phillip Goatcher in 1904 and is the only one of its kind left in the world. It is a beautiful work of art.

We left Kalgoorlie on the 22nd April and headed north up the Gold Discovery trail. This goes through Menzies, Lenora, and Leinster before turning west to Sandstone, Mount Magnet and Geraldton. The road is all completely sealed. We planned to camp off road over this trip but the first night saw us in Lenora Caravan Park as it poured rain, over 10ml and on red soil country it is not wise to get off the bitumen or you could be there until it dries out! Outside Lenora is the ghost town of Gwalia, a remnant of old gold workings. It is fascinating to walk through the old houses, with many looking like people just walked out!

From Lenora we passed by Leinster and headed west, looking for a camp site that we were told about by a fellow camper. It was supposed to be a lookout so we were looking for a “raised” area. We kept travelling through flat country and when our GPS readings told us we were there, we still could not see where this “lookout was! There was a parking bay so we decided we had had enough travel anyway for one day so pulled in. To our absolute amazement, when you drove right into the camp area it was on top of a breakaway! (For those overseas, not knowing what a breakaway is, it is like a cliff that drops away to the valley below. It was an amazing view, red rocks, limestone and an endless plain. It is known as Peter Denny Lookout. For anyone travelling that road, it is a must stop and see! It was so nice we decided to stay for 2 nights. Stars were like diamonds, we had shooting stars and satellites too! We viewed this panorama whilst sitting around our new fire pot (with its “Aztec” design.

Travelling on again, we went through the lovely old gold mining village of Sandstone. We took the Sandstone Heritage drive (in the van) and viewed the old Contradiction Well, used to provide water for Cobb & Co coaches, and travelling prospectors and pastoralists. Then it was the old Stamper that crushed to gold ore. This is now in a fairly derelict state. A few more kilometres down the track was a beautiful natural formation known as The London Bridge. In the gold days, the miners and town’s folk used to travel out on a wagon for picnics. Like most mining communities an important aspect of a town was its brewery. Sandstone being no exception had a brewery set up by an enterprising Irishman. It operated quite successfully for a number of years until the railway was put through from Mount Magnet. Then beer began flowing into town from a number of other sources so it wasn’t long before this brewery closed down. Nothing much is left from it now bar the foundations and the made tunnel in the rock for the cellar that kept the beer cool.

The streets of Sandstone were very tidy and lined with flowers. There is a park currently “a work in progress” showing off a number of old mining relics and a history of the pastoralists. Garden beds are currently being planned and you can see it will be a lovely place when completed. The town itself still has a number of interesting heritage buildings, including a lovely old pub and the General Store that was the old Post Office and still operates as such today. It will celebrate its 100th birthday this month.

After our tour of Sandstone we moved onto Mount Magnet, about 158 kms before stopping again for the night. We used the booklet from Jan Holland to find this camping spot, known as The Granites. It was a lovely spot and very interesting. Another big breakaway with lots of caves, some with aboriginal painting. We arrive late in the day on Sunday of the Anzac weekend, only to find a sign stating “ No Camping – Shire Patrolled”. Well it was too late to find anything else so we thought we would risk it. Didn’t think council workers would patrol on a long weekend holiday!

We found a lovely spot and camped all by ourselves, never saw another person and left early next morning leaving no trace of being there!

We had a journey of about 258kms the next day to a roadside rest spot only 80kms from Geraldton.

We arrived in Geraldton at the Sunset Beach Caravan Park which is on the northern end of the city and right on the beach. Lovely spot. We opted to stay a week here as we had arranged for our mail to be sent here.

It’s a beautiful city of 33,000 people with barmy weather. We have had an average of 25-30 degrees most days but always with a lovely soft sea breeze. We have driven all around the waterfront and even north to Coronation Beach about 20kms away. Coastline is lovely and there is often Kite surfers and wind boards scooting around in the waves in front of the park. We often take our wine up there and watch the magnificent sunsets over the Indian Ocean.

