Venus Bay to Elliston

Not far from Venus Bay, on the way south, are the Talia Caves.

Location of Road into Talia Caves

We called in there and had a look. It was a grey day so the photos don't do the "caves" justice. These aren't caves in the traditional sense. They are simply where the action of the ocean has eroded the limestone where it is softer, making hollows where it occurred. I was actually more attracted to the shapes that the rocks had formed and the layers of different colours than I was to the caves.

Staircase leading to "Woolshed" Cave"

The first cave that you get to is "Woolshed" Cave. I think that it is named solely because of its size. It doesn't have any other similarities to a woolshed.

Woolshed Cave

The rocks around the Woolshed Cave have eroded into channels which funnel the water into the cave during storms. It is expected that the cave will continue to erode and that the roof will eventually collapse.

One of the natural channels that funnel water into the Woolshed Cave

Crikey! I actually thought I'd lost weight - until I saw this photo.

From Woolshed Cave it is a short drive to the next easily accessible cave, "The Tub". This cave is the result of the action of the sea carving into the limestone, forming a very large cavernous space with a relatively small entrance. The roof of the cave collapsed and the rocks that fell were washed out of the cave, leaving a large, tub-like, hole in the ground.

Part of The Tub. The entrance is just out of view at the front-right.

The view from the other end of The Tub, showing where the water enters.

There are many caves at Talia but to access them requires a walk along the waterline - definitely best done at low tide and with a calm sea. We had neither and deemed it an unnecessary risk to go and view them. We did drive to where the rocky coastline meets the beach and were rewarded with views of yet another pristine piece of coastline. Those of you who have toured the Kimberley or Central Australia will be familiar with the term "Gorged Out" - where all of the gorges are spectacular, but they start to get a bit "ho hum" - well, on the Eyre Peninsula you can get "Beached Out" in much the same manner.

Where the rocks become beach at Talia

Moving on from Talia caves we came across a sign on the side of the road that said "Colton Bakery - OPEN", yet there was no bakery, just an old house in the trees. We had been told about this place by many travellers that we had met since arriving in SA. A closer inspection revealed a little "cubby" on the side of the road, near the house. It had a sign that said "Fresh bread from a wood fired oven". In the cubby was a sliding window and once opened there were shelves of fresh baked bread and rolls. None of the loaves was sliced and they were the old style loaves like Cob loaves, Tank loaves, Twist loaves and Upright loaves. The loaves were $3.50 each, regardless of whether they were wholemeal, multigrain, white, or what shaped loaf they were. I have to admit, it was the beautiful  smell of fresh bread that won me over. We came away with a white Tank and two multigrain Cobs.You leave your money in a tin inside the cubby. It is an honour system and I guess it works or the baker wouldn't bother continuing.

So there we were, driving down the road toward Elliston with the smell of fresh, wood fired, bread permeating throughout the car. Talk about torture! Just before Elliston there is a clifftop drive. As usual, the scenery was exquisite, but this drive had something else as a drawcard. Along the drive were placed sculptures made of different materials. All were interesting, some were downright clever and others amusing.

One of the sculpture on the clifftop drive near Elliston.

More sensational Eyre Peninsula coastline.

The drive is quite short, probably less than 10 kilometres in total, but worth doing. From there it is just a few minutes to Elliston.

Location of Elliston

Elliston has a population of around 350 people. Like most of these coastal communities it is located on the shores of a sheltered bay, but in Elliston's case, not quite as sheltered as places like Venus Bay or Streaky Bay. The town has two caravan parks which gives you the idea that tourism is one of the major industries. There is a small supermarket, a couple of servos, a Community Hall and a smattering of small shops - along with the mandatory jetty. We didn't take any photos at Elliston because, sadly, nothing really jumped out at us and said "Take Me!" I did take a shot of our site at the caravan park, complete with the towering grain silos.

Look! Grass! We didn't even set the table and chairs up because it was too darn cold outside.

The only reason that we stayed at Elliston was that we needed to fill the caravan water tanks. The water at Venus Bay was unsuitable and my 12 Volt pump had shit the tin, making it impossible to filter any water there. From Elliston the intention was to bush camp at the National Park at Coffin Bay, thus we needed to take as much water as possible as none would be available at the NP....but that's another story. Stay tuned.