One special tour we did was to the fairly new Memorial to the HMAS Sydney 11. There are tours each day at 10.30am run by volunteers. Without going with the tour guide we would not have realised or understood the amazing symbolism of the construction. It has to be one of the most moving memorials I have ever visited. The HMAS Sydney was lost at sea in 1941 after a battle with the German raider KormoranV. with the loss of 645 men.

The Memorial has a stele – portraying the bow of the ship, unturned propellers – a sign of a ship lost at sea, and a cupola featuring 645 seagulls. These seagulls are a British tradition which signifies the returning souls of sailors. Within the roof of the cupola there is an anchor holding eternal flames, as port and starboard lights. Both these were lit from the Eternal Flame at the Canberra War museum. There is also a bronze figure of a woman staring out to sea, waiting for her man to return.

Whilst we have been in Geraldton, the huge and lovely Sun Princess cruise ship came into the harbour. Incredible sight.

Well Tuesday we will leave here and head to Coronation Beach for a few days before heading further north, most likely first to Kalbarri. So much to see.!

I know this is a very long screed, but until Geraldton we have not had a lot of internet coverage or time!

Until next time,

The Happy Travellers

Rob & Walter

THE EYRE PENINSULA
(Up to Port Lincoln!)


We found our caravan park in Whyalla was in a great location, right on the beach. Interesting at low tide as you had to walk 1 ½ kms to the water! However it was a haven to catch (by raking again) the Blue Swimmer crabs! Here you did not even have to rake as they were swimming around in the water! On one day with another couple we caught 44 in an hour. After cooking them up we sort of fed half the caravan park as we didn’t have the room to freeze this amount.

Whyalla was a lovely city, great shopping and as the caravan park handed out 3 pages of discount vouchers we decided to take advantage of them! We saved quite a lot of money with a variety of local businesses offering deals. From Lingerie to butchers, hair dressers, book shops to sporting goods. Great value.

Walter of course had to first visit the doctor that he had been referred to for his hernia ops and surgery was then scheduled for later in January. In the meantime we did the tourist thing. We visited the Maritime Museum and also viewed a video on the ship “The Whyalla”. This ship was a corvette and built in the Whyalla shipyards. However after it was decommissioned the Whyalla community bought it back and arranged for it to be transported the 2kms over land from the harbour to sit next to the Information Centre and Maritime museum. We also took a tour over it. Fascinating stuff. We visited both Hummocks Hill lookout and the Freycinet Lookout, both with great views. We also took a drive out to Iron Knob about 50kms from Whyalla and went through that museum and revisited the history of the Iron Knob (iron ore) mine. It is not being mined any more.

Another drive took us down south of town to Cowleds landing. Just a tiny fishing village down a very dry and dusty road. Whilst we were in Whyalla the city hosted South Australian Surf Kite championships. These guys (and few girls) were fascinating to watch their acrobatics on the waves. It is very windy in Whyalla so it was a perfect place to view this sport!

We also celebrated Australia Day whilst we were there. With another couple we walked down to the foreshore park to join in the celebrations.

Walter’s surgery went well and after only 2 days in hospital came back to the van. This week saw that dreadful heat wave with temperatures soaring to around 50 degrees! The evening that Walter came home from hospital, we took the thermometer out at 5pm to the shade under a tree and it was still 47 degrees!

We drove away from Whyalla on the Saturday morning of the terrible Victorian bushfires. It was so stifling hot the air con in the car wouldn’t work! The wind was so strong it was blowing huge dust clouds both from the dry paddocks and the Iron Ore mine at Iron Monarch. At one stage we could not see 50 metres in front of us. We arrived in Cowell with this limited visibility so once setting the van up we closed ourselves inside and watched a DVD! By the time the movie finished the winds had dropped so we decided to go for a drive.

One of the brochures the caravan park had given us was a drive to Port Gibbon and Point Gibbon via the coast road. The brochure stated that you could quite often see sea lions at Point Gibbon. Now we are a bit sceptical about claims like this but we thought we’d look! After parking at the car park we could not see anything resembling sea lions so decided to walk along the beach and around the point. After rounding the point we virtually tripped over two of them! We were within a metre of them so as you can see we took some great photos. The coast drive back was also great. It is an amazing coastline all around the Eyre.

Then we drove to Arno Bay planning to stay 2 nights. It didn’t take us long after discovering the park was easily the nicest we have ever stayed in, even has soft green grass to decide to stay for a week. We only had to walk across the road and through a gate to be on the jetty and the beach. Apparently the week before the beach was pristine but with those really strong winds, tons and tons of sea grass had been blown onto it. Also very close to the van was a great boardwalk, built by the Lions Club along a tidal creek and through the mangroves. They had even built platforms over the creek at intervals which made fishing a breeze! Walter and I took our prawn bait and tried our luck in the creek from one of these platforms. Well as soon as our line hit the water we were catching silver whiting, all good size. We caught 12 in ¾ hour so quit as we again did not have the room for storage! Fresh whiting made a great dinner! We fished from there a number of times, each time successful with whiting. We found driving the 27kms to Cleve was a better shopping option for food than the little general store in Arno. So we made the most of this trip driving a scenic route around through the hills and forest and visiting an old weir built in the early part of 20th century. The water it supplied was for both Cowell and Arno Bay but not for Cleve (even though it was only 5 kms away) as it was by gravity feed – lower than Cleve itself.

We had been told by fellow travellers about a few free camp sites south of Arno so we packed up another picnic lunch and headed out on the exploring trail. We visited Port Neill (very pretty but caravan park is not as nice as Arno) and then took the coast road (dirt) south. Camps 3 listed a number of ‘free’ sites. So we looked at Carrow Wells, Brayfields camp (also very nice and were we had a surf) then drove further to Lipsom Cove. Well, we came over the hill and just went WOW! This place is magic! White sands, turquoise crystal clear sea, bird rookery and lovely camp sites at least 200m apart, clean pit toilets and even garbage bins! We made our decision there and then to stay for a few days when we left Arno.

Whilst at Lipsom Cove we got out the snorkelling gear and walked at low tide over to the island that is also a bird rookery. We were amazed to find not only the Pied Cormorants nesting there but pigeons! Not in nests but holes in the ground like rabbits! Neither of us had seen anything like this before! Crested terns are also there in their hundreds, along with pelicans, Pacific gulls and silver gulls. We tried our hand at fishing but only caught small stuff. One of the other guys had caught a large salmon but it wasn’t our luck.

Then we drove the 60kms to Port Lincoln. This is a lovely place! Everything you could wish for. We could easily live here. As soon as we set up, again overlooking the bay, we called Meg & Graham who we met whilst on our Cape York trip. We then headed downtown to collect our mail and ran into them in the Post Office! They organised to take Walter for beers at the Great Northern at 5 pm and Meg would pick me up from there and we would go for champagne with the girls! Very civilised!!

From there we went onto the Tourist Information office and whilst we were there received another call from Graham stating he had something for us. What it was, was a fishing charter voucher that he had won and did not wish to use. He offered it to us and we decided that it was too good an opportunity to miss as we had been looking to do a fishing charter. We rang the charter operator and picked up the option for the Sunday. It was a great day, leaving from Coffin Bay. So it was an early start as it is 48kms to Coffin Bay and he wanted us there by 7.30am! The day dawned sunny and not a breath of wind! Just perfect for a day way out at Greenly Island! 60 nautical miles from Coffin Bay meant a good 3 hours sail. The charter was full and trolled for Blue Fin Tuna. Both of us caught one, Walter 20kg and Rob 22kgs. Boy these fish really fight! I needed Walter’s assistance to finally bring my fish into the boat! We have now added fresh tuna to our extensive seafood diet and I am now researching the different ways to prepare it! One of our favourites is the Sashimi way! Raw with Wasabi, pickled ginger and dipped in soy sauce. We have a freezer full so we do need some variety though!

With Meg, I have been attending Water Aerobics with her 3 days a week which is great fun as well as good exercise! Meg and Graham are members of Probus so they engineered for us to also go with them on a club visit to the Lincoln Marine Science Institute. This was a fascinating and informative visit to this centre that centres on the Aquaculture industry not only in Port Lincoln but through South Australia. Meg & Graham then also drove us with a picnic lunch out to Mikkira Station. This place was the very first station on the Eyre Peninsula. It has a restored settler’s cottage set among the old stone walls of sheep yards, and koalas hanging out of virtually all the gum trees! So lovely to see them in their natural environment and thriving!

Another picnic lunch packed and Walter and I drove down through the locked gate to Whalers Way. This is private property but you can pay a small price to gain the key to see some beautiful and rugged coastline. As Meg said it would be really spectacular on a rough day! We also took a half day trip with Triple Bay tours to a tuna farm and seal colony. There are a lot of millionaires in Port Lincoln who have made their money from this industry. However after finding out the work involved they have earned it!

Yesterday saw us take another full day tour, a once in a lifetime opportunity! We went out 45 nautical miles to the Neptune Islands and went cage diving with the Great White Pointer sharks! Another very early start – 6.30 am from the Marina. A good 3 hours sail in a 65’ Motor cruiser saw us anchor around 9.30am. The crew then burleyed old tuna and fish oil into the water to attract the sharks. The cage was placed into the water and then we waited! It was only about ½ hour when a huge white pointer hit the bait and made off with it! Then the first 4 guys went into the cage. They saw 2 sharks in their time in the cage then they were out and it was my turn. Then 3 huge white pointers turned up. What awesome fish! No photo shows their true size and awesome power! Walter went in after me and also saw really good action! From the boat you also saw the most amazing sights watching these awesome fish run for the baits! It was the best day! Now you will all say we are crazy but if I ever wanted to see a White Pointer in the water this is the only way I would like to! It was run so very well, very safe. We would recommend it to anyone who comes this way.

We are going to stay in Port Lincoln until next Monday (9th March) when we will head to Coffin Bay. We still have to drive out to both Memory Cove Wilderness area and Lincoln National Park. Meg & Graham have also organised for us to attend a stud cattle sale on Friday and then there is an Outdoor Living Expo here in the park over the weekend.

As you can see life is still pretty tough for us “homeless” people!

Until our next episode, we will leave you to feel sorry for us!

The Travelling Uhl’s
Walter & Rob

THE YORKE PENINSULA

If any of you have not ever been to the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, let me tell you, you are missing something special. Over all we travelled just about all of it from the east coast, to the south, through the middle and up the west coast. We spent 8 weeks over all exploring this gem of Australia.

As we wrote in our last bulletin, we started at Ardrossan, then moved to Black Point and then to Stansbury. We called at Port Vincent on the way to Stansbury and found this funny sign outside the local IGA. At Stansbury we were able to obtain a great beach site for a month before moving to another site just one row back until January. As most other camp areas we contacted were booked out right throughout the school holidays, we decided to base ourselves there and explore the peninsula from here. Stansbury is a lovely quiet seaside township with the greatest community spirit we have ever come across. All the locals were so friendly and so were the “inmates” of the caravan park! Stansbury is directly across the Gulf of St Vincent from Adelaide. On clear nights we could see the lights of Adelaide (only 65kms across the bay but 200kms around!). Stansbury also received the South Australian Tidy Towns Award whilst we were there and goes into the National Judging in April 2009.

It was here where we really got into “raking” for Blue Swimmer crabs, ate Gar Fish and friends gave us recipes for Salt & Pepper Squid and Chilli Crab! Oysters you could purchase for $7.00 per dozen, so we also ate our share of Kilpatrick, Mornay and some other recipes we came across! We had great neighbours and have made some great friends. Janet & Barry from Adelaide introduced us to eating Gar Fish and Barry taught Rob how to fillet Gar Fish. We had our resident pelicans, seagulls, Crested Terns, Pacific Gulls and even a couple of Flesh Footed Shearwaters. The other residents who were very territorial over their section of the beach front were a family of Magpies. They would even get stuck into the Pelicans and the seagulls if they trespassed!

We had lots of lovely shared dinners, laughs, fishing and walks. This included helping Barry and Janet celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Another lovely event was Rob’s cousin, Allan Pierson with Megan and the three lovely kids arriving in Stansbury. Al & Megan, like us have been travelling Australia with their Ultimate Camper. They have been on the road for 2 ½ years but are now making their way back to Newcastle to settle back into their old life! We had three days with them were we took them crabbing and they did also a bit of sight seeing on the Peninsula. Last heard they are in Tasmania before heading back to Newcastle for a February start back to school for the kids.

From Stansbury we took many drives to explore the area. Yorketown was 20kms away and had a nice little shopping centre. Here we also took advantage of making dentist appointments to have that check up! It is so hard to get into a dentist when you’re travelling! Stansbury had a good IGA but Yorketown had a more extensive one. Good gourmet butchers were found in all surrounding towns including Stansbury. Minlaton was another lovely town with good bakery, butchers and here I could get our shoes repaired too! All the bakeries around made great Cornish pasties with much of the Peninsula heritage stemming from Cornwall and Cornish miners. The lovely old stone cottages are a feature in all the Peninsula towns and particularly in Edithburgh, about 25 kms from Stansbury going south. Most of the coastal villages have great jetties with much heritage attached to them as shipping was used in the early days to transport wool, lime, copper and barley. There are many huge grain silos as barley is the main crop of the area. They say if you have drunk an Australian beer then your have had the barley from the Peninsula! Port Giles silos were massive and extensive.

The Peninsula is a windy place and they use it to good advantage. The wind farm at Edithburgh was probably the biggest we have come across.

The coastal drive south from Edithburgh took us around some spectacular coastal scenery including the Troubridge Island Lighthouse, built out of red brick! Very distinctive. Another drive took us across the Peninsula (40kms) to Hardwick Bay then south to Corney Point and another lighthouse. We followed a dirt coastal road right down until we reached Innes National Park at Seal Point. From here though there is no direct road through the park so we had to head back inland and drive down to Marion Bay for access to the National Park. You drive through Stenhouse Bay into the park and it is truly beautiful. History shows how difficult it was though for shipping navigation as the coastline is literally littered with shipwrecks.

Another drive took us inland and north through Minlaton, Maitland and onto Moonta. Moonta was the home in the late 1800’s for approximately 15,000 people, mainly Cornish miners to mine one of the world’s richest copper deposits. It is now a nationally listed heritage area and even though it is still rich in copper ore it will be protected and not mined. Moonta Bay, next to Moonta township is one of the prettiest areas. We checked at the caravan park that was right on the bay and they could get us in for 2 nights after we left Stansbury.

Christmas we celebrated quietly, no turkey etc but we purchased a lovely Crayfish from in Inland Sea shop at Warooka. Rob turned this into a gourmet delight with a brandy laced mornay sauce, served with fresh mango and followed up with a brandy custard sponge flan topped with blackberries, strawberries and raspberries! Chased it down with a nice bottle of bubbly. We spent the afternoon being lazy and playing Yahztee! We did partake in a Stansbury tradition though and everyone from the park and the town heads to the pub on Christmas morning. Its happy hour from 9am to 10am and opens until 11am. It was a hoot with everyone wearing Christmas hats etc and being such a friendly down, everyone got Christmas kisses!

New Year saw an invitation to travel to Adelaide and meet up with Jan & Grant Nankervis from Cobar. We spent the night there and gently saw the New Year in. Travelled back to Stansbury the next day as we had to begin packing and dismantling the annex to leave Stansbury and travel to Moonta Bay. At Moonta we rode the Heritage Mining train around the mine absorbing the history, then drove to Wallaroo and checked out the new Marina there. This area of Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta is known as the Copper Coast. Then our time to leave the Yorke Peninsula had come and the 5th January saw us leave the Yorke Peninsula and head towards Whyalla.

We decided to free camp for four nights before heading into Whyalla and found a perfect spot about 30kms from the town at a place called Fitzgerald Bay. Lovely clear turquoise sea and all to ourselves. We have been snorkelling and caught some more crabs and scallops on which we dined. Tomorrow we head into Whyalla for new experiences.

Until next time,

The Happy Travellers

Rob & Walter

FROM VICTOR HARBOUR TO THE FLINDERS RANGES AND BEYOND!


When we left Victor Harbour for Hahndorf the weather followed us. We arrived in Hahndorf in pouring rain and nearly got bogged on the caravan site! We could not recommend the caravan park to anyone. Expensive at $28 per night, poorly maintained and on a steep hill!

Hahndorf is a gorgeous little place though. We strolled the streets, dining in the German pub and shopping in the butchers for very different types of smallgoods. Walter was in German heaven. From there we also drove into the Adelaide Hills and up to Mt Lofty above Adelaide. On a fine day the view would be magnificent but again it was raining! Such a pretty and green area though.

On leaving Hahndorf we went north to Birdswood and visited the National Motor Museum. This is the most amazing place, so much to see and so much history. Even Tom Kruse, the Birdsville mailman’s original truck is there. We travelled onto Clare from there. This is the most beautiful valley, and so many wineries. We stayed in a lovely van park there on the edge of town and went for some lovely drives. Didn’t really go to too many wineries but two stood out. One was Skilogalee that is in a lovely old stone cottage and has a well renown restaurant there. We dined there for lunch and tried some of their wine. Very, very nice! The other was Paulette’s winery. Neil and Alison Paulette used to be at what was Mt Pleasant Vineyard at Sandy Hollow. They now have a lovely winery and vineyard just outside Clare. The view from their balcony was sensational and so was their wine! (We found no wine has any keeping qualities with us though so you’ll have to take our word for it!).

We travelled on from Clare heading north to the Flinders and decided to stop overnight at Orroroo. This is the loveliest place, so much so that we stayed 2 nights. Here we went on a walk to the dam alongside a creek and also found history and poetry along the way. In the late 1800’s a guy etched a poem into the rock before heading back to America. (see photo). Also outside Orroroo was Magnetic Hill. This is the craziest thing! It is actually an optical illusion but the road definitely looks like it runs up hill but if you place your car in neutral and turn off the engine it “runs up hill”! We did it a couple of times to prove it! Orroroo is part of the Central Flinders so has some lovely drives through the valleys and the hills.

From Orroroo it was on to Hawker then towards Wilpena Pound. However, each and everyone we spoke to advised us not to stay at Wilpena but at Rawnsley Park. We did and were very glad we did. Rawnsley sits right under the Wilpena Pound, under Rawnsley Peak. It was a much nicer caravan park and had its own lovely walks also. Walter and I undertook quite a number of the walks there including Pines Cave as well as driving up to Wilpena and walking into the old homestead. The wildlife and birds were fantastic. We also undertook a 4WD 75 km trek at a place called Willow Springs. The trek itself was called Sky Trek. It was a full 8 hours and some awesome scenery and 4WD road. We climbed as high as 950m above sea level to Mt Carnarvon where you had an amazing view over Wilpena Pound. It wound back down and into a place known as Skull Rock that just looked liked something out of the Phantom comics!

We left Rawnsley and headed further north up past Parachilna and into the Northern Flinders and the Gammon Ranges. We left the road north at Copley and headed towards Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary. This is 140 kms from Copley and very remote. Arkaroola has a motel type village as well as a caravan park. We found a spot in the park opposite the amenities and next to 2 other couples that we had met at Rawnsley. We all went out to the restaurant that night to the carvery and then played cards after dinner.

This is also known as “the wild side of the Flinders”. It has been in drought now for over 7 years so most of the waterholes are dry and the scenery is wild and arid. It is also the home of the endangered Yellow Footed Rock Wallby. There are many drives – mainly 4WD recommended – that take you to really interesting areas both historical and geological. There are many old copper mines and uranium was discovered here back in the early 20th Century.

Whilst we were there Walter and I both gained work. We thought it a good idea as the weather just wasn’t right at that stage to travel down to the Yorke Peninsula. I was cooking in the kitchen for the A La Carte restaurant and bus tour groups including Banquets in the Bush. (These were 5 course Cordon Bleu menus for elected bus tour groups). Walter was employed to repair a 40 yr old Caterpillar loader and to repair the many, many flat tyres they get in the workshop. His work was for 4 hours a day but mine ended up being many 14-15 hour days – 6 days pr week! Money was good though and really nothing (other than the bar) to spend it on. Neither of us are bar flies so we saved quite a bit of money whilst we were there. It came with some problems though. In the first week, the exposed site we had at the caravan park caused the van to be hit with a freak wind that blew the whole awning off the van, wrapping around a tree on the far side. It smashed the TV aerial and the shower hatch on its way over as well as mutilating all the awning and poles. Walter then had to drive the van 600 kms to Adelaide to have it repaired under insurance! As they needed me as the cook they put me up in one of the motel units whilst he was away. When he returned we then moved the van to a less exposed position over near the staff quarters. However for the rest of the time at Arkaroola we left the awning rolled up!

We had quite a few really bad red dust storms that came off the Simpson Desert and even though we taped up the vents, the fine red dust seemed to filter into everything! We did make some lovely new friends there in Janet and Mary and working with Sian for the Banquets in the Bush was fantastic. However, small communities like this and being so remote also find many “misfits” who want to work in places like this. It was good that we had the solace of our own van and friends like Janet and Mary to keep us sane and laughing! We will never here the Italian term “That’s a nice” now without going into gales of laughter!

After 2 ½ months we left there on 29th October and drove to Port Augusta. We ended up being there for 6 days getting carpets cleaned, van and car washed, curtains all washed and ironed before heading south into the Yorke Peninsula. Also high on my list of priorities was a visit to the hairdresser!

We left Port Augusta on Melbourne Cup day and it’s the first time ever I not only never had a bet, I didn’t even know what was running and never saw the race run either! We arrived in Ardrossan a pretty little seaside town on the eastern side of the Peninsula. We strolled around the town and down to the wharf. From here and south is where you can catch Blue Swimmer crabs. But here, instead of using nets you walk through the shallows with a rake! We have now bought our own crab rake and are about to try our luck.

We decided to take a drive south from Ardrossan and look at some of the other small places where we might like to stay. We called at many including Black Point, Port Vincent and Stansbury. Black Point is a tiny place only about 20 kms south of Ardrossan. No shops but its Adelaide’s “millionaire’s row”. However we found it had a tiny little caravan park right on the beach with great views north and along the coastline. Port Vincent is lovely but the park was totally booked out and told us their next vacancies are about February/March! Stansbury however had a beach site available until 14th December and is a lovely place. Also had another site, one row back that we could have over Christmas. So we have booked this as everywhere else also appears to be booked solid so it will be a nice place to base ourselves until January and is central enough for us to drive out from there to explore the rest of the Yorke Peninsula. This a lovely area.

We are currently at Black Point (with crab rake) overlooking the most beautiful view and move down to Stansbury next Wednesday. It is quite windy at present and overcast. Have not had much rain though.

We are now going for a walk on our long beach here before having a glass of wine…..ho hum, life is tough!

Until Stansbury when I will update you again on our travels,

Cheers Rob & Walter